Contextualizing a Primary Document
In the April of 1970, President Nixon announced the United States involvement and expansion in Cambodia to end the Vietnam War. At this time, there had been many opposing sentiments about the war, particularly among students who wanted to avoid further foreign conflict and drafts. On May 4th, 1970, while students gathered to demonstrate at Kent State University against the President’s decision, National Guardsmen shot and killed four students while injuring many others during the protest. This awakening experience further antagonized and unified the nation against the Vietnam War as the betrayal of the government to protect its citizens fueled a crusade for justice. (http://www.jstor.org.summit.csuci.edu:2048/stable/23380315?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents).This document calls attention for a national student strike in which three “demands” are made to end repressing incidents like that of Kent State by the students of American University in the Committee for Community Involvement. According to the committee, the Paris Peace talks, the repression of the Black Panther party and using the National Guard on students have all exceeded the powers government should have over its people. The document serves as a template to reason with the reader why a mass rally is essential in maintaining free will and basic rights with protection against the government.
The committee writes in their first statement that the Paris Peace talks had been weakened due to unceasing bombings in North Vietnam, also insisting to withdraw from the war. Right before the university incident, the Paris Peace talks were negotiations being held by the U.S. government as well as with the North and South Vietnamese leaders to end the war in Vietnam. These peace talks started with President Johnson in 1968 after the escalation of war seemed better fit through the arduous process of diplomacy.(http://www.jstor.org.summit.csuci.edu:2048/stable/41392953?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents).The peace talks occurred over the course of years, with new negotiations and conditions being altered or stagnant depending on the how the other parties would respond. When Johnson pronounced that there would be no more bombings in North Vietnam, there was hope that this would be the beginning of the end until Nixon came into office and approved the expansion into Cambodia. In the U.S., college students were overwhelmingly against the decision to invade Cambodia because of the draft they considered unnecessary. The students at American University considered Nixon’s approach a threat to their liberties and they wanted to show their disapproval through a strike.
The second reason why the students are rallying in this document is to end political repression domestically. According to the Committee, the Nixon administration has breached the Constitution to object any challengers of their policies. In their example, the Black Panther party has been constrained by the administration because they are considered “radicals” although they help protect the people from the government. The Black Panther Party was an institution that brought the African American community together in times when the government did not and that unity really threatened the system. In the 1960’s when civil liberties and racial tensions were high, the banding of African Americans was seen as militants trying to take over by the non-minority mass. For the minorities, the black panthers stood as an organization that aimed for the equality of the oppressed. The FBI however did not see the social movement that way and in 1968 the Panthers were declared to be the “single greatest threat to the internal security of the United States”. (http://www.jstor.org.summit.csuci.edu:2048/stable/41392953?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents). The students at American University are on the side of the organization and call for an end to the oppressive interfering government.
The final reason why they were holding a national student strike was to protest the involvement of the educated becoming the leaders of the CIA as well as other agencies and taking lives abroad and at home. The document ultimately shows the student’s disapproval of Nixon’s foreign and domestic policies by pointing out the injustices that have occurred under his term.
