War Protesters & the Counter-Culture

1. War Protesters & the Counter-Culture

2. Anti-War Movement The anti-war movement was heavily influenced by the Civil Rights Movement • Students for Democratic Society – “New Left” movement - called for greater individual freedom in the US • Teach-ins – students and teachers across US colleges abandoned their classes to discuss the Vietnam War and their opposition to it • Burning Draft Cards – many young men did not want to fight in a conflict they felt was wrong so they burned draft cards to protest • Dr. King Protests the War – King began to publicly criticize the war when it became apparent that many of the soldiers fighting and dying were poor and African American.

3. Hawks Wanted the US to continue the war Doves Wanted US to withdraw from the war By 1968, Polls Showed the Country Was Split Down the Middle

6. 1968 Democratic Convention • Saddened & angered by the deaths of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the loss of Robert F. Kennedy, the war in Vietnam, students came to protest. • Mayor Daly, a traditional, big city mayor wanted a peaceful, orderly convention. Forbade protest and sent lots of police • Result: Riots & Chaos • Convention lost Democrats the election. If they can’t run a convention, how can they run the country?

7. Election of 1968 Richard Nixon (R) vs. Hubert Humphrey (D) • Nixon wins and promises to “Bring Us Together” and end the war Remember, LBJ did not run for re-election due to unpopularity of the war

8. Youth Counterculture • Counterculture of 1950’s and early 1960’s trying to combine personal freedom with new social arrangements • From Mid-1960’s counterculture a combination of Eastern religion, social radicalism, & evangelistic belief in LSD

9. LSD

10. Communes & Cults • Thousands of Americans in late 1960’s and 1970’s formed communes where they tried to combine individual freedom & spontaneity with cooperative living • Artificial arrangements supported by government or family

11. Woodstock 1969

12. Background • Woodstock was a music festival, held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm near White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York. • Lasted from August 15 to August 18, 1969. It was a free concert/festival to help promote peace, art, and music, in a time of war.

13. Festival Information • 300,000 people attended • Huge traffic jams • Bad sanitation • Weather conditions were poor, but it did not effect the spirits of the concert goers

15. Drugs • Many drugs were used at Woodstock • The primary drugs were marijuana and LSD. • They were used as an ice breaker to interact with fellow concert goers Lots of “bad acid” at Woodstock

16. Aftermath • Two people died, two babies were born, and four miscarries • The state of New York passed laws to prevent something like Woodstock from happening again

17. “Consumerism in Tie-Dye” • Woodstock an excursion, not a life-altering commitment • Woodstock generation still part of the market economy • Not really social reformers or revolutionaries

18. Jackson State and Kent State • National Guardsmen killed four Kent State student protesters on campus • Ten days later two student protesters were killed at Jackson State

19. How do you think people who fought WWII and lived in the 1950’s viewed the war protesters and the counter-culture? • What might they do in reaction to these youthful protesters? • How do people react to change?

20. Songs from the 1960’s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COiCF1NUmDg&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnOoNM0U6oc&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-kA3UtBj4M&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active