In another Hip forum I stated that IMO it was the kids who were the primary force in ending the blasphemy in Viet Nam. I was jumped on by a young’un, but since I didn't want to start a cyber-flame war with him, I thought maybe I could get thoughts and opinions on the subject from a more experienced crowd. Here is an excellent article: The Anti-War Movement http://www.hippy.com/article-203.html Did the kid’s stop the war? Looking for thoughts and ideas, not just a vote …. thanks. Have fun and play safely!
What do you consider to be kids? I agree that it was primarily the youth that brought obout disengagement.
The youth of our nation might be a better term, but since I was 38 in 1972 I think of them as kids even though some were older than I was at the time. Michelle Obama 2016 __________________ Getting high With a little help …. from my friends!
i think we had a huge hand in stopping the war. i was 13 when i attended my first peace rally in washington square in 1965. there were maybe a thousand or so people there but this was in greenwich village, the home of free liberal thought in nyc at the time, so that was to be expected. by a couple of years later we were thousands marching up 5th avenue being spit on and attacked by construction workers and my dad's union, the teamsters, amongst others for being anti-american. and by 1968-9 there were the rallies in washington d.c. that 100,000's ( if not more...the press usually under-estimated our numbers) attended. but here's what i think put the nail in the coffin of the war. the birthday draft, as you might remember, was instituted in 1970. student deferments stopped, as did deferments for married men and anyone under the age of 27. if your birthday was in the top 125 you were pretty much gonna be drafted. this changed the opinion of LOTS of upper middle class and wealthy families who now had to face the prospect of sending their kids to 'nam.... something that just sending that boy to college helped avoid in the previous years. an already unpopular war immediately got a whole lot more unpopular. that's why i found it telling that many people who were against going into iraq actually called for a draft. remembering what had happened during the vietnam war, they knew that if every senator's/congressman's son or (now) daughter had the possibility of being sent there...well it just might change the way they looked at engaging in this war.
.... ^^^^ .... Thank you for doing your bit in ending the blasphemy. It would be wonderful if today's youth were willing to do more to end the abomination in the middle east than smoke dope, listen to music, and say, "Peace, man." Maybe we do need universal conscription with no deferments.
Many factors brought about the end of the war. Yes the youth played a part but sadly those same young people that protested against it found themselves fighting that war. I think the media played a big part in stopping it, It was brought into our living rooms every night on the news. And yup the birthday draft is what got me. I got drafted right out of high school so that hit home to. Whatever stoped it in the end we may never know. Maybe the government just finally got the point that having our kids killed for nothing was not worth it. Peace
I agree OldTroll...I would like to see more of the '60s in 2008 and beyond. It feels like nobody is speaking out anymore. What to do....I suppose a bunch of us old hippies could hit the high schools and round up a bunch of kids for some kick-ass demonstrations (lol kidding...kind of).
The children of the 60's were more politically involved then todays youth; simply because WE had to be. Why? Because we had forced induction.
