Archive for year: 2015

The sixties were a revolutionary time for civil rights and the US as a whole. Johnson ordered the Vietnam war, with the American citizens later learning that the Johnson administration had lied about the attack in Vietnam. The Vietnam war was the first ever war to be televised and US citizens finally understood the brutality of war and it was not such an unrealistic idea anymore. Martin Luther King Jr. was the face of the African American civil rights movement with the Black Panther’s backing society to discuss issues openly for the first time in the United States.

 

During Johnson’s election he made many promises about peace and then took another path when he announced that we should go to war with Vietnam. Once in office he declared war on Vietnam but the people later found out that Johnson’s reason for war was false. He dominated the war and the direction it was going, starting with sending troops against their will. Once citizens started seeing the war on TV for the first time they became hesitant and started writing letters to Congress to end it. Johnson basically started the war, and then Kennedy took over but was shorty assonated.

 

The sixties were a time of hope and the people thought that anything was possible with such influential leaders like Kennedy and Martin Luther King. But after both of their deaths it turned into one of the most depressing times in history. People started to oppose the war and became voiced their opinions for the first time. The Black Panther’s encouraged the people to speak their minds and get it across to the administration. As a result of this, the first activists started to come about in history; people were now willing to fight for their beliefs.

 

People were finally using the expression, “I’m black and I’m proud” with meaning. The King influenced both the white and African American crowds with his charisma and integrity throughout the civil rights revolution. He was an example to the people that difficult issues could be handled without violence and they started to see no need for war. Peace came through the nation and with it came the hippies and drugs, lots of sex, music, and experiments.

 

Overall the sixties were a time were there was endless possibilities and people started to fight for their passions and beliefs. Although there was lots of violence in the way society treated the Vietnam veterans and the African American movement, the people also learned about peace.

 

 

The sixties and seventies were known as the era of lost innocence. It was a time when society opened their eyes and woke up to reality of what was going on around them. It was the beginning of a racial revolution, rise of anti-authority, and of course the all to well-known Vietnam War. Martin Luther King Jr. would lead the way in the revolution of equal rights for people of color. His motivation through action and speeches encouraged the people that it was okay to stand up for what you believed in and not to back down. Through his encouragement for change came the black panthers. Which was a group organized of African Americans to help lead the way in change and bring further support to the communities. It was led by a very well educated law student named Huey P. Newton and street smarts Bobby Seal. Together they rallied the communities and started a revolution. This is what had started the change that happened in people’s minds.
Then the Vietnam War would start, which would soon over shadow the struggle that was happening among Americans. In the beginning of the war Americans were all for it and were ready to give their all to war efforts. After watching years pass by and seeing no result they began to question what the point of the war was and why our troops were still there. The Vietnam War being the first every televised war is what also had a major key factor in American retaliating to war. They had the ability to watch what was happening in the midst of battles, they saw their loved ones being injured and killed. Being able to watch these tragic scenes encouraged the people to rise up and question the intention behind this war. Many of the people would join together and fight for peace and to end the war. This being the era of hippies (“peace not war”) many Americans resisted their movement because of their involvement in drugs and speaking though music. Hippies believed in peaceful protest gathering by the hundreds to stand outside and just show in number how much they wanted the war to end.
Soon the average American saw that the hippies had the right idea which is when I believe they took to writing Bizz Johnson. Woman and men took to pen and paper and expressed their discern for the war. For example the letter I read in class was from a man named John Jaekal who wanted to know what care our wounded soldiers would receive when they returned home. He stated how we spent millions on weapons and air strikes but none on the people controlling the weapons and fighting the war. One of the very apparent things about the war that affected the soldiers was the mental state they came home in. Many of the people didn’t know how to react to the soldiers when the returned home. Often times they were treated as outsiders because they had PTSD from the brutal war. The people didn’t know how to react to this; I still believe to this day this is an issue we deal with.
The sixties and seventies were a time of revolution. I believe this is when America finally woke up to the issues in our own country. Martin Luther King Jr. and the black panthers led the way to social acceptance in the rise against authority, when the racial revolution took place. The hippies carried it out by wanting to end the Vietnam War with peace and love. If I was in this time period I would have been a hippie trying to fight for the soldiers to come home and fighting for their health. All in all reading over the document and watching the documentaries made it real that we are capable of rising up to fight for change. In today’s society I feel like we just wouldn’t be able to do those sorts of things because people are so self-centered within each other.

The Sixties rang through the country and through the world, it ushered in skepticism and rebellion throughout the nation. Citizens began to revolutionize within themselves and realize that the government was not what it seemed to be. The lies the government told the public began to crumble in the late sixties, early seventies, the public no longer wanted to fight war that seemed to have no end game or real benefit. Women no longer conformed with the outdated social institutions placed upon them and African- Americans were fed up with the way the government turned a blind eye towards the police brutality inflicted on them.
The letter I read that was sent to Harold “ Biz” Johnson’s was written in the late 60’s, among the time when political protests were becoming more prevalent. When I first read the document I was inclined to think that the author of the letter was a more eclectic protester but as I watched “The Sixties” I realized that the author of the letter was the beginning of a wave of citizens writing letters to their elected officials asking why our soldiers were fighting an unwinnable war. However, the government’s involvement with the war or rather their lack of transparency during the war that led protesters to revolutionize against the government prompted me to see Mr. Johnson in a new light, citizens were being lied to and were desperate for answers yet the government did not think it was in their best interest to be truthful. I realize now why the author of the letter to Mr. Johnson was vague; when the letter was written the public was still unaware of many incriminating factors about the United States military and how a war with no real end game could have been prevented.
President John F. Kennedy was and is still seen as one of the agreeable president’s but even President Kennedy was at fault for giving the Department of Defense carte blanche, it did not help though the the next president, Lyndon B. Johnson, did not reign in the Department of Defense but in fact gave them more leverage. The way the Vietnam War was handled drastically skewed the outcome in the wrong direction. The war lasted over a decade and killed thousands of people on both sides, the letters written to Harold T.Johnson exemplify the mixed feelings the public was having at the time, most letters spoke about the war as a bad dream that needed to end. The sixties brought in revolutionary political groups and an era of unconformity for the people, women and men alike no longer blindly believed what the media and government decided to let the public know.

“Strike,Strike,Strike” as I recall the documentary “THE SIXTIES: THE YEARS THAT SHAPED A GENERATION” the word strike fits perfect. Not only does the word remind me of the documentary but it fits perfect to describe the voices I read in every 1971 Vietnam War letter I read. Even if people were not directly shouting the word the demand in their letters definitely lead me to think that’s what they were referring to but instead of destroying stores and rioting they were expressing their concerns through letters by using captivating personal stories as well as simple concerns and thoughts. I view the 60’s as a serious of events that lead Americans to build up the courage to stand up for what they believe in as well as defend their own people. As people started becoming more aware of unfair treatment of the government to Americans people in a slow manner began to take action which slowly lead to immense riots. As slow as people were taking these actions to do something about what they believed in they also found their own voice within these actions. Americans finding their voice also lead them to have the courage to stand up to authority. From that point on I believe everything in America changed.

While I was reading 25 letters of Americans I kept thinking to myself these people really have strong thoughts about the war every single letter I read was asking for the war to end. Not only did people have common concerns but everyone was very well educated about everything that was going on in the Vietnam War. Everyone was so well educated that not only did they have concerns about the war itself but most importantly their soldiers. It was not until I saw the documentary that helped me realize why people had such high demands from president Nixon. Up to this time many things had changed for Americans that in a way united everyone together. Changes such as The Black Panthers creating motivation for Africans Americans or in that time niggers to take charge of their freedom. With Martin Luther King coming along and making even a greater stand it took things to a different level of seriousness. A level of people being serious that lead to actions that had never been presented before. Up to this point in history no white person had seen niggers as viewed in that point in time, stand up for their rights as much as people did during the 60’s. A group such as The Black Panthers had never been seen or even thought of before this time.At this point in time colored people went from niggers to negros to black people to African Americans.

If I were a college student in 1968, “the year of the stupid” as mentioned in the documentary I would also have the courage those students felt when they trashed their professors office in order for them not to build a new building on top of a memorable park. I would have the courage to do this as a teenager having seen people move from slaves to nothing less than another America with rights. Reporters and other viewers that spoke in the documentary viewed these students as over privileged young adults. I see these students as another symbol of courage for Americans. In other words if young college students can stand for their beliefs and create riots then I can also stand for my beliefs.

The documentary reflects on the letters in the form that the series of events in the video had to occur in order for the letters to be presented. In other words Americans like Barbara Ehrenreich to personally have the courage to ask president Johnson why were her friends being sent to die. Not does this reflect just towards Americans but also people of value having the same concerns as civilians. Without Martin Luther King taking his stand would African American people be free now ? Without president Nixon expressing the fact that this is “selfish country and a compassionate country” would anti-war groups had the break they needed to believe there was something for them to fight for ?

With this being said I do not change my opinion on my previous thoughts about the writer. I continue to view them as a form of movement Americans created to stop the Vietnam War which was what all 25 letters I read asked for. Not just to end the fight with the bill president Nixon spoke a lot about but took long to take into action, but for all the soldiers to return home. That is something I can tie both sources together people in the 60’s and during the Vietnam War spoke up for something memorable with courage.

We have successfully returned from our trip to the Cook Islands! The team continued on collecting data, right up to the very last hours before the plane departed from Aitutaki. Paul, Chris and Guy spent the last days moving through the jungles and creating maps of the last watersheds, and finally the main harbor. All of the UAVs and ROVs were safely packed away, and the research teams bid farewell to the Cook Islands.

Returning the United States was bittersweet; there had been so many amazing adventures and new friends made, but the fun had to come to an end. Our colleague and now great friend, Guy Trimby, had to head back to the UK, and the AARR is going through a large change in membership. Many of the team members have graduated and moved on to new horizons, leaving room for new members to join, and carry on the work.

Over the next few weeks, the new members will be trained on our aerial and submarine Remotely Piloted Systems. The new senior students are formulating new research projects, and some are gearing up to improve and continue ongoing ecological monitoring.