The Anti-War Movement: The Fight Against Communism

1st November 1955 and the United States of America are united in fighting against Communism. Hundreds of young American men have been recruited “against” their will, to serve their government’s military service in Vietnam, assisting the South in fighting off the Communist North.

In Vietnam, American troops with no answers as to who the enemy was and why they were fighting, young men found themselves trapped in a tough unfamiliar environment amongst heavy guerrilla warfare. Later they would speak out about the horrors they had not only seen but also committed. This left a stain on American history forever.

Meanwhile groups of students were starting Anti-war movements, against joining a war after seeing the effects of warfare on their own
The american public began to doubt the cause which they had so strongly believed in. The limits to american power was under immense scrutiny and the conflict arose: those who wanted to see the end and those who wanted the war to continue.

The Anti-war Movement was under way, with parties from almost every group imaginable fighting for peace. Numerous protests on unthinkable scales and the dedication of the people involved had an undeniable effect on the policies and politics surrounding the Vietnam War and changed the world perspective on the issue.
This assignment places the effects of these anti-war protests on the outcome of the Vietnam War in question. Were the protests at all effective in altering the outcome, if so to what extent? What about this war caused such an uprising in the American community? And the biggest question - why Vietnam? CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND OF THE VIETNAM
They strongly opposed the war but especially the drafting of students to go fight against their will. By about 1969 the SDS had divided into several separate factions, some of which chose to focus on joining up with other protest groups while others such as the “Weathermen” used terrorist tactics in their approach.

The ‘weathermen’ otherwise known as the ‘weathermen underground’ were group of Chicago students that split from the SDS. They disagreed with the peaceful approach of the SDS and sought to take a more militant and violent approach. They bombed mostly government buildings and organised riots, they did almost always send out warnings before bombing a building and no one ever killed due to one of their bombs. They also organised riots such as the ‘Days of Rage’ on the 1969 in Chicago.

It is indisputable that students played one of the largest roles in protest, from sit-ins and teach-ins to bombings and riots. They shook the foundations of the American belief on the Vietnam War. They stood up for the thousands of troops in