The decade of the 1960s is often referred to as “the turbulent decade,” and much of this turbulence stems from the anti-Vietnam War movement that swept the nation. I’m sure you conjure up the iconic images of protesters placing flowers in the barrels of guns or the countless images of college students holding signs on campuses across the US. So with that in mind, we are going to be asking ourselves an overarching question: Why did many Americans oppose the Vietnam War?
You have been given a timeline of the War, along with 2 documents. After reading the timeline and the documents, answer the following questions:
1. Why did MLK and John Kerry oppose the war?
2. Why did anti-war sentiment grow after 1968?
3. Based on what you’ve read, who opposed the war in Vietnam? Was it mostly college kids?
4. Using all of the documents, why did many Americans oppose the Vietnam War?
5. Considering the context, can you speculate what those Americans who supported the war said?
Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War – The Atlantic
John Kerry – Anti-War Speech (1971) [short clip] – YouTube
Vietnam War Hearing 1971 | C-SPAN.org
