History 212 Handout - The New Left and the Anti-war Movement

Things to know:
The New Left was a social movement in the 1960s which focused on social
reform and was mainly perpetrated by students. This is made evident by the
creation of groups such as the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), which was
founded in 1959. Another group founded during the New Left Movement was the
Women’s Strike for Peace, which was a women's peace activist group in the
United States. In 1961, nearing the height of the Cold War, around 50,000 women
marched in 60 cities around the United States to demonstrate against the testing of
nuclear weapons. It was the largest national women's peace protest during the 20th
century. The New Left was also involved in protests which pushed for feminism,
environmentalism, and against war progression, which goes hand in hand with the
Anti-War Movement, set at the same time period as the New Left Movements. The
New Left also began the Black freedom movements and uprisings, women's
liberation, gay liberation, Native American, Chicano, and Asian American
struggles yielded profound legal and cultural changes, effectively rewriting the
rules of race, gender, and sexuality. The images below are some of the protests that
took place during the New Left movement.
 The Anti-war Movement, which was also a social movement in the 1960s, was
an act that pushed for pacifism in the time of the Vietnam War. Those involved
were mostly students and young adults who participated in strikes and more anti-
war efforts. One example of these protests would be the protests at the Pentagon in
1967 (pictured below).
Massive gatherings of anti-war demonstrators helped bring attention to the public
resentment of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Other protests include the protests at
the Democratic Convention in 1968 Chicago. The Anti-war Movement and the
New Left Movement were both against war and protested for peace. The two
movements coincided with each other and had a similar timeline.
Quotes:
“Is not our utopianism a major source of our strength?” - C. Wright Mills. This
was a quote by sociologist C. Wright Mills during the New Left Movement, as he
pushed for a utopia of equality, and that the work of the movement was to strive
for utopia.
“Any war that requires the suspension of reason as a necessity for support is a
bad war.” - Norman Mailer. This quote was said by prominent Anti-war activist,
Norman Mailer. He was one of the hundreds arrested on October 21st, 1967, where
anti-war demonstrations took place. Around 100,000 protesters gathered at the
Lincoln Memorial, with 30,000 of them continuing in a march to the Pentagon later
that night, which resulted in a brutal confrontation with the soldiers and U.S.
Marshals protecting the building. This is what got Mailer and hundreds of other
protesters arrested.
“It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is
either nonviolence or nonexistence. And the alternative to disarmament, the
alternative to a greater suspension of nuclear tests, the alternative to
strengthening the United Nations and thereby disarming the whole world, may
well be a civilization plunged into the abyss of annihilation, and our earthly
habitat would be transformed into an inferno that even the mind of Dante could
not imagine.” - Matin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr was a huge activist
for civil rights, as we know; however, he was an anti-war advocate as well. This
quote comes from his March 31st, 1968 speech titled, “Remaining Awake Through
a Great Revolution.”
References:
“Protests at Democratic National Convention in Chicago.” History.com. A&E
Television Networks, July 21, 2010. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-
history/protests-at-democratic-national-convention-in-chicago. The information on
the anti-war movement Democratic National Convention protests in 1968.
“The Antiwar Movement.” ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association.
Accessed November 12, 2019. http://www.ushistory.org/us/55d.asp. The anti-war
movement Pentagon protest of 1967’s information and pictures.
“New Left and Antiwar Movement History and Geography.” New Left and
Antiwar History and Geography, n.d.
https://depts.washington.edu/moves/antiwar_intro.shtml. Timeline for the New
Left and the Anti-war Movement.
Davis, Madeleine. “New Left.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia
Britannica, inc., September 19, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Left.
Additional information found on the New Left Movement.
Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. https://www.biography.com/.
The information for the three biographies was found here.
“The US Anti-Vietnam War Movement (1964-1973).” ICNC, n.d.
https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/us-anti-vietnam-war-movement-1964-1973/.
Additional information found on the Anti-war Movement.
History.com Editors. “Vietnam War Protests.” History.com. A&E Television
Networks, February 22, 2010. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-
war/vietnam-war-protests. Additional information found on the Anti-war protests.