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Ngo Dinh Diem Protests
The catholic Prime Minister of Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem was a very corrupt ruler. He hated Buddhists (which took up a vast majority of the Vietnam population) & was responsible for the death of many. In response to this, a buddhist Monk named Quang Duc lit himself on fire & burned to death to protest the inequality his people were facing. The picture taken won the Pulitzer prize & shocked/disturbed many people around the world. Diem's reign sharply declined & he was assassinated soon after this. -
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Timeline Summary
A lot of anti war beliefs started with Operation Rolling Thunder. People questioned America's true intentions in why they got involved in the war. Other events like the Tet Offensive, releasing of the Pentagon Papers, & the My Lai Massacre led to an intense decline in support of the war. The movements are similar because they both involve people using their voice to speak out against what they believe is not okay/fair. It showed that strength came in numbers & it could make a drastic difference -
Selma-Montgomery March
MLK Jr along with SCLC marched from selma to montgomery to protest against those preventing black men and women from voting. This 5 day march resulted in LBJ requesting a more strict voting rights bill to protect the rights of African Americans. -
Pentagon Riot
In the first national demonstration against the war, thousands of people gathered to protest at the Pentagon. People of all cultural backgrounds joined together & demanded that the war ended & Johnson change his policies. People began to climb their way into the Pentagon and wreak havoc; over 600 were arrested. They succeeded in grabbing the publics attention. -
Orangeburg Massacre
200 students gathered together at SC's state campus to protest the segregation at a local bowling alley. Policemen that were startled by some commotion began to fire into the crowd killing 3 black students & injuring 27. The officers were ultimately acquitted of all charges. -
Memphis Sanitation workers Strike
On february 2 1968, over a thousand black sanitation workers in Memphis went on a strike to protest the city and how they neglected their black workers, as well as not giving them equal pay. Two black workers were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck days prior which helped to spark the strike. A few months later the city and workers came to an agreement and promised a higher wage & less neglect. -
Colombia University Hunger Strike
On the start of Vietnamese New year (known as Tet), North Vietnam/Vietcong carried out a secret invasion to attack 12 U.S. military bases in South Vietnam along w/ numerous cities. This attack helped fuel the Anti-war movement b/c it showed Americans that they weren't as invincible as the gov.t had led them to believe. In response to this, the students of Colombia University went on a strike that lasted 6 weeks. This had a domino effect & occurred at other universities too. -
Hard Hat Riot
Following the Kent State Massacre, people were shocked and outraged. To show respect thousands of anti war protestors held a memorial for the students. Construction workers (in support of the war) began to march through & beat the protestors with their hard hats. -
Kent State Massascre
In an attempt to speak up against Nixon authorizing a preemptive strike for American Troops to cross from South Vietnam into Cambodia, students from Kent State university began to protest. A couple days after the protests began, Ohio Troops were called in to disperse the crowds but ultimately ended up killing 4 students, two of which were just bystanders. This further fueled people's hatred and anger towards Nixon & the Vietnam War. -
26th Amendment Protest
Led by the counterculture youth, these young adults believed in the saying "Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote". These protestors felt like it wasn't fair that 18 yr olds could be sent off to Vietnam but they couldn't vote for the leader that was sending them off to fight a pointless war. These protests (along with Oregon v. Mitchell) led to the passing of the 26th amendment which lowered the Voting age from 21 to 18. -
Roe v Wade Protest
As African Americans and the Hippies fought for their rights, women did too. In support of Roe (in the case of Roe v. Wade) many women protested about women's rights. They said that pregnancy should be the choice of the woman & abortion should be legally provided. These protests led to the Roe V. Wade decision stating that abortion IS constitutional.
