Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Timeline for Peace Activism - Begin to End Vietnam War - Now Iraq War into 5th year and how long will it take to end this one?

from website: A Timeline of Peace Activism

1950

Korean War begins



1952

First hydrogen bomb tested by United States



1953

Korean War ends with cease-fire armistice



(My Note; notice a mere two years from ending Korean War, U.S. begins sending Advisors into Vietnam)



1955

28 protesters, including Dorothy Day and A.J. Muste, refuse to participate in national civil defense drill

U.S. advisors sent to Vietnam to train South Vietnamese army



1957

Committee for Non-Violent Action founded by members of War Resisters League and Catholic Worker Movement

Linus Pauling, Homer Jack and Norman Cousins form the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE)



1958

CNVA member Albert Bigelow sails Golden Rule into area of scheduled H-bomb tests. After Bigelow’s arrest, Earle Reynolds sails The Phoenix into testing site.



1959

President Eisenhower initiates moratorium on atmospheric testing

Campus-based Student Peace Union formed



1960

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) founded by Tom Hayden and Al Haber

CNVA organizes grassroots protest in New London, CT against the Polaris nuclear submarine

20,000 people attend SANE rally for nuclear disarmament at Madison Square Garden

U.S. troop level in Vietnam: 900



1961

Bella Abzug and Dagmar Wilson found Women Strike for Peace

Physicians for Social Responsibility formed in response to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing and the threat of nuclear war

East Germans build Berlin Wall (August)

Kennedy delivers speech on national television warning that nuclear war could break out at any time

CNVA organizes San Francisco-to-Moscow Walk for Peace

U.S. troop level in Vietnam: 3,200



1962

SDS publishes the Port Huron statement

Linus Pauling wins the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts toward nuclear disarmament

Soviets shatter 3-year moratorium on atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons with series of tests (Autumn)

Cuban Missile Crisis (October)

SANE places new advertisement calling for test ban; featured photograph of famous baby doctor Benjamin Spock and caption "Dr. Spock is worried"



1963

Soviet Union and United States sign partial test ban treaty (July)

First protest against American involvement in Vietnam is organized by Thomas Cornell, a Catholic Worker member in New York City

John F. Kennedy assassinated (Nov. 22)

U.S. troop level in Vietnam: 16,300



1964

Catholic Peace Fellowship formed. Founders include Catholic activists Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Martin Corbin, Thomas Cornell and James Forest

Peace activists, including Joan Baez, David Dellinger and the Berrigans, hold a rally to protest the Vietnam war in Washington DC

The May 2 Movement formed among students at Yale University to protest American involvement in Vietnam

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed almost unanimously by Congress; opens way for massive U.S. intervention in Vietnam

U.S. troop level in Vietnam: 23,000



1965

Phil Ochs releases "I Ain't Marching Anymore"

Viet Cong attack at Pleiku; LBJ orders heavy reprisal attack of North Vietnam (February)

LBJ orders sustained bombing of North Vietnam -- Rolling Thunder operation (March)

First "teach-in" on U.S. involvement in Vietnam held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (March)

SDS sponsors national antiwar demonstration in Washington DC; 20,000 attend (April)

First major confrontation at Ia Drang Valley; General Westmoreland requests vast increase in troop strength (October)

Augustus Stanley mass-produces "acid"

Norman Morrison immolates himself in front of Pentagon (November)

Roger LaPorte immolates himself in front of United Nations building (November)

SANE sponsors anti-war demonstrations in Washington DC (November)

U.S. troop level in Vietnam: 184,300



1966

Senator J. William Fulbright holds televised hearings to call attention to Vietnam policy (February)

Start of massive B-52 attacks on North Vietnam (April)

Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam (CALCAV) founded; William Sloane Coffin executive secretary (April)

SANE organizes "National Voters Peace Pledge"; plan to end war through local politics

LBJ requests 10% tax surcharge to pay for war (June)

First national anti-Vietnam "Mobilization" committee formed; holds protests

U.S. troop level in Vietnam: 385,300



1967

Martin Luther King, Jr. makes opposition to war in Vietnam public

A.J. Muste dies at age 82 (February)

Draft resisters "We Won’t Go" groups begin to form on campuses around country

Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam (Spring Mobe) forms; holds dual rallies in New York City and San Francisco (April)

Vietnam Veterans Against the War founded (June)

Spring Mobe becomes permanent organizing committee; holds massive rally in Washington DC; Yippies and others try to "levitate" Pentagon (Oct. 15)

National draft-card turn-ins (October, December)

Antiwar critic Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn) announces bid for Democratic nomination for president (November)

Another Mother for Peace organization founded

U.S. troop level in Vietnam: 485,600



1968

Justice department indicts five prominent advocates, including Dr. Benjamin Spock and William Sloane Coffin, of draft resistance on conspiracy charges (January)

Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launch Tet Offensive (January)

General Westmoreland requests 200,000 more troops

Robert F. Kennedy enters race for Democratic nomination (March)

LBJ announces bombing cessation; calls for negotiations; announces that he will not run again for president (March)

Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated in Memphis, TN (April)

Catonsville Nine raid draft board in Maryland (May)

Robert Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles (June)

Televised clashes between antiwar protestors and Chicago police outside the Democratic Convention (August)

Richard M. Nixon elected president on platform to "win the peace" in Vietnam (November)



1969

Nixon orders secret bombing raids of Cambodia (March)

Chicago Seven, including Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and David Dellinger, tried on conspiracy to riot for roles in Chicago; turn trial into circus

National antiwar conference in Cleveland, New Mobe founded (July)

Woodstock festival (August)

Weatherman’s Days of Rage in Chicago (October)

Vietnam Moratorium protests across the country (October); Moratorium leadership made up of SANE members and "Get Clean for Gene" students

My Lai massacre reported in press for first time (November)

New Mobe demonstrations in Washington DC and San Francisco (November)

U.S. troop level in Vietnam: 541,000 (highest of war)



1970

Nixon orders U.S. troops into Cambodia; in response, hundreds of colleges and universities closed by demonstrators (April)

National Guardsmen fires upon demonstrators at Kent State University; 4 students killed, 9 wounded (May)

Congress repeals Gulf of Tonkin Resolution but continues to fund war appropriations

George McGovern-Mark Hatfield measure calling for withdrawal of all American troops by end of 1971 narrowly defeated in Senate

Vietnam Veterans Against the War hold mock "search-and-destroy" demonstrations (September)

Nixon announces withdrawal of 40,000 U.S. troops from Vietnam (December)



1971

Invasion of Laos begins (February)

"Set the Date Now" campaign launched by peace advocates (February)

Nixon announces withdrawal of another 100,000 troops (April)

New York Times begins publishing Pentagon Papers (June)



1972

Nixon announces mining of North Vietnam’s ports and intensified bombing (May)

Nixon crushes Democratic candidate George McGovern (60.7% to 37.5%, every state except Massachusetts) to win reelection

Nixon and Soviet president Leonid Breznev sign a Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I); severe limits of antiballistic missiles and freeze on deployment of intercontinental ballistic missiles

Christmas Bombings: Heaviest bombings of war; round-the-clock B-52 raids on Hanoi-Haipong (December)



1973

Henry Kissinger and North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho sign Paris Peace Accords (January)

Last U.S. troops leave Vietnam (March)



How many names of troops killed in Vietnam are on the Vietnam Memorial ? 58,253.

How many total were deployed in Vietnam over the span of the entire Vietnam war?

My note; in this Iraq war it is not fresh, new recruits, but the revolving door with the same troops deploying over and over again to Iraq; 2 times, 3 times or more. And when they are not deploying to Iraq they may be deploying to Afghanistan.

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