Alexus Johnson-Mobley

JOMC 393 Law & Ethics

Professor Guffey

October 10,2019

First Amendment Freedom of Speech: Protests of the Vietnam War

One of the largest exercises of freedom of speech was in the 1960’s during the Vietnam

War. Many Americans were opposed to the United States involvement in the war. This

opposition from American citizens caused internal tensions amongst citizens and the United

States government. These tensions eventually led to nationwide protests of the war. The Vietnam

war remains one of the most controversial United States wars. It is often misinterpreted that the

only protesters of the Vietnam war were “Hippies'' which was a group of mostly white american

teenagers and young adults that formed in the 60’s as a counter to all the violence surrounding

the war. When in fact, many Amercian’s wondered what involvement the United States had with

Vietnam to be apart of the war.

The Vietnam war took place from 1954-1975, it was a war initiated between the

communist government of North Vietnam and the Vietcong with the opposing side of the South

Vietnam government and the United States. Tensions between North and South Vietnam have a

long running history dating back to the mid 1940’s. The Vietcong were South vietnamese rebels

and in 1954 the North Vietnam government began helping these rebels fight the South Vietnam

government which was the spark of the war. It wasn’t until 1964 that the United States became

involved with the war when two U.S destroyers that were stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin were

fired at by North Vietmanese forces. The destroyers had sent a radio signal of the attacks, in
response to these attacks President Johnson decided to take action in retaliation. President

Johnson asked the U.S Congress for permission to send more U.S. troops into the Indochina area

which congress accepted his request. In February of 1965 U.S. planes started to bomb North

Vietnam regularly. These acts fully submerged the U.S. into the Vietnam war.

Freedom of speech can become suppressed during times of war, especially if you oppose

the war. It can be seen as unpatriotic to some and oftentimes in war congress concern is focused

on security and order shutting out the voices of its citizens. To maintain this order in times of

war the government can have the tendency to suppress the right of free speech. The idea of

restriction on freedom of speech dates back to the Revolutionary War era when the United States

was declaring its independence from England. Following the United States independence and

ratified Constitution and the Bill of Rights, laws were still problematic and were ironic due to the

sedition act of 1798. This law made it unlawful for publication that opposed the United States

government. Another point in history where freedom of speech was suppressed in times of war

was in 1816 during the Civil War. The idea of censorship came about during this era. The United

States has a history of suppressing free speech during times of war, the Vietnam war was no

exception.

The protests of the Vietnam war, known as the anti-war movement began as a small

movement taking place mostly on college campuses in 1965. Students would rally together not

only opposing the war but mainly opposing the drafting of young american people into the war.

Many of the protests that were led were to tell people not to enter the draft and not to support the

U.S. fight in the war. The anti-war movement did not gain national coverage until 1968 when

protesters rallied outside of the White House with their anti-war signs. These protesters circled
around the fence of the white house and chanted so loud that it could be heard in the executive

house.

As the years went on the war tension continued to grow, the southern vietmese and U.S

troops were holding steady until a major turning point in the war. On January 30-31 1968,

70,000 North Vietnamese troops made a daring move in the war with the use of guerrilla warfare

a tactic that was costly to Northern Vietnam but began to make more Americans fear the

outcome of the war because of the major loss of American soldiers. These two days are known as

the Tet Offensive. The Vietnam war continued into President Richard Nixon’s presidency in

1969. As a result of the Tet offensive the Selective Service System of the United States issued

the drafting of young men (born from January 1,1944 to December 31,1950) on December 1,

1969 just nearly one month after Richard Nixon was elected as the 37th president of the United

States. The Selective Service System began on May 18, 1917 following the end of World War 1.

This drafting system stated that persons 21 years of age to 30 years of age could be drafted into

the United States Army and sent to war. Citizens of the United States were in an era of an

enlightenment period during the late 1960’s into the 1970’s where citizens felt that drafting was

wrong. It was also the era of the “hippies'' which is also known as the ‘joy’ society. The name

“hippies'' came about because they were a group of individuals who were “hip” ( aware) of what

was happening on a national and global level. There was no direct link of the hippies formation

due to the Vietnam war. However, the war did increase the sense of importance of the “ Hippie”

Movement. Many people approved of the movement because this ‘joy’ group promoted peace,

love and happiness which many Americans needed while so many American soldiers were dying

in the war.
 Protesters and “hippies” would join together in rallies all over the country. They would

march, chant and hold up signs opposing the war. A significant day for these protesters was

October 15th 1969 known as Moratorium Day where over two million people took off work and

school to protest the continuation of the United States involvement in the Vietnam war. In the

same year Nixon had slowly started to remove troops from the war with the passing of the

responsibility of the war to South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu. However, the

process of troop removal was too slow for the rate at which we were losing american soldiers. By

1969 there were over 500,000 american troops fighting in this war. Protester patients began to

dwindle in the early 1970’s as they became increasingly agitated at the death rates and the United

States still participated in the war. It became unclear when the United States would officially

withdraw from the war, this angered many protesters and in 1970 the protests took a violent turn.

The first protests to turn into a riot during this period was at Kent State in Ohio, where

angry college students faced off with the national guard. The result of this riot left four students

dead in the same time period students at Jackson State also faced off with the national guard

leaving two students dead. The United States no longer had just external conflicts but now there

was violent internal conflict. The result of the college students deaths was just a spark for more

violent outbreaks from the two opposing sides of the war. It became a middle class working

american against many college students and other young adults. In an attempt to silence the

antiwar movement American citizens were pitted up against each other, calling these protestors

unpatriotic and violent riots took place. The national guard and local police did little to regulate

these tensions between citizens in a peaceful manner, often many stood by while college students

would get beaten on.

 Tinker Vs. Des Moines is a United States Supreme Court case that exhibits the ways in

which not only the government but school systems tried to limit and control young citizens' first

amendment rights during the Vietnam war. The court case took place in 1969 in Des Moines,

Iowa. The court case was essentially about a group of students who were suspended for wearing

black armbands with peace signs on them in protest against the Vietnam war. The students were

not disruptive, nor endangered any of the other students, their suspension was viewed as

unconstitutional due to the violation of their first amendment right. During the case the district

failed to prove that the students interfered with the school’s atmosphere or imposed on other

student’s beliefs, the case was ruled unconstitutional. The school took the case to an appellate

court but the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled in favor of the suspension being unconstitutional.

Another case where the freedom of speech was challenged by the U.S government is The

New York Times Company vs The United States. This case is often referred to as the “ Pentagon

Papers” which took place in 1971. These series of articles were written from highly classified

documents that were given to the press by one of President Nixon’s Ex-Military officials, these

documents exposed the government's role in the Vietnam War. The government tried to get

control over the print of the stories and took the New York Times Company to the supreme

court. However, the supreme court ruled that the New York Times Company was within its

rights to make those publications of the first amendment right. President Nixon’s cabinet had to

try to control the narrative of these events as it only expanded the protests of the war across the

country.

Throughout the entire period of the Vietnam war the government tried to place

limitations on freedom of speech because it threatened the support of the military and placed the
government in a negative light. The government tried to control protesters by threatening them

with the National Guard, by calling them unpatriotic, and pitting citizens against one another.

The court cases taken to the supreme court was another tactic of trying to control people’s free

speech. In a time of civil liberties and civil rights citizens recognized their voices and the power

it had, and this threatened the government's internal order and control. The narrative that

“hippies” were behind the antiwar movement have long since been disproved, Americans were

upset and they knew their rights and used them. The first Amendment rights can be sensitive in

times of war, as opposing opinions can evoke a range of emotions amongst citizens, thus causing

the fear of lack of control internally while trying to fight external battles. The limitations on free

speech has been ongoing throughout the United States history, but as society progresses new

barriers will be broken on this matter.

 References

History.com Editors, (2019). Vietnam War History Channel. Retrieved from

https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history

David L. Hudson Jr., (2017). Free Speech During Wartime,The First Amendment Encyclopedia.

Retrieved from

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1597/free-speech-during-wartime

The United States Courts. Tinker v. Des Moines, The United States Courts. Retrieved from

https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/tinker-v-des-moines

PBS Editors. Timeline: Vietnam War and Protests, American Express. Retrieved from

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/two-days-in-october-vietnam-battlefield

s-and-home-front/

Tom Hanks, Mark Herzong, Christopher G. Cowen, ( 2015). The Seventies: Peace with Honor,

CNN documentary