Vietnam+(American+Homefront)

 Vietnam on the American Homefront Taylor Nawn

//During the Vietnam War, not only were there problems on the battlefield but also on the home front. These problems included the draft, also called conscription, the assassination of President Kennedy, racial discrimination and the laws that followed, the rise of hippies, and the rise of the "Black Power". Many believed the war was unimportant and the United States had no business, and instead should focus on their real enemies- China and the Soviet Union. Thus, demonstrations and protests were created and problems followed.//

 Demonstrations were used to protest the Vietnam war//.// The number of Americans that opposed the war grew rapidly as the war grew on. The use of chemical weapons angered Americans, and to prove why it was wrong a Quaker, Norman Morrison, lit himself on fire and burnt himself to death. Two other people, Roger La Porte and Alice Herz//,// did the same//.// Not only did the use of chemical weapons upset Americans but the growing need of soldiers angered men.Demonstrations kept growing and reached millions of people. Most of the support for the war came from middle class families who's sons were not at risk to be drafted for the war. In 1967 the movement Vietnam Veterans Against the War was created. Many of the men in this group were crippled (wheel chairs, crutches, etc.). Many of them also threw away the medals they had won fighting in the war because they meant nothing to them. On soldier addressed his apology saying: //"I hope that someday I can return to Vietnam and help to rebuild that country we tore apart."// media type="youtube" key="lTJgMmHZNYQ" height="349" width="425"  Conscription, or the draft, caused many men to flee the country or hide to avoid entering the Vietnam war. Many fled to Canada because draft evasion was not a criminal offense, unlike in the United States where it was a federal crime. The Canadian government was also very welcoming. Many people considered this an attack on people's rights and so protests continued. In 1965 a man by the name of David Miller burnt his draft card and was sentenced to two and half years in prison. This led to groups of men getting together and burning their draft cards in order to avoid being drafted. Between 1963 and 1973, 9, 118 were prosecuted for avoiding the draft. One of the most famous people that was prosecuted was Muhammad Ali. Between 1960 and 1973 503, 926 soldiers deserted the war. One soldier, Keith Franklin, wrote a letter. On May 12, 1970 he died :  //"If you are reading this letter, you will never see me again, the reason being that if you are reading this I have died. The question is whether or not my death has been in vain. The answer is yes. The war that has taken my life and many thousands before me is immoral, unlawful and an atrocity... I had no choice as to my fate. It was predetermined by the war-mongering hypocrites in Washington. As I lie dead, please grant my last request. Help me inform the American people, the silent majority who have not yet voiced their opinions." // Many soldiers began asking themselves why they are in this war and wanted to leave.



 President Kennedy made his inaugural address on January 20th, 1961, he was the 35th president of the United States. Also known as JFK, he was a strong believer in containing communism. After a few of his plans, like the 'Strategic Hamlet' program which was meant to help the people of southern Vietnam but ended up causing hundreds of peasants to support northern Vietnam, more soldiers to be drafted and more uproar from the home front continued. JFK also worked hard in order to end racial discrimination. When violent riots occurred in multiple states President Kennedy decided to take a powerful take on things an address the problem. On June 11, 1963 the president made a televised broadcast and explained that the county was in a 'moral crisis'. On November 21, 1963 as President Kennedy was driving through Dallas to address one of his speeches, Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president. President John F. Kennedy died a short time after. That night Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald as he was being transferred to a different facility. Lyndon Johnson became the new president.



 Racial views of the war began to increase. Blacks were upset because of the cost of the war. President Johnson decided to raise taxes and cut back on his programs for poverty. Since the majority of blacks lived in poverty this decision angered them. Also many believed that since men with money were attending college, who were eligible for the draft, the poor people, or blacks, were going to be sent to Vietnam. The right to vote in elections was also taken away from blacks. As a result cities were victims to violent riots in black ghettos. Another revolution was beginning in America and some feared that troops would be needed here more than any place else.



 The Hippie generation began in San Francisco, California and made its way through the United States. This began in the 1960's. Hippies were from ages 15-25. They had radical beliefs, rejected their parent's beliefs, ran away from home, and others felt like they fit in with the hippie crowd. The majority of hippies came from middle class families with a lot of money. They were described as "spoiled and wasting their life away". Hippies saw their way of life as getting away from people and reaching their goals without any interference. Hippies relocated to an area in San Fransisco known as the Haight Ashbury District. Tours were given at this area but many people saw hippies as aliens and no one else could relate to them. The Hippies also went to two parks near their district. The most famous one was the Golden Gate Park. A festival called the Trips Festival was a very popular event. This event lasted for a week and was created to celebrate the LSD experience. There were also many concerts at the Golden Gate Park that hippies enjoyed watching. Another park was called the Buena Vista Park. This park was known for housing hippies at night and a social hour during the day. In 1969 400,000 young people went to upstate New York for a festival. These people could wear clothes, or no clothes at all, drink and smoke, enjoy the time of others, and just appreciate who they are. This festival became known as Woodstock. Drugs and music were the two most important things to hippies. The use of marijuana increased to 8,000,000 from the ages of 12 to seniors in college. Drugs were a big factor in the hippie generation, especially experimenting with them. LSD was one of those experimenting drugs. Hippies believed it made them 'in touch with their surroundings'. They even went as far as to making a religion out of it. Although hippies tore families apart and divided America into two,hippies and the rest of America did have one thing in common- the demand to end the war. Hippies joined in on the protests and demonstrations to bring the troops home safely.



 The Rise of the Black Power was an important separatists movement in the 1960's. The Black Muslims believed that the white race was doomed. Muslims also influenced black Americans to join their movement. Muslims also forbade eating cornbread, pork, drinking alcohol, and smoking cigarettes. The most notorious person in the rise of the black power was Malcolm X. Malcolm X was an addict and criminal and became known as the speaker for the Muslims. He was also strongly against Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and referred to him as a 'chump'. After withdrawing from Elijah Muhammad's organization, Malcolm X created his own group for Afro-Americans.On February 21, 1965 Malcolm X was shot and killed in front of 400 people by followers of Elijah Muhammad. The blacks all wanted the same thing-to end racial discrimination. The black power continued and influenced followers to embrace their race, although it was only a small amount. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. however was seen as the 'star spokesperson' for their blacks and had many followers and was known as a strong believer for civil rights. On April 4, 1968 he was assassinated on the porch of a Memphis Motel.

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Work cited:


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