Back to History

1. Back to History The 1960s

2. Jenny Richardson • Fairmont High School • 9th Grade World History • 10th Grade US History • 12th Grade Online Government • Contact Information • jennifer.richardson@ketteringschools.org • (937)499-2514 (Voicemail)

3. Protest Music Primary Source Activity • 10th Grade • History • 20th Century Conflict • Explain how the Cold War and related conflicts influenced U.S. foreign policy after 1945 with emphasis on • C. The Vietnam War • The United States in the 20th Century • Trace social unrest, protest and change in the United States including… • Antiwar protest during the Vietnam War • The counterculture movement

4. The Counterculture Movement • Young people in the 1960s who rejected traditional society • Create a counterculture, or an alternative culture that ran counter to main society • Emphasized peace, individual freedom, nonviolence, and communal sharing • Also known as hippies • Experiment with different clothing, lifestyles, and drugs

5. The Role of Music • Music becomes a forum for protest in the 1960s • Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Credence Clearwater Revival, John Lennon, etc. all write songs protesting U.S. involvement in Vietnam • Songs become a major form of protest in the 1960s and the years following…

6. Get into groups of 4-5 • You will each be given a song to read and analyze the lyrics • You will then need to nominate one group member to share with the class the song that you had and what you interpreted it to mean • Focus on how your groups song would serve as a forum for protest against the war in Vietnam • You will need to turn in a written interpretation of your song to me from each of you. • You have 15 minutes to complete this assignment

7. Songs • “For What It’s Worth”- Buffalo Springfield • “What’s Going On”- Marvin Gaye • “Ohio”- Crosby, Still, Nash and Young • “Imagine” – John Lennon • “Blowin’ in the Wind”- Bob Dylan • “Turn, Turn, Turn” – The Byrds • “Fortunate Son” – CCR • “Volunteers”- Jefferson Airplane • “Fixin-to-Die-Rag” – Country Joe and the Fish • “War Pigs”- Black Sabbath

8. History Works Ohio • www.historyworksohio.org • Broken into age groups (Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12) • Links all content to primary sources from Ohio

9. Ohio Flag in Vietnam • Ohio Flag in Vietnam • Author: James E. Hill, Sr. • Grade(s): 10 • Description • Allow students, in groups or individually, to examine the primary source linked under Resources to the right, while answering the questions below in order. The questions are designed to guide students into a deeper analysis of the source and sharpen associated cognitive skills. • Level I: Description1. What is the time period of this primary source? • Level II: Interpretation1. How would you interpret this primary source? • Level III: Analysis1. What is the theme of this primary source?2. What is the relationship between the man and the flag? • Standards • History 9-10, Benchmark E: Analyze connections between World War II, the Cold War and contemporary conflicts. • Indicator: Grade 10, GLI 8. Explain how the Cold War and related conflicts influenced U.S. foreign policy after 1945 with emphasis on: c. The Korean War and the Vietnam War. Description:Soldier Jim Lundgard displaying the Ohio flag that he requested from Governor James Rhodes while serving in Vietnam, 1969. The flag is part of the Ohio Historical Society museum collections, catalog number H 82022.

10. Protests at OSU • Ohio National Guard Clearing Protestors from The Ohio State University Oval • Author: James E. Hill, Sr. • Grade(s): 10,12 • Description • Allow students, in groups or individually, to examine the primary source linked under Resources to the right, while answering the questions below in order. The questions are designed to guide students into a deeper analysis of the source and sharpen associated cognitive skills. • Level I: Description1. Who is pictured in this primary source?2. What is the time period of this primary source? How do you know? • Level II:Interpretation1. What type of protest is taking place? 2. What justifies students rights to protest? • Level III: Analysis1. Do you approve or disapprove of the actions of each group? Explain. 2. What does this source tell you about the time period, region or culture? • Standards • History 9-10, Benchmark F: Identify major historical patterns in the domestic affairs of the United States during the 20th century and explain their significance. • Indicator: Grade 10, GLI 13. Trace social unrest, protest and change in the United States including: a. Antiwar protest during the Vietnam War. • Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities 9-10, Benchmark A: Analyze ways people achieve governmental change, including political action, social protest and revolution. • Indicator: Grade 10, GLI 2. Explain how civil disobedience differs from other forms of dissent and evaluate its application and consequences including: c. Student protests during the Vietnam War. Students protesting the Vietnam War on Oval at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, Franklin County, April, 1970. Ohio National Guard clearing protestors from The Ohio State University Oval, April 30, 1970.

11. Kent State Lesson Summary*This lesson should be done after discussing the first amendment and the rights guaranteed in it.Students will listen to several song selections of Vietnam War protest music. Following a class discussion about the Vietnam War and the Kent State Riot, students will access the Kent State Riot scrapbook on Ohio Memory and complete the activities listed with each item. Instructional Steps Play the songs “War” sung by Edwin Starr, “For What It’’s Worth” sung by Buffalo Springfield, and “Ohio” sung by Neil Young. Discuss the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the first amendment and how these songs fit into this freedom. Give some background information about the Vietnam War. (I usually just discuss the length of the war, why we were fighting, about the draft and then about the controversy surrounding the War.) Discuss the Kent State Riot, first seeing what the students already know, then giving some general background information about the events leading up to the Riot. Have students get onto this Ohio Memory scrapbook on the Kent State Riots (http://omp.ohiolink.edu/OMP/YourScrapbook?user=null&scrapid=21885) Students should then look at the documents and photos on the website and answer the questions for each source. Allow one to two periods to complete the web activities. Assessment:Students will turn in their paper with the answers to the questions from the website. All three level of spiral questions are on the website

12. Shooting Interviews Read through the interviews of those involved in the Kent State Riot. Answer the following questions. Were there differences in the accounts of the events that occurred? Can you relate this event to any other event in U.S. history? Which one and how does it compare? How do our rights guaranteed by the first amendment apply to this event?

13. Letters to the Editor Read these editorial letters. Answer the following questions. Who is writing the letters? What is the main topic of the letters? How has this event effected these students?

14. Kent State Army ROTC Building View the photograph and write a description of what you see. Be sure to put as many details that you see in the picture. What world events led to the event pictured? What does this event the events that followed tell you about people's view of the Vietnam War and the draft?

15. Kent State before shootings… View the following photographs. Answer the following questions. What would it have been like to be a student trying to learn and study and seeing this on your way to class? What other things could the government have done to keep the students more under control without the use of violence?

17. Kent State University News Service Photographs View the previous photographs. Answer the following questions. What is the sequence of events? What one picture really effected you? Why and explain how it effected you? If you were a newspaper editor, what picture would you choose to put on your paper and why?

18. Gov. Rhodes Press Release Read the following press release from Governor Rhodes. Answer the following questions. Was closing the universities the right thing to do. If you had been a student at a local college, would you have participated in a protest? Explain your answer.

19. Extension ActivityFollowing the completion of this lesson, the class listened to other songs that showed government criticism, told of political action, expressed an opinion related to the government or a government action. For example – “Sister Rosa” by Aaron Neville, “Get Up, Stand Up” by Bob Marley, “Where is the Love” by Black Eyed Peas, and many others. Students could be solicited to bring some examples in as well. Then they could pick two or three of their favorites and explain the message the song is portraying. • Standards • History 9-10, Benchmark F: Identify major historical patterns in the domestic affairs of the United States during the 20th century and explain their significance. • Indicator: Grade 10, GLI 13. Trace social unrest, protest and change in the United States including: a. Antiwar protest during the Vietnam War.

20. PBS Online http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/psources/index.html

21. Letters to Diem VS. Eisenhower JFK October 23, 1954 Dear Mr. President, I have been following with great interest the course of developments in Vietnam, particularly since the conclusion of the conference at Geneva. The implications of the agreement concerning Vietnam have caused grave concern regarding the future of the country temporarily divided by an artificial military grouping, weakened by a long and exhausting war, and faced with enemies without and by their subversive collaborators within. Your recent requests for aid to assist in the formidable project of the movement of several hundred thousand loyal Vietnamese citizens away from areas which are passing under a de facto rule and political ideology which they abhor, are being fulfilled. I am glad that the United States is able to assist in this humanitarian effort. We have been exploring ways and means to permit our aid to Vietnam to be more effective and to make a greater contribution to the welfare and stability of the Government of Vietnam. I am, accordingly, instructing the American Ambassador to Vietnam [Donald R. Heath] to examine with you in your capacity as Chief of Government, how an intelligent program of American aid given directly to your Government can serve to assist Vietnam in its present hour of trial, provided that your Government is prepared to give assurances as to the standards of performance it would be able to maintain in the event such aid were supplied. The purpose of this offer is to assist the Government of Vietnam in developing and maintaining a strong, viable state, capable of resisting attempted subversion or aggression through military means. The Government of the United States expects that this aid will be met by performance on the part of the Government of Vietnam in undertaking needed reforms. It hopes that such aid, combined with your own continuing efforts, will contribute effectively toward an independent Vietnam endowed with a strong Government. Such a Government would, I hope, be so responsive to the nationalist aspirations of its people, so enlightened in purpose and effective in performance, that it will be respected at home and abroad and discourage any who might wish to impose a foreign ideology on your free people. Source: Department of State Bulletin, November 15, 1954 December 14, 1961 Dear Mr. President, I have received your recent letter in which you described so cogently the dangerous conditions caused by North Vietnam's effort to take over your country. The situation in your embattled country is well known to me and to the American people. We have been deeply disturbed by the assault on your country. Our indignation has mounted as the deliberate savagery of the Communist programs of assassination, kidnapping, and wanton violence became clear. Your letter underlines what our own information has convincingly shown - that the campaign of force and terror now being waged against your people and your Government is supported and directed from outside by the authorities at Hanoi. They have thus violated the provisions of the Geneva Accords designed to ensure peace in Vietnam and to which they bound themselves in 1954. At that time, the United States, although not a party to the Accords, declared that it "would view any renewal of the aggression in violation of the Agreements with grave concern and as seriously threatening international peace and security." We continue to maintain that view. In accordance with that declaration, and in response to your request, we are prepared to help the Republic of Vietnam to protect its people and to preserve its independence. We shall promptly increase our assistance to your defense effort as well as help relieve the destruction of the floods which you describe. I have already given the orders to get these programs underway. The United States, like the Republic of Vietnam, remains devoted to the cause of peace and our primary purpose is to help your people maintain their independence. If the Communist authorities in North Vietnam will stop their campaign to destroy the Republic of Vietnam, the measures we are taking to assist your defense efforts will no longer be necessary. We shall seek to persuade the Communists to give up their attempts to force and subversion. In any case, we are confident that the Vietnamese people will preserve their independence and gain the peace and prosperity for which they have sought so hard and so long. Source: Department of State Bulletin, January 1, 1962

22. Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement (Excerpts) by John Kerry testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign RelationsApril 23, 1971 I would like to talk on behalf of all those veterans and say that several months ago in Detroit we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged, and many very highly decorated, veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia. These were not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command. It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit -- the emotions in the room and the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do. They told stories that at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Ghengis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country. We call this investigation the Winter Soldier Investigation. The term Winter Soldier is a play on words of Thomas Paine's in 1776 when he spoke of the Sunshine Patriots and summertime soldiers who deserted at Valley Forge because the going was rough…

23. Primary Sources: Interviews INTERVIEWS- American History DIRECTIONS: As the interviewer in your group, you should have recorded an interview with either a war veteran or someone who lived through the war on the homefront. These interviews should be 12-15 minutes long and should be able to be uploaded to your website. If you have the capability, please convert all VHS to digital format so that the videos can be uploaded on the web. If you are unable to do this, please let me know before completing your interviews!!! Besides completing the interview I want you to reflect on your experience speaking with a firsthand source about the war. I want you to think about and answer the following questions: How did you feel about the interview process? What did you learn from your subject? Do you think primary sources are important? Why or why not? What did you learn from your interviewee? What would you do differently? Was this something you enjoyed doing? Why or why not? You are to summarize your interview and answer these questions in a one page reflection paper. Your papers should be double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, and normal margins. Theyshould AT LEAST BE ONE PAGE long and should summarize the interview experience from your point of view. Do NOT just answer the questions above, expand and write in essay form please.