There have been comparisons made between what is going on at college campuses today and during the Vietnam War. For example, on April 30, 1968, the police were called in to remove students who occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, and the same thing happened on April 30, 2024. On May 4, 1970, four students were killed at Kent State University when the Ohio National Guard shot at protestors. There are some now requesting that the National Guard be brought in to quell the current protests. The 1968 Democratic Convention was in Chicago and the Democratic Convention is going to be in Chicago in 2024. In 1968, the administration was supporting a war that was unpopular with the protestors, and today the Democratic administration is supporting a war that is unpopular with the protestors.
I am not worried about the protests in the short term. American support for the Vietnam War did not lessen because of the student protests; it did despite the protests. What changed the minds of Americans were the images that they saw on TV. It was the first war that showed the carnage in detail, which included American soldiers’ deaths. Also, many veterans came back and shared their experiences and why they were against the war. Unlike the students, who were deferred from the draft, the veterans had credibility.
The protesters were seen as a bunch of a spoiled, privileged white kids. They felt that since they went to prestigious universities, that made them smarter than everyone else. Their motto was “do not trust anyone over thirty.” They used to mock those who answered the call of duty and served in Vietnam. They would attack the police and use derogatory terms such as calling them pigs. They repeatedly engaged in criminal conduct under the guise of political protest. They would take over buildings, destroy property, and otherwise inconvenience others because of their cause. The most notable example showing how unpopular they were involved Kent State, where a poll taken after the killing showed that a majority of Americans supported the National Guard. Also, in New York City at an anti-war rally post-Kent State, construction workers attacked protestors.
What they did accomplish was helping Richard Nixon be elected president in 1968 and 1972. In 1968, Nixon ran on a law-and-order platform that he was going to stop the excessiveness of these protests and bring back order to our county. These radicals, as they were called at that time, also helped get Nixon elected in 1972 by supporting Senator George McGovern, the 1972 version of Bernie Sanders. The students also helped create division in the country and a lack of respect for its institutions, which affects us today.
I think the same lack of success would apply today. President Biden has already said that the protests at college campuses will not change his policy. You can look at today’s college protests and see that the same tactics used during the Vietnam anti-war protests will not work. The protestors are violating the law, attacking the police, and demonizing those who disagree with them, including engaging in anti-Semitism and inconveniencing others. You can also look at the protests occurring after the killing of George Floyd. The narrative of excessive police force was something that people could agree on. However, the movement led by BLM has been a failure because they went too far in their tactics of violent protest and ideas of defunding the police, which were unpopular.
Today, people see images of bombed out locations and suffering in Gaza without any context and draw conclusions. They hear some Jews, including elected officials, supporting the protestors. One of the most despicable things was a “seder” held by some Jews where Israel was Egypt, Netanyahu was Pharoah, and the Palestinians were the Jews. These Jews may appear to give legitimacy to the protestors’ arguments. It is hard for some to believe that these people are anti-Semitic when there are Jews who support them.
Nevertheless, it is necessary for us to discredit the protestors by showing who they are. Their goal is not merely to stop the war, but to destroy the State of Israel and have a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.” They have engaged in anti-Semitic tropes. The fact that some Jews want to put their heads in the sand and pretend it does not exist does not change facts. Thus, statements such as one by the Columbia student protest leader Khymani James needs to be mentioned. He said on video, “Be grateful that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists,” and “Zionists don’t deserve to live.”
Although the Vietnam anti-war protestors may not have shaped policy with their protests, they helped changed other areas which many call “woke,” such as LGBTQ and DEI. When these students who came from the finest schools got older, they were able to get into positions of power and formulate change. This is a long-term problem that needs to be addressed to make sure that the next generation in power does not think like the protestors. If not, we could win the battle and lose the war. We saw what happened in Vietnam when American policy shifted. America pulled the troops out of Vietnam and the country fell. We cannot have a future generation in power in America that will support the Palestinians and threaten the future existence of the State of Israel.
Warren S. Hecht is a local attorney. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
