Another question in my "A Father's Legacy" journal asks, "Have you ever believed so strongly in a cause that you marched in a rally or demonstrated in protest? What was the cause? Why was it important to you?"It was the spring of my senior year at Syracuse, May 1970. The United States was deeply entrenched (Boys and girls, can you say "quagmire"?) in the Viet Nam War. The country was divided and tempers flared up frequently between the 'hawks' and the 'doves'. "America! Love it or Leave it!" was often directed at those 'hippy protesters'. And many youth, in response to the military draft: "Hell, no! We won't go!"
President Nixon had just issued orders for the US to bomb and invade Cambodia. This caused college campuses across the nation to erupt in protests. At Kent State University in Ohio, the National Guardsmen were called in to control the demonstrators. In the midst of the protests, the Guard fired on the demonstrators resulting in four people being killed. This became a battle cry for further and more intense demonstrations.At Syracuse, as at many colleges and universities, students went on strike, setting up barricades and occupying campus buildings. Things were a mess. Strike headquarters were set up, and students wore 'Strike' armbands. To some, it was serious business...to others, it was the 'cool' thing to do. No matter what, something needed to be done. Our voices needed to be heard. It was the youth of the country who were being shipped off to this war. [Note as a reference: at that time, you could not vote until you were 21. This was lowered to 18 by the 26Th Amendment to the Constitution in 1971.]
We marched, made signs, attended rallies and watched the news. Did it do any good? Well, at least we felt we were doing something. The atmosphere in the spring of my senior year was light years away from the complacent Beach Boy surfer party environment of 1966. It was now acid rock and hippies and many turned to "Turn on. Tune in. Drop out." We were trying to say, "Wake up America!" Things were a mess!
But, I guess all things are relative. It is now 2006. Do we learn nothing?
1 comment:
My children were in their teens or approaching that exciting stage of life during the Vietnam War. There was also the civil rights movement, the backlash to which produced assassinations and race riots. And we had a Belgian foreign exchange student who arrived at the time of the riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968. She was almost ready to go back to Brussels until we explained that the riot was hundreds of miles away from Billings, Montana, where we lived. It was a tumultous time to be raising a family, but meeting its challenges helped us all grow as thoughtful and responsible people
Jim Masters
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