Armbands In Vietnam Essay

Superior Essays
In 1954, the United States felt the need to partake in the battle against communism, against Ho Chi Minh, and for a unified democratic Vietnam. They did so by supporting the South Vietnamese Coup through monetary aid. In the following years, the need for supplies increased and in March 1965 the first troops were deployed in Vietnam. This escalation of aid caused anguish and pain to many American families whose sons were being drafted into an unreasonable war in a foreign country. In December 1965, a 30 hour ceasefire was proposed by Robert Kennedy, and students around the country decided to wear black armbands in solidarity with those who lost their lives on both the American side and the Vietnamese sides (Patti 466). On December 16 and 17, …show more content…
It is important to note that the school board met on Dec. 14, to discuss the possibility of students wearing armbands at school. This meeting occurred two days before the Tinker children and Eckhardt wore their black armbands to school. The school board believed that since the students were wearing the armbands, in clear defiance of the recent addition to the dress code, many students would redirect their focus from their lessons and focus on the controversies surrounding the Vietnam War. This view believes that the students should follow the rules placed by the administration despite of the students’ rights and personal beliefs. This view reinforces the discipline on students by the administration.
The majority opinion was written by Justice Abe Fortas. In the written opinion Fortas writes, “The wearing of an armband for the purpose of expressing certain views is the type of symbolic act that is within the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment,” (Cornell Law School). This law case discusses the limit and extent of the First Amendment when applied to school students. Although a black armband is not inherently speech, it is a symbol of free speech and of a political

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Additionally, the school system did not formally forbid wearing "all symbols of political or giving rise the quality of being worthy of attention or importance. " Therefore, the rule maintained by the authorities sole purpose was to put an end to the students ' Vietnam disagreement…

    • 1623 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Vietnam, a war based on lies. The Cold War’s increasing belief that the spread of the communist power would mean the end of freedom. "Reality is grim and painful. But it is only a remote echo of the anguish toward which a policy founded on illusion is surely taking us.” -John F. Kennedy.…

    • 1842 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essay On Tinker Vs Moines

    • 1496 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In December of 1965, Mary Beth Tinker, her brother John Tinker, and their friend Christopher Eckhardt, students of Des Moines public schools, decided they were going to wear black armbands to school for a period of time in protest of the Vietnam war. The school board found out about the students’ plan to protest, and decided to put a ban on the wearing of black armbands on school property. If any student came to school wearing an armband, they would be suspended. The three students decided to come to school wearing the armbands, and they were suspended. The students decided to sue the school district, through their parents, and the case ended up going all the way to the United States Supreme Court.…

    • 1496 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He thought that the Court was “endorsing permissiveness,” and that neither teachers nor students were sent into publicly funded schools to express their political views. However, his argument is invalid because the schools had already permitted students to wear political campaign buttons and even the Iron Cross, a symbol for Nazism. Students could not just be singled out for their political views. Black stated an unpopular opinion, saying that it was a "myth to say that any person has a constitutional right to say what he pleases, where he pleases, and when he pleases,” while other dissenter Justice John M. Harlan found nothing wrong with teachers regulating armbands and their suspension was for a legitimate…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During December 1965, a group of students at Warren Harding Junior High School in Des Moines School District gathered in the home of 16-year-old Christopher Eckhardt to plan a public display of their support for a truce in the Vietnam war. During this time, nearly 60,000 people had died as a result of the Vietnam war. As a group, the students decided to wear black armbands on December 16 and again on New Year's Eve. The principal of the Des Moines school learned of the plan and met with other leaders of the school on December 14 to stop this protest before it started. The school created a policy that stated that any student wearing an armband would be asked to remove it and if the students refused to remove it they would be suspended from school.…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Tinker v. Des Moines case deals with the persecution of a group of students for wearing black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War. The group of students, siblings John F. and Mary Beth Tinker, and friend Christopher Eckhardt, were suspended for wearing the war protesting armbands after they refused to take them off. School officials argued that the students wearing the armbands may result in riots, due to the division of peoples’ opinions on the Vietnam War. The case eventually made its way to the United States Supreme Court, where it was decided in a 7-2 ruling that the suspension of the students violated their freedom of speech and expression.…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Justice Black wrote a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the First Amendment does not give you the freedom to express any opinion at any given time. Here is a direct quote “I have never believed that any person has a right to give speeches or engage in demonstrations where he pleases and when he pleases. This Court has already rejected such a notion.” He also stated that the armbands were distracting the students and that they were creating controversy, “While the record does not show that any of these armband students shouted, used profane language, or were violent in any manner, detailed testimony by some of them shows their armbands caused comments, warnings by other students, the poking of fun at them, and a warning by an older football player that other nonprotesting students had better let them alone. There is also evidence that a teacher of mathematics had his lesson period practically "wrecked," chiefly by disputes with Mary Beth Tinker, who wore her armband for her “demonstration”.”…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Constitution and the Amendments are the basics of the US’s politics. However, sometimes, people, especially young people and teenagers, don’t have enough knowledge about it and so, they begin to abuse it as an excuse for any problem. Fortunately, in his “Why First Amendment still matters to students” article, Tony Mauro addressed this issue, but in a smaller scale, in schools and among students. To be more specific, according to Mauro, school officials often develop amnesia about the Tinker case, the case where a student was being violated of her rights by school officials, whenever a student deviates from some standard of behavior. Even though he had good intention when saying this, Mauro’s point of view was off target.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tinker vs. Des Moines In 1965, a group of students including John and Mary Tinker decided to wear black armbands to school in protest of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. When the principals in the school district heard about their plan, fearing disruption due to the protest, they made a new rule prohibiting armbands at all the schools in the district. This caused some of the kids to change their minds about wearing the armbands, but not John and Mary.…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Essay On Confederate Flag

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Summary: A normal Thursday morning turned into a political explosion when 23 students stood together to fight for their beliefs at Christiansburg High School in southwestern Virginia. The students all surprised the administration staff when they showed up to school wearing clothes that were emblazoned with the Confederate battle flag. According to school officials, this was a violation of the school dress code and the school policy in general. Because of this action, all 23 students were suspended for the day, but the students of Christiansburg High School had more to say about the topic. Students say that they disagreed with the school policy of not being able to wear the Confederate battle flag, and that this rule was a violation to their…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Tinker vs. Des Moines This court case took place in the December of 1965, in Des Moines, Iowa. A group of students at a local high school decided that to protest the Vietnam war, they would wear black armbands from December 16 until New Year’s at school. The principals at the high school learned of the protest, and established a new rule on December 14th.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School (1969), the court said that a student's freedom of expression in school must be protected unless it would seriously interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline.”(Oyez) In 1965 a couple of kids that attended Des Moines Community School wanted to “show their support for a truce in the Vietnam War.” The students would wear black armbands during the holiday and they would “fast on December 16 and New Year's Eve.”(Oyez) Because the students had uniforms, they wernt allowed to have anything else on their uniforms. “The principle learned about the students plans to wear the armbands and he had announced that students wearing the armbands would be asked to take it off and if they refused then they would be suspended.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Black Armband In Schools

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Pages

    In the December of 1965 in Des Moines, Iowa, a group of students put together a silent protest against the Vietnam War. The students planned to wear black armbands to their school in order to protest the fighting. Yet, the principal found out the students plan andt and told them if they would be suspended if they came to school wearing the black armbands. Even with the warning, some students came to school wearing the black armband. John F. Tinker(15 years old),Mary…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Not to be judged, and prohibited from learning based off of what they believe in and what they wear. A well known person today who would probably disagree with my and the Supreme Court's stance on this is our current President of the United States, or (POTUS), Donald Trump. The president may say that the armbands distract from other students learning and that the students have no right to weigh in on problems that have no direct impact upon them. The obvious issue with this counterclaim would be that it violates the First Amendment, one that Mr.Trump has proven to be not fond of in the past. For example, his currently proposed ban on immigration from largely, or entirely, Islamic countries, is a blatant disregard for the rules that founded this “Make America Great Again” country.…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Anti-Vietnam War movement eventually succeeded with U.S forces exiting Vietnam. Previous to that, achievements of the movement were in public opinion not policy. The United States interfered in Vietnam for the purpose of containing the geopolitical spread of communism. The Anti-Vietnam War movement was mainly made up of baby-boom college students, as they were the people threatened by the draft. The movement co-occurred with social change for American women, black people and non-straight people.…

    • 1389 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays