Mrs. Mann
English 2 Period 6
01-30-2009
Social Movements of the Vietnam Era: Trauma and Hollowness
In the 1994 movie Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump, a soldier with mental disorder, describes the Vietnam War protestors in an interesting way: “there was this man giving a little talk. And for some reason, he was wearing an American flag for a shirt. And he liked to say the ‘F’ word a lot” (Forrest Gump). Forrest Gump is successful at seeing the point of the social movements of the sixties—hippies and the New Left for instance. Looking more closely into the Vietnam War Era, many people might find the social movements rather cultural than political, although most would agree with the sheer ideas of the social movements such as freedom of speech, peace, and harmony.The social movements have a variety of stems from all aspects of historic backgrounds. Although, historically, the era could be called a post-war era, the majority of leaders of social movements were Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, who had not experienced war (U.S. Census Bureau). However, this paper will examine the social changes based on the society, not the particular generation which led the changes.
In 1965, the United States started to support the democratic government of South Vietnam as a part of the Cold War between the communists and the democrats (Duiker 576). President Lyndon Johnson approved American military aid, stimulated by the desire to “win” free countries in the competition against communists (Duiker 576; Bender 83). However, the war was as bad as the World Wars, if not worse. Troops had died, and the majority of public did not see the need to continue the war with problems in the United States (Bender 83; King). Johnson insisted on continuing the war, but college students began to criticize him severely, when colleges started to host teach-ins to analyze and criticize the war (Bender 83). Antiwar movements were highly vehement with a mass number youths and important intellectual figures as their leaders until the Kent State shooting accident shocked the entire nation and the passion subsided (Duiker 614). Another massive social movement, the social activism movement, was mostly in response to the spread of communism (Duiker 614).The members called for true participatory democracy in America and consisted mostly of college students (Kristol).
The concept of free speech and true democracy was thought by most to be benevolent, even by the older generations (Kristol 127). However, the student and youth organizations such as Students for a Democratic Society were considered to be rather empty by a significant portion of the society. One ironical side of the movement that the opponents pointed out was the lack of a definite point. The youth population called for “freedom now” but failed to demand beyond such slogans (Kristol 127). The organizations had little success in unifying and specifying their claims into demands for legislations and, in fact, did not demand for them (Kristol 127). If they had succeeded to do so, the legislations would have helped them notably. Also, their ideas were generally accepted by the public, which means they would have had little trouble in obtaining enough votes of the Congress. Instead, quite surprisingly, most campus pamphlets did not bother to mention the efforts of the government to improve the nation’s freedom (Kristol 127). Hardly any campus meetings were held in celebration of the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act (Kristol 127). The suggested points indicate that the participants of social activism movements knew only that they were dissatisfied, but what can lead to satisfaction. In few cases they knew what they wanted, the demands were often too extreme to be satisfied. For example, many members of Students for a Democratic Society called for direct democracy in which all citizens of a nation express their wills rather than elected representatives (Kristol 129). Today, any educated person knows that direct democracy is an ideal that can never come true for any nation larger than ancient Greek city-states. In most regions, social activism had turned into violence, the opposite of what they are supposed to pursuit, without a single word from their leadership (Eisenhower 109; Reagan).
American economy had recovered rapidly after World War II (Duiker 614). The Baby Boomers, born when the economy was skyrocketing, were cared unbelievably well compared to their parent generation, the children of war (Kristol 130). Unlike their parents, the Baby Boomers were well-educated, and their future was laid neatly before them (Kristol 130). With the lack of harsh punishments following sloth, they developed a tendency to be idle whenever they could (Kristol 130). In the course, their young energy had nowhere to go. They were bored. Social activism was just a way to deal with the surplus energy. It was a revolt for revolt.
Moreover, there is a good chance that participating in such movements was considered “cool.” The irresistible human tendency to follow what is “cool” probably played a significant role in the popularity of social activist movements. Students for a Democratic Society expanded its influence to three hundred college chapters by 1965 (Bender 116). Their call for peace combined with the Hippie society, such organizations attracted students and gained popularity. The pacifist songs that overflowed into record stores in the Sixties and the Seventies, represented by musicians such as John Lennon and Bob Dylan, helped greatly in becoming a “trend.” Many people joined the Hippies as well at the time. Hippie societies at the time provided comforts such as food, clothing, and medical care for nothing (Newfield 146). Joining Hippie societies were very attractive to many youths in that aspect. A vital part of Hippie population, mostly male, was also attracted to the Hippies’ liberal idea of sex (Bender 116). To many members of the older generation, Hippies were seen as a group of stupid young people who wanted something new without appropriate labor in exchange (Newfield 146). In fact, most of them did not care about peace as long as they had LSD to take and physical comfort (Newfield 146). Nor did they seem to truly understand what their slogan meant (Newfield 147).
In a rather sociopsychological approach, the activist movements can be considered as an effort of the society to heal itself. Decades of war did not only cause trauma in individuals, but also the entire society. The aftermaths of such immense violence can vary. Without appropriate treatment, numerous symptoms may occur such as hysteria or obsession (Herman 10). No one bothered to approach trauma in a sociological way after the World Wars. The society was left uncured, and it was finally attacked again with meaningless deaths in Vietnam War. Moreover, the goal the society tried achieved through war, “winning” a free nation, was defeated (Bender 83). Everything combined to make the society seek cures for itself. Many individual trauma victims who did not go through proper treatment (which involves the stage of remembrance and mourning) have a tendency to try not to remember or speak about the tragic event that led to trauma (Herman 26, 175). The society was trying to relieve trauma by making itself busy doing other things like social activism movements or opposition to them. The focus of the activism from the society’s point of view is merely the act of calling for freedom. The society needed something to occupy itself.
As mentioned above, a huge part of the antiwar movements was music. Popular songs with controversial lyrics poured into the chart. Bob Dylan, an American folk singer, was the lead of such change in music industry. With his legendary songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Masters of War,” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” he established his status as a representative figure in the antiwar movement (Santelli 23-27). Under the influence of his girlfriend who worked for the Congress of Racial Equality, he became aware of social injustice and began writing topical songs (Santelli 23). He scrapped newspapers to find inspiring incidents and eventually reached the area of antiwar music (Santelli 23). His music achieved chart success and platinum sales and were covered by a number of musicians (Santelli 6). Under these circumstances, it is hard to say that Bob Dylan had no interest in earning money through his music. Also, Dylan was a great fan of Woody Guthrie, who had influenced him in a variety of ways (Santelli 23). Woody Guthrie was a legendary folk singer who also wrote topical songs (Santelli 23). Dylan’s desire to become like his hero partly inspired him to write antiwar songs.
The fans of pacifist music were no exceptions. Like Woody Guthrie was to Bob Dylan, Dylan was their hero. As many people know from their personal experiences, the desire to become like one’s hero is difficult to escape. Dylan fans copied him and were influenced by him. They became pacifists just like their hero for the same reason many high school students today go “emo.” Being pacifist was the “cool” thing, just like the case with participatory democracy organizations. Fans followed Dylan, participating in demonstrations and picketing, especially the ones Dylan participated as well (Santelli 31). A significant portion of the audience had little interest in peace movements; they came to see their favorite singer perform (Santelli 31).
Although the particular example here of Bob Dylan mostly showed real passion to deliver the pacifist messages, the rest of music industry had little success in real passion. After realizing that Dylan’s pacifist songs “sell,” and antiwar movement had become a trend, the music industry began to produce a mass number of songs with antiwar messages, mostly aimed to bring money to the company (Richards). As a result, the whole business of pacifist music became pretentious.
The antiwar and participatory democracy movements of the Sixties and the Seventies brought changes to the society. However, it is true that some aspects of the society remained the same while they needed change. Furthermore, the lack of point and shallowness of the participants make it easy to doubt if they truly understood what they were doing and had any passion for it. From the approach that is employed in this paper, it can be concluded that the social movements mostly derived from the surplus energy and the tendency of violence of the youth.
Works Cited
Bender, David L., and William Dudley, eds. The 1960s: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press, Inc., 1997.Eisenhower, Dwight D. “Let’s Close Ranks on the Home Front.” Reader’s Digest April 1968.
Kristol, Irving. “What’s Bugging the Students?” Atlantic Monthly November 1965.
Herman, Judith Lewis. Trauma and Recovery. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1992.
King, Martin Luther Jr. “Declaration of Independence from the War in Vietnam.” Sermon. Ricerside Church, New York City, New York. 4 April 1967.
Reagan, Ronald. “From Free Speech to Filthy Speech.” Radio address on sudent demonstrators. 1968.
Richards, Ron, Ray Barrera and Kevin Hayes. Protest Music of the 1960’s. 03 May 2006. San Diego State University. 15 January 2009.
Santelli, Robert. The Bob Dylan Scrapbook: 1956-1966. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
U.S. Census Press Releases. 3 January 2006. U.S. Census Bureau. 1 February 2009
Forrest Gump. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. Perf. Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Penn, and Gary Sinise. Paramount Pictures, 1994.
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