Student Unrest and the Vietnam War

The 1960’s marked an era of change and a social revolution for many people in the United States. The Civil Rights Movement was in full force, man first walked on the moon, there was also the devastation regarding the assassinations of both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and President John F. Kennedy. There was the development of a counter culture that brought about the Hippie subculture. The Anti-War movement which began after the Cold War in the 1950’s continued on until the late 1960’s. The movement became the focus of many university and college campuses as a protest to the Vietnam War and “The Draft.”

During an antiwar demonstration on the Kent State University Campus in 1970, students gathered to protest the Vietnam War and the invasion of Cambodia. The Ohio state Governor at the time, James Rhodes, summoned the US National Guard to the Kent campus with the goal of ending the demonstration and asking the students to disburse. The students would not comply and as a result of bad judgment, US National Guard began fire in to a crowd of unarmed demonstrators killing four students and leaving nine injured. (Davidson et al., 2005) This incident at Kent State became the fuel of the antiwar movement of the 1970’s.

The Kent stated incident reached many people not just the hippies and antiwar protestors. Young people who were coming of age began to question the war, the draft, and the overall goals of America. Every household was affected one way or the other regarding the war. Everyone started also question why peace talks were organized but continually failed. (Bexte, 2002) Most Americans agreed that the war did not threatened the security of the US.

Initially, it was believed that if a young person attended a university they would not be drafted. In the middle and late 60s, every male in America had to register for the draft. Once registered, according to the Selective Service System, he became eligible for the draft for only a period of 2 years. College students received deferments while attending college however once they graduated and were still with in drafting age, they would be still remain eligible for deployment. (VietnamWar.org) Each male student hoped that the war would be over soon thus keeping them safe from the draft. As a result, they were able to join other students who shared like minded opinions in opposition to the war and participated in anti war activism.

The rising casualty rates and feelings of unrest began to turn many Americans publically against the war. The result was the gradual withdrawal of the United States from Vietnam by 1975.

Post war American struggled with the after affects of the war. As a result of the emotional strain of Vietnam, many soldiers suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PSTD (Tull 2008) and had to undergo psychological treatments once they returned home. Veterans were also treated as if they were the enemy by antiwar activists. (Sitikoff