America in the 60s: Social Reformation

To cope with the number of troops needed to fight this cold war battle, the U.S. instituted a draft and sent many young Americans to Vietnam. The counterculture generation of the 60’s saw this as a battle that needed not be fought and some went but most burned draft cards in protest and fled to Canada or Mexico. This war became very unpopular as the government started to not be trusted by the people anymore and this caused much political unrest. Many people were divided into the doves and hawks. Doves were those who supported the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the Hawks were those who supported the War. The growing anti-war movement was fueled by the young draft dodgers who didn’t support the war and by events such as the Kent State shootings and the My Lai massacre. The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago that year and it exploded into a riot due to anti-war protestors. 23,000 police and 10,000 National Guardsmen were brought in to break up the 10,000 protestors (Wikipedia). Even veterans from Vietnam were against the war. The group called the Vietnam Veterans Against The War testified in televised congressional hearings against the war (Wikipedia). The war changed the social and political structure of America because there was never an issue as great as this before. This War divided the country greatly and had the government not being trusted by its own people. It caused great economic strains on America as it was dragged on and the cost was starting to get too high. This war made Americans realize that the government doesn’t tell them everything and they should watch more closely.

America went through a really big political and social revolution throughout the 60’s. The counterculture of the young generation, the liberalism in the politics, the fight for rights that were promised, and a war that was completely unjustified caused America to change to one that would never be the same. Equal opportunity was everywhere for everyone, due to the civil rights movement, the war caused many people not to trust the government and to decide what was a good reason for dying for the country, and the counterculture of the generation of baby boomers caused much political and social unrest because of the radical ideas they had and were trying to get across to America. America can never be the same after this drastic chain of events.