The Anti-War Movement
The Anti-War Movement started on college campuses, which is also where hippies came to be. The Vietnam War was costing the United States about 25 billion dollars each year, and the U.S.A. was involved in the war for about eleven years. With the 25 billion dollars per year, about 40,000 young men were drafted into the war each month, which is 480,000 people per year. This enraged people, because they didn’t see why the US should be involved with this particular war. On October 21, 1967, 100,000 protesters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial, and about 30,000 marched to the Pentagon. These demonstrators were rioting and they were saying that they should bring the troops home. Fights broke out between the protesters and the soldiers and US Marshals, and hundreds of demonstrators were arrested. The Tet Offensive, and its victory against South Vietnam and the U.S.A., sparked the most intense anti-war protests to date. Nearing the end of the Vietnam War, only 35 percent of the American people approved of the war, while 50 percent disapproved, and the rest had no opinion.