4/16: Discontent

1. 4/16: Discontent • Please write, in your own words, the definition of “protest”. What words/actions are involved in a protest? How have you protested in the past? What protests are worthwhile to you? What are some examples of protest throughout American history?

2. How has challenging “the norm” shaped American history?

3. Critics Reject the Fifties Culture • The failure of society to provide equal opportunities to minorities was one source of discontent during the post-World War II era

4. Another was the belief that while material conditions were better in the 1950s, the quality of life had not improved

5. Many intellectuals and artists did not consider homes in the suburbs, shopping centers, and an unending supply of new gadgets as representing a better life

6. Objecting to Conformity • Many social critics complained about an emphasis on conformity – many lamented that Americans had sacrificed their individualism in order to fit into the larger community

7. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, by Sloan Wilson, followed a World War II veteran who could not find real meaning in life after the war

8. Holden Caulfield, the main character in J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, a favorite among many teens, mocked what Salinger saw as the phoniness of adult society

9. "Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.""Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it."Game, my ***. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right — I'll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing. No game.” – Catcher in the Rye

10. Published in 1963, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique would describe the plight of the suburban housewife during the 1950s • By the 1960s, Friedan would be at the forefront of a movement to change the social and political status of women in American society

11. The Beats Reject Middle Class Life • An additional critique of American society came from a small group of writers and artists called beatniks, or the beats

12. The beats refused to conform to accepted ways of dressing, thinking, and acting • Conformity, they insisted, stifled individualism

13. Allen Ginsburg’s Howl • “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked… angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.”

14. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road • "They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn...“ - Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Part 1, Ch. 1

15. Vietnam: Antiwar Movement Begins to Emerge • Beginning in 1967, Congress – and eventually most of America – divided into two camps: hawks and doves

16. The mostly conservative hawks supported President Johnson’s war policies • They believed strongly in the containment of communism and the domino theory, and accepted rising troop levels, escalating costs, and increasing numbers of battlefield deaths

17. Doves, however, broke with Johnson’s war policy • A diverse group of liberal politicians, pacifists, student radicals, and civil rights leaders, doves questioned the war on both moral and strategic grounds

18. Vietnam War: Activism Spreads on College Campuses • Across America, college campuses became centers of antiwar sentiment • Professors and students criticized the war for a variety of reasons, ranging from pacifism and the war’s effects on the economy to a personal desire to avoid military service

19. The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was founded in 1960 at the University of Michigan • Originally formed to campaign against racism and poverty, the SDS soon began campaigning to end the war in Vietnam

20. By 1964, SDS had organized campus “teach-ins” and demonstrations against the war and encouraged draft-age males to sign “We Won’t Go” petitions

21. Communist Assault Shocks Americans • In early 1968, U.S. officials anticipated a communist offensive • The Tet Offensivewas a coordinated assault on 36 provincial capitals and 5 major cities, as well as the U.S. embassy in Saigon

22. The Tet Offensive was a strategic blow to the Americans • It demonstrated that the communists had not lost the will or the ability to fight on • After the Tet Offensive, American military leaders seemed less confident of a quick end to the war

23. Johnson Steps Down • Two months after the Tet Offensive, Johnson shocked the nation by announcing he would not run for another term as President • Peace was now the official government policy

24. Chicago 1968: Politics and Protest • As Democrats prepared to select a new presidential candidate at their convention in Chicago, antiwar activists converged on the city in August 1968

25. Inside the main hall, dissension between hawks and doves in the party sparked angry outbursts

26. On the street outside, violent clashes broke out between antiwar protesters and the Chicago police

27. This televised dissent and discontent was made visible to the rest of the world. How did the United States come to this boiling point – what were some of the external factors influencing public opinion on the war in Vietnam?

28. Protest Through The Lens Of: • Civil Rights/Immigration • Feminism • Industry • The Economy • Politics • Pop Culture

29. On Wednesday: • Turning back the clock to “Camelot” and “The New Frontier”

30. In your journal… • Please come up with three discussion questions for each of the following articles: • “Military Recruiters Protested at School” • “Ali: Anti-war icon”