Remember when burning your draft card was a anti-war statement? The first protest of this nature was held at Berkley, University of California, on May 5, 1965. There was a group of about forty students who went to the draft board at Berkley and burned their draft cards in a demonstration. In July, Johnson had doubled the amount of men that were being called to war, from 17,000 to 35,000 per month. Then Johnson signed a law that would make it illegal to burn you draft card on August 31, 1965. When the number went to 40,000 per month, the protest led to draft card turn ins on October 16, 1967 and there were more than a 1000 cards turned in all across the country. This led to the arrest of Dr. Benjamin Spock and Yale Chaplain William Sloane Coffin Jr. as ring leaders of the movement, in Boston 1968.
Many men went to Canada and Sweden to escape the draft, others went to college or got married. There were a couple of men who went as far as setting themselves on fire, one in front of the pentagon and the other in front of the United Nations. Some joined the National Guard or entered the Peace Corps to escape. Arlo Guthrie wrote the song "Alice's Restaurant" to protest the Viet Nam War.
I would like to know if you burned your draft card? Did you know anyone who did? Let us know what you think. Were you for or against the war?
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Comments: 40 ( 2 removed by Lela M. )
To answer your question yes I do support what we were trying to accomplish in Vietnam. More importantly I support the vets who were treated very poorly by many of this country.
It doesn't matter whether I support this war, or any war. I support the men and women in our military. Period. If that means that I must, by default, support a war, then yes, I do support it, wholeheartedly. Again honestly, I'm not sure the two can successfully be separated. The burning question is not whether I support the war or not, but do I support the way our so-called supreme leader is conducting it, and that answer is a resounding NO. The same answer applies to Vietnam. Fortunately he won't be our so-called supreme leader much longer. UNfortunately, I don't see anyone on the horizon who will turn it into any less of a mess than he has already made of it. There are ways that it could be done, but again, the vast majority of the American public would be outraged if any of them were employed just as they would have been in Vietnam.
Dee, I agree that supporting the war and supporting the troops can probably not be successfully separated, so for that reason, I choose not to support the troops, because when all is said and done, even though they didn't cause the war, they make it possible for our "leaders" to conduct warfare. Somebody once said, "What if they held a war and nobody showed up?" What a wonderful thought! I can support people who think for themselves and make conscious decisions about what decisions they will or will not stand behind, but I cannot support people who blindly follow just because our "leaders" tell us to. During the Vietnam War, we had the draft and people had to break the law to avoid going to war. A lot of men did just that, and I applaud their decision. Today, we don't have a draft, and the troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are there because they chose to be there. So, if I don't support the war, there is no way I can support the troops. I realize this isn't a politically correct stance, but I don't care. War is never the answer to any dispute. There are always other ways to deal with conflict. Just as violence is not a way to deal with domestic or interpersonal affairs. Conflict is inevitable... violence is not.
I think we need to pick our wars carefully. The U.S. getting involved in WWII for instance, in my opinion, was the right thing to do. Continuing the fight in Viet Nam was wrong, we should of never escalated to where we did. The Iraq war is wrong because we are there under a leader ship that lied to us. We weren't going after the nation that sent the hijackers, we were going after a country that was ripe for the picking in the eyes of the administration. Afghanistan a different story. I think we can support our men and women in the military and not support a war. It's not of their making but of the administration that's in power.
I hated that war what it did to our own troops and the Vietnamese people with agent orange, but I love and supported our soldiers. They were all either drafted or volunteering because they felt they should. I also loved those who felt they should not enter the war and left for Canada or somewhere else. I do not believe in the draft.
I don't believe in war at all, we should have learned a better way by now.
My father was killed in WWII and now the Freedom of Information Act reveals that FDR pulled a terrible trick to get us into the War that resulted in the huge loss of the fleet in Hawaii. So even that war was built on lies by our leaders, while those who fought and died thought they went to a noble cause. It has ever been so. We need to advance into the 21st Century and quit killing each other.
For a better insight, see my article "Veterans Day-No Longer Forgotten (Nov. 11).
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
Julian Lennon posted this on his MySpace blog some time ago.
I wasn't born cynical. I arrived at my position through careful research into human nature.
BTW, I don't regret going to that demonstration or any of the others I went to.
I had friends that went both ways. some volunteered and others protested. I listened to both and withheld judgement as there were many good points both ways. I met one soldier recently back and after the horror stories he had told me of treatment by the Vietnamese to our soldiers and then listen to an Uncle who had was visiting America from behind the Iron Curtain and the horrific stories he told of mere common life, I knew that I did not know enough to pass judgement on either our government or what was declared deserters. A tough time for those looking for the light.
What I want to know is what does this have to do with Sudoku - which is where I found this article?
- Jeanjaz
My brother was drafted, he had just gotten married. ..............Norma
[donaldandnorma.gather]
In answer to your question, yes I do support what we were trying to accomplish in Vietnam. More importantly I support the Vets who were treated so poorly by so much of this country. I also pray that this country never again will treat those who answer the call and sacrifice more than most will ever understand so shamefully that it still hurts and brings tears to the eyes of grown men! And those of us who worked to help them rebuild their life's once more!
As you can probably tell I didn't have time or the mind set for the hippie thing or the anti war movement! Even with home base being here in California!
I suppose now and until the draft is re-instituted, the symbolism of burning draft cards is only a trivial footnote for this era.
Nice article.