Kyle Arnold
Honors English 11-2
Research Paper Final Draft
27 January 2017
The Struggle to Be Heard Attitude and action is the direct result of any situation. When leaders take into consideration the opinions and expressions of their followers, they have created a condition where the followers are in good spirits and continue to trust in their leaders. However, when leaders enable quick decisions without consulting their supporters, they have given their supporters no voice in the matter; this leads to dominion over the followers, rather than leadership. The same situation unfolded in the 1960s and 1970s when the United States entered into the Vietnam War. Many United States citizens felt that entering the war was irrelevant to our country’s …show more content…
If drafted, there was no choice but to become a soldier in Vietnam. Consequently, the term “Draft Dodgers” was coined during this time to describe those that attempted to flee to Canada in order to avoid being drafted (Wachter). Another form of expression United States citizens used against the government was to abuse their draft cards. A recurring action was the burning of one’s draft card; some cases were even committed publicly. The first man to publicly burn his draft card was David J. Miller in 1965 during a New York City protest (Rohn). Miller’s action would get him arrested and earn him a two year prison sentence; however, he inspired millions of others to do the same in protest to the government. Citizens also rebelled by rushing draft registration boards. One group, The New Mobe, planned many non-violent protests would take place in the late 1960s and early ’70s (Jacobs). One such protest act was a mass registration where hundreds and hundreds of people hurried into public draft boards in order to overwhelm the workers inside. On another occasion, Daniel Kerrigan and his “brothers” raided a draft board in Catonsville, Maryland (Carrol). During the raid, they overpowered the workers inside, stole 378 draft files, and burned them. The aftermath of burning draft cards, mass registrations, and raids such as the one in Catonsville, Maryland, exasperated the government draft board workers and created controversy as to how the government would deal with these
Honors English 11-2
Research Paper Final Draft
27 January 2017
The Struggle to Be Heard Attitude and action is the direct result of any situation. When leaders take into consideration the opinions and expressions of their followers, they have created a condition where the followers are in good spirits and continue to trust in their leaders. However, when leaders enable quick decisions without consulting their supporters, they have given their supporters no voice in the matter; this leads to dominion over the followers, rather than leadership. The same situation unfolded in the 1960s and 1970s when the United States entered into the Vietnam War. Many United States citizens felt that entering the war was irrelevant to our country’s …show more content…
If drafted, there was no choice but to become a soldier in Vietnam. Consequently, the term “Draft Dodgers” was coined during this time to describe those that attempted to flee to Canada in order to avoid being drafted (Wachter). Another form of expression United States citizens used against the government was to abuse their draft cards. A recurring action was the burning of one’s draft card; some cases were even committed publicly. The first man to publicly burn his draft card was David J. Miller in 1965 during a New York City protest (Rohn). Miller’s action would get him arrested and earn him a two year prison sentence; however, he inspired millions of others to do the same in protest to the government. Citizens also rebelled by rushing draft registration boards. One group, The New Mobe, planned many non-violent protests would take place in the late 1960s and early ’70s (Jacobs). One such protest act was a mass registration where hundreds and hundreds of people hurried into public draft boards in order to overwhelm the workers inside. On another occasion, Daniel Kerrigan and his “brothers” raided a draft board in Catonsville, Maryland (Carrol). During the raid, they overpowered the workers inside, stole 378 draft files, and burned them. The aftermath of burning draft cards, mass registrations, and raids such as the one in Catonsville, Maryland, exasperated the government draft board workers and created controversy as to how the government would deal with these