The Vietnam Conflict actually started at the end of World War II. The US Merchant Marines were used to transport and arm French troops as France was preparing an invasion. The Merchant Marines saw the US involvement of helping France conquer a third world country was to expand their territory and influence. So the marine wrote a resolution denouncing the US government for being implicated with conquest. Their plea was to be heard only by deaf ears.

Todd Gitlin described how the protests that were breaking out all over the country had started in the Ivy League Schools and

On May 4, 1970 the National Guard opened fire upon unarmed students rallying against the war, who had only thrown pieces of gravel in retaliation of teargas. This ended the lives of four students, two of which just innocent bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time, and wounding ten others in thirteen seconds. One girl who perished that day was Allison Krause who only the day before placed a daisy in the muzzle of a national guardsmen's M1 rifle and told him "Flowers are better than bullets." (qtd. in Lojowsky par. 27). Kent State is the most controversial protest incident ever, only those there witnessing it really know what happened. On May 2, 1970 there was a small rally against the war where the students did make a slipshod effort to burn down the ROTC building, "It was like the Three Stooges trying to burn the ROTC building; throwing matches through the windows" (Lojowsky par. 10). However, the authorities came dowsed the few curtains that had ignited and quickly took control of the situation sending the students fleeing to town to find more people to rally. Upon their return the ROTC building had burnt to the ground and fingers were pointed toward the students, this act enabled Marshal Law and the National Guard was posted at the University. Two days later 73 bullets flew through a crowd of students who were just trying to make a difference.

Governments have a huge amount of power and influence. When crooked leaders and power hungry tyrants corrupt that power it is up to the people to question the authority. The antiwar movement was just that, at times it is up the common man to do whatever he can to keep the rights that hundreds of thousands other common men gave their lives for. An interview with Daniel Ellsberg, who exposed the lies of the government

Some topics in this essay:
President Nixon, Allison Krause, National Guard, Nixon It's, United America, Abbie Hoffman, Merchant Marines, Vietnam Lojowsky, League Schools, Daniel Ellsberg, rotc building, national guard, burn rotc building, merchant marines, burn rotc, vietnam conflict, abbie hoffman, american public, anti-war movement, antiwar movement, lojowsky par,