To what extent did the anti-war movement achieve its

aims? Lesson objectives:

To know the context for the Vietnam warTo be able to identify and explain reasons why the war

was unpopularTo examine the impacts of the anti-war movement and

analyse whether they were effective

Questions to ask?• What do you

know about the Vietnam War?

• What do you want to know?

Good Morning Vietnam!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX3lPf084U

Questions to ask?• Use Edexcel

to answer your questions.

The Domino Theory

Why did the Vietnam War become unpopular with many

Americans?

Why did the Vietnam War become unpopular with many Americans?

• Tens of thousands of Americans died• The war cost billions of dollars• The war seemed unwinnable • The war seemed racist and tens of

thousands of Vietnamese were killed• The draft forced many people to fight• It was easy for rich whites to dodge the

draft• America lost the propaganda battle

Losing the propaganda battle

Anti-war actionsGroup Why? Action ConsequencesStudents for a Democratic Society

Mass anti-war rally

Teach ins

Draft burning

Anti-war coalition/ Vietnam Day Committee

San Francisco Diggers Black campaigners

Youth International Party

Group Why? Action ConsequencesStudents for a Democratic Society

1. Believed that the war was corrupt2. They were particularly worried about the draft3. Many knew friends who had been killed or injured

Mass anti-war rally in Washington D.C. in 1965 – 20,000 attended. Teach ins used to encourage students to speak out. They spread across universities and academics became involved. Draft burning were organised gatherings in which draft cards were burnt in protest at the war. The govt responded by making this illegal.

The protests did not bring an end to the war.

A majority of Americans continued to give their support.

The protests did result in LBJ not standing for office again.

The victor of the 1968 election was Richard Nixon. Nixon was a Republican. He had little sympathy for the Civil Rights movement and sought to reassert traditional values. The counterculture movement fizzled out. The residue continued with their drugs and sex but lost their political voice.

Anti-war coalition/ Vietnam Day Committee

40,000 headed to Washington D.C. and marched from White House to Lincoln Memorial chanting slogans like ‘Hey, hey, LBJ, how many men have you killed today!’

San Francisco Diggers

Organised human be-in to protest against Vietnam War and banning of LSD.

Black campaigners

Summed up by Ali ‘ain’t got no problem with no Vietcong’. Also drained money for ‘Great Society’ projects.

SNCC were very involved in the teach-ins.Martin Luther King eventually spoke out against the war in 1967 (for a long time he had resisted as he didn’t want to ruin relations with LBJ) Muhammad Ali went to prison for refusing to sign up.

Youth International Party

Were against all authority

Flag contained marijuana leaf. They organised anti-war march on the pentagon and put forward a pig for presidential election in ’68.

The impact of the anti-war movement.

• Failed to persuade the American people that the war was unjust.

• 1968: 56% ‘hawks’ 28% ‘doves’• Some felt protests undermined the

efforts of the troops• Media continued to support

campaign

1960s biography • Imagine you are writing a biography of the

1960s.• For your book you need1)A catchy title2)A one paragraph summary of your viewpoint

on the achievements and failings of the 60s3)A chapter break down for book (7 chapters

each with a couple of sentences explaining what the chapter is about)

4)A cover image – drawn or taken from the internet.

Conclusion• Counterculture largely disappeared by

1970.• Some hippie communes infiltrated by

criminals like Charles Manson.• Communes could not cope with the

needs of vulnerable.• Many women found sexual liberation led

to sexual exploitation.