Title: The student movement and the antiwar movement (article) | Khan Academy
Headings: The student movement and the antiwar movement
The student movement and the antiwar movement
Overview
Origins of the student movement
Vietnam and the rise of the antiwar movement
The role of the media in the antiwar movement
What do you think?
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The Vietnam War

Content: Vietnam and the rise of the antiwar movement
As the US involvement in the Vietnam War intensified, so did antiwar sentiment. Especially after 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson dramatically escalated the US troop presence and bombing campaigns in Vietnam, the war became the focal point for student political activism. Black and white photograph showing a group of young men and women marching and carrying signs protesting the Vietnam War. Students protesting the Vietnam War in 1965. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Student groups held protests and demonstrations, burned draft cards, and chanted slogans like “Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” Massive US spending on the war effort contributed to skyrocketing deficits and deteriorating economic conditions at home, which turned more segments of the American public, including religious groups, civil rights organizations, and eventually even some Vietnam veterans, against the war. Although antiwar activism constrained the president’s ability to further escalate the war effort after 1965, it also lent credence to the conservative portrayal of a chaotic society desperately in need of “law and order.” In 1968, Richard Nixon successfully campaigned for the presidency on the basis of such rhetoric, which implied a harsh approach to dealing with antiwar activists and other challengers of the status quo. Once in office, Nixon attempted to quash domestic dissent by reducing the US troop presence in Vietnam and reforming the draft.