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Unlock This CourseAs the war grew after 1965, the USA needed more soldiers than volunteers alone could provide. It used the draft, which is also called conscription. Young men were ordered by law to register, and thousands each month were called up to serve in the army. Over two million men were drafted during the war. Most were in their late teens or early twenties, and many were sent to Vietnam.
The draft was not fair, and that made people angry. A deferment let a man delay being called up. For much of the war, full-time students could get one. Young men who went to college were usually from better-off families, so poorer men were more likely to be drafted and sent to fight. In December 1969 the government replaced the old system with a lottery. Birthdays were drawn at random, and men with a low number were called first.
Some men refused. A few burned their draft cards in public, and Congress made this a crime in 1965. Others moved to Canada to avoid service. The famous boxer Muhammad Ali refused to be drafted in 1967 and was stripped of his world title. President Nixon ended the draft in 1973, and the USA moved to an army of volunteers.
Key terms:
Opposition to the war came from many people, including church leaders, civil rights campaigners and ordinary families, and by 1969 huge protest marches were being held in many cities. But universities were at the heart of it. There were three main reasons. Students were of draft age, so the war could change their lives. Many had been taught to question authority and to think about right and wrong. And a campus put thousands of young people in one place, which made it easy to organise.
The first teach-in was held at the University of Michigan in March 1965, and the idea spread to campuses across the USA. A group called Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organised a march in Washington that spring and grew quickly. Protests became larger and angrier as the number of US troops rose.
They held teach-ins, marches and sit-ins. In 1967 students at several universities protested against recruiters from Dow Chemical, the company that made napalm, a burning jelly used in bombs. In April 1968 students at Columbia University occupied buildings until police removed them.
Most wanted US troops brought home and the draft ended. Others wanted universities to stop working with the military. Some groups were peaceful, while a few became violent.
In April 1970 President Nixon announced that US troops were entering Cambodia. Many Americans had believed the war was being wound down, so students felt betrayed. Protests broke out on campuses across the country.
At Kent State University in Ohio, a protest on Friday 1 May turned into a disturbance in the town centre. On the night of Saturday 2 May, the ROTC building, where the army trained student officers, was burned down. The state governor sent in the Ohio National Guard, soldiers who are part-time volunteers. Armed Guardsmen were soon on a campus where classes were still going on.
On Monday 4 May about 2,000 people gathered at a rally. The university had banned it, and the Guard ordered the crowd to leave. Guardsmen fired tear gas and moved across the campus. After they reached the top of a hill, a group of them turned and fired for about 13 seconds. Four students were killed and nine were wounded. Some of those shot were only watching or walking to class, and the students were unarmed.
The shootings shocked the country. Millions of students joined a strike, and hundreds of colleges and universities closed for a time. Tens of thousands marched on Washington. Nixon said that when protest turns to violence it invites tragedy, which many students felt blamed them for the deaths.
A government commission on campus unrest, set up after Kent State, described the Guard's firing as unnecessary, unwarranted and inexcusable. Ten days after Kent State, police shot dead two young Black Americans at Jackson State College in Mississippi, one of them a student there. No Guardsman was ever found guilty. For many Americans, Kent State showed how deeply the war had divided the nation. Others blamed the protesters for what happened.
Describe TWO features of EITHER the draft during the Vietnam War OR the shootings at Kent State University (1970). [6 marks]
One feature of the shootings at Kent State was that the victims were unarmed students. On 4 May 1970 Ohio National Guardsmen fired for about 13 seconds on a campus where students were holding a rally, and four of them were killed and nine wounded. Some of those hit were not even protesting but were walking to class or watching.
A second feature was that the shootings followed the invasion of Cambodia. Nixon's announcement in April 1970 caused protests across the USA. At Kent State the ROTC building was burned down on 2 May and the governor sent in the National Guard, which left armed soldiers facing angry students.
What lifts it to the top level: it gives two separate features, and each one is supported with precise facts such as the date, the numbers and the events leading up to the shootings.
Choose the option you know best and write two short paragraphs, one for each feature. A feature is a characteristic of the event. Add at least two facts to each so you reach Level 3, since one feature alone can score only 3 marks.