-
War started
The US declares because of the gulf of Tokin incident and also to prevent the spread of comunism. At this time not many were oposed. -
US begins regular bombing of North Vietnam.
The US bombing causes more and more people join the movement. Also during this time the conscription of the war was also increased. -
Resisting the Draft
Many people started burning their draft cards in protest of the conscription. Even though students were exempt from the draft they still demanded the right for people to decide to fight for their country or not. -
Student Protest
2,500 students from the university of Michigan attended a protesting the draft and soon these protest spread throughout campuses all throughout the country. -
Draft increases
The draft increased from just 3,000 men a month in February to 33,000 in October. This caused the movement to national and international prominence. Many anti war demonstrations were being held in cities across the US and there were even demonstrations internationally in cities like London, Paris, and Rome. -
Period: to
Casualties worsen and more protests pop up.
Even though at the end of 1965 many Americans supported the government as the war went on more and more turned against the government. There were more and more protests and by the end of 1967 there were almost 500,000 troops in Vietnam and 11,058 had been killed and 56,013 wounded. By may 1968 562 troops died in just one week. -
The first draft lottery is conducted
On December 1st of 1969 the US did the first draft lottery since WWII and it was quite controversial. Many young men fled the draft by fleeing to Canada. One such controversy was that many of those drafted in it were African Americans or other minorities. Also the US at the time was spending 25 billion dollars a year on the war which to cover the costs the Government shifted money from the war against poverty. -
Veterans start to protest
Many troops started to think about the morality of the war they were fighting, and in fact between 1960 and 1973 over 500,000 soldiers deserted the army. -
The My Lai massacre, Cambodia invasion, and more controversy
The My Lai massacre and the invasion of Cambodia reached the public in 1970 and made more people go to the cause and also in May 4 of 1970 national guard forces shot into a group of demonstrating students at Kent State University killing 4 and wounding 16. -
Protests at DC
There were huge protests in Washington DC with many veterans usually in crutches or wheelchairs. The veterans would often throw away their medals that they got during the war as a way of saying how futile this war was. From there being 100,000 demonstrators in 1967 to 300,000 in 1971. -
Nixon ends the war
There was intense public opinion and the many huge protest all over the country and in DC such as the march on the Pentagon and the protest at the Lincoln memorial. Because of all this president Nixon announced the withdrawal of all US troops in Vietnam and ending the involvement in the Vietnam war.
