USA Knowledge Organiser 5 – Reactions to US involvement in the Vietnam War, 1964-75 • In 1970 an unarmed student was shot dead by US soldiers on a Key Words university campus in Ohio. He was shot because of the Vietnam War. Three more students were shot and killed, and nine others were 8. Opinion poll A test of public opinion where the same questions wounded. are asked of a large number of people. The • This section of the unit explains how the USA came to be at war with numbers are then analysed to show public feeling. itself over its involvement in Vietnam. 9. Counter- A demonstration held to show opposition to a • The unit also looks at the reasons for the growing opposition to the demonstration demonstration taking place at the same time. war from students, politicians, the media and the public. • Furthermore the unit looks at reasons for the US failure in Vietnam, 10. Counter-culture Refusing to live by the cultural rules of your including the strengths of North Vietnam, the weaknesses of the US society. For the USA at the time, this was following armed forces and strategy and the opposition to the war in the USA. the accepted rules for success: work hard, earn and spend wages, and obey the government. Key Events 11. The draft The draft was compulsory service in the military 1. 1968 - The My Lai Massacre forces. Those selected for the draft were sent draft cards, telling them where and when to report. Men 2. 4th May 1970, The Kent State Shootings were drafted from the age of 18. 3. 1970 - The ‘hard hat’ riot 12. The living room war The Vietnam War was the first war that was widely watched on television and where reporters were 4. March 1973, The Paris Peace Accords regularly allowed to travel with the troops into the 5. Negotiations up to 1972 – between the US and North Vietnam war zone and were not censored. and their allies. 13. Fear of Communism Immediately after the Second World War, Cold War fears in the USA had led to the ‘RED Scare’. Key Movements The Red Scare had lessened by 1954, but fear of 6. The Student Movement – In opposition to the war in communist takeovers abroad was strong. Vietnam. The movement used similar methods to that of rd civil rights campaigners. They held sit-ins, boycotts and 14. The ‘silent majority’ On 3 November 1969, Nixon made a televised protest demonstrations and marches. They also went on speech about policy in Vietnam. In it he appealed strike, refusing to go to classes. Vietnam protesters often for the support he called ’the great silent majority’. burned their draft cards (as did non-student protestors). These were, he implied, Americans who mainly supported his policies, but did not actively 7. Patriots and ‘hard hats’ – supporters of the war came from campaign for or against the war. many social groups, just as opponents of the war did. They had different reasons for supporting the war. Patriotism is the love of and loyalty to, one’s country. Many American’s were fiercely patriotic. The ‘hard hats’ was a nickname for construction workers. The ‘hard hat’ riot of 1970 was a counter demonstration to those demonstrating over the Kent State University shootings.