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The 60s Protest Movements - Part I: The Beginning

By Michael Lang on Jan 11, 2008 in THE 60s

PART I

The “” was a turbulent time with cultural and social change ocurring everywhere, tearing at the fabric of American society. In this series, will cover the birth, rise and impact of the protest movement and where it is today. The “movement” encompasses civil rights, the Vietnam War, Women, Gay Rights, and the Environment.

When the Vietnam War started only a small percentage of the American population opposed the war. The first march to Washington against the war took place in December, 1964 where only 25,000 people showed up however it was still the largest in American history.

As the war continued, more and more Americans turned against it especially when they discovered the use of chemical weapons such as napalm and agent orange. In 1967, Bertrand Russell and other academics, set up the International War Crimes Tribunal and after interviewing many witnesses, came to the conclusion the the U.S. armed forces were found guilty of using weapons prohibited by International law. The U.S. armed forces were also found guilty of torturing captured prisoners and innocent civilians claiming the America’s behavior in Vietnam is comparable to the atrocities committed by the Nazis in Europe during WWII.

In November, 1965, Norman Morrison, a Quaker from Baltimore followed the example of the Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Due, and publically burned himself to death. You might remember seeing the Life magazine picture of a burning monk in the middle of a Vietnamese city street. In the following weeks, two other pacifists also burned themselves to death to protest the war.

The decision to introduce conscription for the war increased the level of protest, especially amongst young men who were at risk of being drafted. In 1965, David Miller publically burnt his draft card (call-up notice) and was sentenced to two and one half years in prison. His action inspired others to do the same as Anti-Vietnam War groups organized meetings where large groups of young men burnt their draft cards in protest.

Between 1963 and 1973, 9228 men were prosecuted for refusing to be drafted into the army with the most dramatic opposition coming from the soldiers themselves. Between 1960 and 1973, 503,926 members of the U.S. armed forces deserted after many of them began to question the morality of the war.

The culmination of the opposition was with the famous case of the heavyweight champion of the world, Muhammad Ali’s refusing to report for active service in the army. Ali actually refused to serve in the United States Army during the Vietnam War as a conscientious objector because “War is against the teachings of the Holy Koran. Ali did make the now famous statement in 1966, “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong…. They never called me nigger!”

Appearing for his scheduled induction in the U,S. Armed Forces on April 28, 1967 in Houston, Ali refused three (3) times to step forward at the call of his name. An officer warned him that he was committing a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. When Ali’s name was called for the last time, he refused to step forward and the New York State Athletic Commission suspended his boxing license and stripped him of his title.

By 1968 the Vietnam War was costing 66 million dollars per day and President Lyndon B. Johnson responded by increasing income taxes and cutting back on his programs to deal with poverty which obviously had the greatest affect on the black population.

Martin Luther King and other Civil Rights leaders pointed that because of the draft deferment enjoyed by college students, it was the poor who were more likely to be sent to Vietnam. Another, notable Civil Rights activist, Eldridge Cleaver, pointed out, that in many southern states, blacks were being denied the right to vote in elections. Cleaver stated that. “blacks were fighting in Vietnam for something they don’t have for themselves.”

In the late 1960s, demonstrations against the war steadily increased in size with well over one million people attending one in New York, In 1967, Vietnam Veterans Against the War was formed and began to demonstrate all over America. People watched on television as Vietnam heroes threw away the medals they had won fighting the war.

PART II in the Series will cover:

THE MAJOR PROTEST MOVEMENTS