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E.1.d. USA
Explores the conflict between law and morality, and case for civil disobedience, with reference mainly to six well known prosecutions, including: the Fort Hood Three (GIs who refused to be posted to Vietnam); Dr Spock and others in 1967-68 charged with conspiracy to violate draft laws; and Daniel and Philip Berrigan and five other who burnt draft files at Catonsville in 1968.
The book focuses on 'year' August 1969-1970, and explores the roots of the movement against the Vietnam War in the Civil Rights Movement, citing testimony of those involved.
Diary of a participant in this defiance of the US prohibition on taking supplies to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
Traces the growth of disillusionment with the war amongst American GIs and the increasingly militant opposition within the US forces. Extracts published as pamphlet ‘GI Revolts: The Breakdown of the US Army in Vietnam’, available online: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/richard-boyle-gi-revolts-the-breakdown-of-the-u-s-army-in-vietnam
Argues radical left never had a cohesive centre and that when movement most confrontational, its liberal wing was working most effectively with the political system. Suggests the movement became associated with social and cultural iconoclasm, which appeal to sections of middle classes, but that the broader public eventually opposed both the war and the antiwar protest, because ‘both seemed to threaten the established social order’.
Detailed and well researched account. Final chapter by Charles Chatfield analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the movement and influence on US policy. Concludes that anti-war activists contributed to the growth of public disaffection with the war, but could not harness it, but that both Johnson and Nixon Administrations adapted their policies in response to pressure from dissenters.
Traces the emergence of (belated) trade union opposition from a November 1967 conference in Chicago, attended by 523 trade unionists from 38 states and 63 international unions, which established the trade union division of the peace organization SANE. Includes a chapter on labour-student alliances.
Using archival research, explores both how the Civil Rights Movement reacted to the Vietnam War, and also examines relations between black groups opposed to the War and the wider peace movement, and difficulties that arose.
Traces the rise of the anti-Vietnam War movement, including accounts of the ideological and institutional rivalries between organizations, and covers all the major demonstrations and civil disobedience actions from the Students for a Democratic Society March on Washington in 1965 to US withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973.
Structured in sections covering key events and key individuals in movement against Vietnam War, and includes a chapter assessing strength and weaknesses of movement. Extensive footnotes and bibliography.
Covers origins and development of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and key events, as well as attempts to recruit Afro-American veterans and the role of women in the organization.
Deals with conscientious objection in US during the Vietnam War, 1961-1975.
Records how the Teach-In movement began modestly in a mid-West campus in 1965 but spread across the country, engaging many students and professors, and released a vast quantity of material about the Vietnam War. For first teach-in see: ‘History of Education: Selected Moments of the 20th Century: 1965 First ‘Teach-in’ held at University of Michigan: New Tool for Further Education is Born’:
http://schugurensky.faculty.asu.edu/moments/1965teachin.html
Draws on interviews and personal stories to examine how the ideal of the ‘citizen soldier’ encouraged thousands to move towards opposition to the Vietnam war.
Argues that, although all forms of opposition had some effect, those that involved the greatest self-sacrifice tended to work best. However, these sacrifices had most impact first time or two, before the public came to accept and then ignore them. Concludes that opposition to the war did not cause US failure, but forced the government to recognize this failure.
Traces emergence of Students for a Democratic Society from 1960-1970, with a major focus on campaigns against the Vietnam War, including the 1965 March on Washington.
A personal account which includes a brief summary of the course of the war and statistics on the scale of draft resistance and desertion.
Focus on the presidents and their relationship with the Vietnam Anti-War Movements between 1961 and 1975.
Includes essays, articles and poems by black opponents of the war, including Martin Luther King, James Baldwin, and (in a section ‘The Black Soldier’) extracts from the diaries of black GIs and the Statement of Aims of ‘GIs United Against the War in Vietnam’. Taylor notes how the advice to African Americans from some leaders to ‘prove themselves worthy’ by taking part in the war in Vietnam became increasingly discredited.