American Peace Protests 1960s

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As the years go by it seems more and more people forget about one of the biggest social movements in american history. The American Peace Protests of the 1960’s perfectly demonstrated the purpose and importance of the first amendment in the ways of collectively uniting the nation in a time of hardship. What started as small groups of intellectuals amongst colleges nationwide turned into a squad of tranquil measures to ensure justice through hundreds of marches and protests for the young men fighting purposelessly in the Vietnam War. The most memorable and significant of these protests are as follows: The 1967 March on the Pentagon, Chicago Seven, and the Kent State Tragedy Shootings. On October 21st, 1967 over 100,000 people gathered at the …show more content…
The Chicago Seven was a court trial in 1968 indighting, originally eight, war protesting radicals for inciting a riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The trial lasted for five months and collected the attention of witnesses at the riots and also all other protesters and commonwealth across the nation. At the start, there were eight defendants by the names of: David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, John Froines, Lee Weiner, and Bobby Seale. These eight youths had plenty of involvement in social organisations prior to the DNC riots so this made it that much easier to convict these several radicals. Through the duration of the trials there were almost sub-riots in the streets and some called this “Days of Rage”. “...some ten thousand or so demonstrators gathered—enough to trigger a week of violent confrontations with the police, including one later termed by a federal commission a “police riot” (Chicago Seven). This is because of the social tensions already in circulation at the time, but also with Bobby Seale’s attempts to speak his truths, he is bound and gagged in the courtroom for a recorded three whole days. “Judge Julius Hoffman gave the order to gag Seale after he repeatedly shouted accusations and insults at the judge and prosecution and disrupted the court proceedings”(Chicago Seven). This has been noticed …show more content…
This protest happened toward the end of the movement and left the entire nation in complete shock. The shootings at Kent State University opened the eyes of millions and is remembered as the dark side of the VIetnam War protests. On this fateful day hundreds of college students stormed the Dean Office building to spread their message on the efforts of the war and the Cambodian Invasion said to have happened upon approval of President Richard Nixon. The protest was caused by the clashing of angered students with the Ohio National Guard that resulted in declaring this a state of emergency and the police to contact Governor of Ohio James Rhodes for further help to contain the violent crowd. “...there were reports of violent clashes between students and local police. Police alleged that their cars were hit with bottles, and that students stopped traffic and lit bonfires in the streets” (Kent State Shooting). By this time the students have become a downright outrage and the police and neighboring defenders sought the action of using tear gas to stunt the crowd and gain control. Given the radical outbursts throughout this almost riot, one could have never imagined what would be the outcome. As the protest was veering an end, hundreds of students sat on the steps outside of a campus building and were the targets of the firing squad of the
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