Protests in Vietnam

Thich Quang Duc was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on June 11th, 1963. He was protesting against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Diem administration. Many monks followed his immolation, and later, so did a few Americans.

Protests in Australia

Protesters burn their national service papers at an anti-conscription rally in the 1960s in Australia.

Australian anti-war movements took many forms.

• Teach-ins took place in 1965. Speakers holding a variety of opinions debated the issues. Leading speakers against the war included Dr Jim Cairns, a Shadow Minister in the Labor Opposition in Federal Parliament and Morris West, a prominent author and influential Roman Catholic.
• The Youth Campaign Against Conscription (YCAC) was a group of university students who organized marches and demonstrations.
• Save Our Sons(SOS) movement was largely composed of middle-aged women, who held silent protest vigils.
• Seamen’s Union in 1965 refused to carry war materials to Vietnam.

After 1966 protests became more radical. Young men burned their draft cards and protests began to experience involvement from the police. Some young men decided to go to jail rather than be drafted. The courts could exempt those who could prove they were pacifists (opposed to all wars on religious or moral grounds.)

Protests in France

The French government shuts down the University of Paris at Nanterre after a student protest against the Vietnam War.

 The student uprising sparked protests in workplaces across France, later escalating into a massive strike just ten days later that involved up to two thirds of the French workforce. Some historians have argued that the movement was unique in the 20th century as it transcended the boundaries of class, race and age.

Protests in America

There was a huge following of anti-war movements in the US. Protests sprung up across college campuses, and police often had to interfere. Below are images of some of the prtoests that took place in this country.

One of the most extreme forms of protesting in America occurred when Norman Morrison from Baltimore set himself on fire in from of the Pentagon. He had taken his baby daughter, Emily, with him. Emily was rescued and saved, but Morrison made a huge impact. 

Why did Morrison chose self immolation? One friend, John Paisley, said, "We had to talk him out in the same manner last year. He wanted to do it when the monks in Saigon were killing themselves in that way."

Roemer tried to explain Morrison's actions at a memorial service three weeks after his immolation: In a society where it is normal for human beings to drop bombs on human targets, where it is normal to spend 50 percent of the individual's tax dollar on war, where it is normal to have twelve times overkill capacity, Norman Morrison was not normal. He said, 'Let it stop.'

Alice Herz, an 82 year old, was the first to immolate herself on a Detroit street corner on March 16, 1965. On the way to the hospital, Herz told a firefighter “I did it to protest the arms race all over the world. I wanted to burn myself like the monks in Vietnam did.” Morrison was followed by two other Americans to set fire to themselves,  Roger LaPorte and George Winne.

This image of a protester placing flowers in the guns of Nation Guardsmen pushed forward the movement for peace.

Demonstrators in Berkeley, California march against the war in Vietnam in December of 1965.

Students tend to John Cleary after he was shot and wounded by the Ohio National Guard on the campus of Kent State University May 4 1970. He survived, but three other students were killed and nine wounded. Violence often broke out at protests.

Supporters of the Vietnam moratorium lie in the Sheep Meadow of New York's Central Park in 1969. A spokesman said the black balloons represented Americans who died in Vietnam under the Nixon administration, and the white balloons symbolized the number of Americans who would die if the war continued.

During 1968-69, at the height of the war in Vietnam, protests were increasing on campuses nationwide. Princeton was no exception.