Martin Luther King Jr and His Opposition to the Vietnam...

Martin Luther King Jr and His Opposition to the Vietnam War The American public knew about Martin Luther King long before they had ever heard about the war in Vietnam. King was associated with the war in Vietnam only after accomplishing his finest civil rights works, and after US involvement in Vietnam was already nine years old. They met in 1965, and battled each other until Kings death in 1968. By 1965 King saw a federal voter rights bill passed for minorities, had national financial support, and even gained the backing of President Johnson himself. We all know Martin Luther King Jr. as the man who helped desegregate America, as a great civil rights leader. But seldom do we know King as the outspoken anti-war advocate that he was†¦show more content†¦By freedom he meant total desegregation of every public facility and the right to vote for Blacks. He expressed his anguish during the struggles he faced against the Montgomery political system in Alabama, I saw further that the underlying purpose of segregation was to oppress and expl oit the segregated, not simply to keep them apart (Autobiography 70). It all started in Montgomery, Alabama when King and nonviolent demonstrators brought bus desegregation to the city. With that, he gained national fame. Shortly after, King became chairman of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), to expand his mission field to the whole South. The group first moved in on Birmingham, Alabama to show that Kings nonviolent methods worked universally and could bring about desegregation in the US. After victory there, King began to implement the Birmingham strategy all over the nation, until 1964 when Johnson signed a civil rights bill desegregating all public facilities. Later that year King received the Nobel Peace Prize, which to him symbolized the worlds desire to move toward peace for all people of the world. In Selma, Alabama he led marches calling for voting rights. The brutality that the racist local government showed led Johnson to call for a voting rights bill, which was easily passed in 1965. These first ten years of Kings career accomplished the most in terms of legislation. He had done in just ten years what many had been trying to do for theShow MoreRelatedThe Civil Rights Of The Vietnam War1701 Words   |  7 Pagesthemselves protesting against the Vietnam War. The lack of civil rights in the U.S deterred many blacks from supporting Vietnam, a conflict aimed at liberating the rights of another people. African Americans were frustrated with a country who fought for other citizens and saw no purpose in fighting for a peoples’ freedom but their own. Although African-Americans were specifically discriminated against both in Vietnam and America, they were not alone in their anti-war position. The majority of the AmericanRead MoreThe Vietnam War : Vietnam1170 Words   |  5 PagesBeyond Vietnam. The Vietnam War is one of the most traumatic episodes in the history of the United States. Not only because it ended with a defeat for the United States Army, but because unleashed the largest wave of protests in the country, in which the government lost support. Extended over more than a decade, between 1959 to April 30 of 1975, although the US intervened in 1965, in which American soldiers experienced in firsthand scenes of destruction and death. During the Vietnam War clashedRead MoreThe I have a Dream Speech by Martin Lther King Jr.860 Words   |  3 PagesFREEDOM, LEADER, KING How would it feel if you were always picked last or made fun of for how you look? 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As a consequence, they quickly lost the majority of support on the home-front. As time progressed the nationalist Vietnamese would develop strategies to make most actions by the South Vietnamese and American militaries ineffective. Their policies ofRead MoreThe Vietnam War: A Brief Analysis1396 Words   |  6 Pages Still, even though the Cold War is over, there are many reasons why the history of the Vietnam War should remain fresh and the effort to grasp both the war and the antiwar opposition remain essential. The Vietnam War is, of course, an episode in military history. The episode’s setting is during the Cold War in Vietnam and the central theme of the episode was to pit capitalism and or democracy against communism. In light of this, the movement against the Vietnam War could be said as one of the greatestRead MoreMartin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement Essay3359 Words   |  14 Pagesis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King gave hope to those in need with his awe inspiring sermons he performed at the church his grandfather founded. He changed foes to allies with his thought provoking speeches, and lead powerful protests and strikes, with each one ending in a peaceful demonstration . The Man Before He Became a Civil Rights Leader First, let’s take a look into the early days of Dr. King. Though not known to many, Dr. King was not born with the name Martin; rather, his name wasRead MoreSixties Music and How it Reflected the Changing Times Essay1715 Words   |  7 Pagesbreaking away from the ideals that their parents held. In the process they created their own society (Burns 1990). They were young and had the nerve to believe that they could change the world. Their leaders had lofty goals as well. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had dreams of a truly equal America. John F. Kennedy dreamed of a young vigorous nation that would put a man on the moon. The youth wanted to live in a state of love, peace, and freedom (Gitlin 1987). Through the stormy decade of the NineteenRead More Vietnam: The Mixture of Protests and Politics1659 Words   |  7 Pages nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The United States was unjustified in its involvement in the Vietnam War because, in my opinion, the U.S had little justification to sacrifice thousands of innocent youths for political ideals. It was the longest and most unpopular war in which the United States fought. Many Americans on the home front protested their government’s involvement in the war. Many young Americans felt that there was no reason to fight for a cause they did not believe in, especially in such