Vietnam War Political Parties

The Vietnam War was one of the most divisive wars of all time. It changed how many people view the country and war and social ideas as a whole. It created the heated political parties we have today, It lead to one of the biggest anti war movements for a while, and also helped shape the future for civil rights at the time. The Vietnam War may have been one of the most polarizing war but it was also extremely important to the shaping of this country. One huge thing that the Vietnam War helped create the heated political parties of our time. At the start of the Vietnam War, two groups of student societies began to form. One was the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). They were formed in the house of staunch conservative, William F. Buckley

(The Sharon Statement Heritage.org). This group would go on to become the foundation for The New Right, or new Republican party which lead to the election of Ronald Regan in the 1980s. Now on the exact opposite of the coin there was the Students for a Democratic Society
(SDS). This group was formed in 1962. Their principles were first drafted by staff member Tom
Hayden. These principles, called the Port Huron Statement, included disarmament of nuclear weapons, political reforms such as getting morepeople more voting rights, and university reform such as allowing major public issues into the curriculum for debate. (Gosse Document 11)
These young people would go on to form the New Left which now comprise most of the
Democratic Party today. The next thing that the Vietnam War help cause was the biggest anti-war movements of its time. Alot of the anti-war sentiment started with the first returning GIs and soldiers, who became disillusioned with the war. This disillusionment was caused by the horrors that they saw in Vietnam. Many went a-wall or outright refused orders, which lead many to get arrested.

He was court martialed and sentenced to jail. (Sir! No Sir!) Stories like this fanned the anti-war flames even more. When the American public found out about the horrors of Vietnam, they soon started becoming not only disillusioned with the war but the entire country itself. One of the many protestors, Paul Potter, said "The incredible war in Vietnam has provide the razor, the terrifying sharp cutting edge that has finally severed the las vestige of illusion that morality and democracy are the guiding principle of American foreign policy. (The Incredible War, Potter)
The scope of an anti-war movement has never been as big as this one and the disillusionment it caused lead to alot of the voter apathy and less than patriotic views alot people have today. The final thing that the Vietnam War caused was the advancement for and reshaping of the views of the Civil Rights Movement. One of the biggest advancement that the Vietnam brought to the movement was its showing of the stuggles of African Americans. A disproportinate amount of African Americans were drafted for the war and many Americans started taking notice of how awful that was. (Wilkerson 5/19). Many Civil Rights