Fight With Flowers, Not Guns.

Cold War Overview:

     The tensions between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. began towards the end of World War II due to differences in views and ideals.  From then on, the leaders of these two world powers could never truly trust one another. After World War II the U.S and the USSR competed for influence around the world in places like Europe, Asia, and Central America.  China fell to communism which made many Americans fear an alliance between China and Russia.  Luckily these tensions never lead either side to use the destructive powers of nuclear weapons which were being constantly developed over the Cold War era.  Immediately after the war, President Truman had the Truman Doctrine passed which stated that communism cannot be allowed to spread.  Unfortunately communism did spread and these tensions forever changed the world.

     The first conflict came in Korea when the U.S.S.R. and U.S. set up opposing governments in the North and South which lead to fighting.  General MacArthur led the fight in Korea, but was discharged when he publicly criticized Truman for not going to war with China. 

The Korean War ended with a cease-fire with the border back at the 38^th parallel.  Vietnam was also a hot-bed for conflict when communist leaders began taking control of the country.  This war also ended in a stalemate and the country end up falling into communist hands.

     Conflict also sparked in Europe during the Hungarian Revolution against the U.S.S.R. which was quickly and forcefully ended by the Soviets.  The Cuban Missile crisis put the Cold War conflict right on America’s front door step.  Luckily, this crisis ended peacefully when the Soviets decided to turn their ships around and the issue was solved diplomatically.  The space race was also an important aspect of tension between the U.S.S.R. and U.S. because it was another way for the two super powers to get a leg up on each other.  America ended being the first country to get a man on the Moon which ultimately established American superiority in space.

     Many great presidents were born during the cold war era such as Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Reagan.  All of whom passed important legislation during the Cold War that lead to its final end.  They all used their political power to try to establish peaceful relations with the U.S.S.R., but still created legislation for American safety such as The Department of Defense, and the National Security Act.  All of these tensions lead to huge political crisis and even war in many cases.  This large amount of conflict during a so called “Cold War,” lead to the organization of protesters which would end up being named the Anti-war Movement.

Anti-war Movement:

            SOAR was just the beginning of a new anti-war movement among younger class citizens. Students had started an uprising of “peace for the nation”, however the American peace movement faltered due to the overrunning anti-communism movement. In either case, both sides sought justice. The American peace movement, aka the Anti-war Movement, slowly decreased in popularity because McCarthyism, or anti-communism, had begun it’s trivial journey.  In addition to McCarthyism, the Stockholm peace Appeal called for “an absolute ban on atomic weapons and weapons of mass destruction” in 1905.  More than two million people signed this appeal in the United States, along with W.E. B. DuBois’ campaign (Weeks).  This challenged the Anti-war movement during the 1950’s because the rest of the world was gaining back their stability by joining the United Nations and seeking imperialism.

            Despite these small downfalls, the anti-war movement arose once again after America became involved in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The containment policy put in place by Harry S. Truman, did not produce the desired effects of restricting communism, and China fell to the communists.  After this disaster, the same communists who took china attempted to take South Korea, and America was the one to blame due to the proclaimed “Pacific defense perimeter” (“New).  The republican party expressed their discontent in a political fashion through Senator Taft with his denunciation of the war as “an unnecessary war”. The prolonged, costly, and stalemated war was nothing like Truman predicted it would be, thus the discontent and bitterness drug on until President Eisenhower ended the war.

Alongside the Korean War is the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War produced, perhaps, the largest discontent from America. The mass amounts of public marches, demonstrations, and civil disobedience surpass at a rate higher than any other war America has experienced.  

Partly because men were being drafted and not returning home as they had been in previous wars. Liberals par-took heavily during this time of discontent and chaos; their moral protest against aggressive United States against the communists in Vietnam gave off the idea that America’s involvement in the war went against all ideals of independence and “fair fighting”.

The military’s upgrade in weapon technology came as a dismay to the public, as fear and worry struck the hearts of many American families. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers lost their lives in this costly war, and those who returned home were not greeted with a warm welcome.  In fact, most WWII veterans received kinder notice than Vietnam veterans, purely because the public did not agree with the war in the first place and still hold bitter resentment towards it. This display in the Anti-war Movement largely impacted society, even to the extent that the 1968 election was lost by the Democratic sponsors and won by the Republican opponents (Barringer).

            The last large component of the Anti-war movement is nuclear disarmament.  Nuclear disarmament refers to reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons, in hopes that, eventually, the world will be rid of nuclear weapons.  During the Cold War,  the Partial Test Ban Treaty (1963) prohibited atmospheric testing, which subsided the public until President Ronald Reagan came into office. Reagan stirred the pot with his aggressive rhetoric about nuclear disarmament, thus bringing back popularity to ending nuclear weapon testing and involvement (“The Anti). Though Reagan pushed for nuclear armament with the Soviet Union in his “Strategic Arms Reduction Talks”, or START, the Soviet Union had very few anti-war voices whom were pro nuclear disarmament.

Once tensions cooled between the United States and the USSR, the anti-war movement began its decline and fall. Though the public was able to gain the strength to change the face of weaponry, foreign involvement, and political parties, they were unable to prevent war from ever happening again.

Works Cited.docx

Podcast Audio: Podcast Audio.mp3  Podcast Script.docx  

One of the most tragic events of the Anti-war Movement was the shooting at Kent State University.  This event left four American college students dead and nine wounded.  It will forever represent the sharp division in America over the Vietnam war during that time period.

Links & Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGS3KQvzxKA

This video show how the people protested against the war and the draft of American soldiers. This video also shows how these protests turn violent and many people were killed or wounded during protests.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvOqSZqa0_Q

This video gives an overview of the Anti-war movement during the Cold War, including images.