Pro-Palestinian Movement and Anti-Vietnam War Echoes, Changing the US Political Map

The wave of anti-Vietnam War protests forced President LBJ to cancel his candidacy for election. Will history repeat itself?

JOSHUA L. JONES/ATHENS BANNER-HERALD VIA AP

Pro-Palestinian protesters from the University of Georgia gathered outside City Hall after marching through downtown Athens, Georgia, USA, on May 3rd, 2024.

Echoes of the anti-Vietnam War in 1968 are so strong in the pro-Palestinian movement that in recent weeks has been burning on campuses in United States.

At that time, the massive lawsuits from young people to end the US role in the Vietnam War were able to change the political landscape of the US. Like now, waves of anti-war protests are marked by violence from authorities and occur during the times leading up to the presidential election.

The popularity of President Lyndon B Johnson (LBJ) at that time also plummeted following the wave of anti-Vietnam War protests. The candidate from the Democratic Party was pressured and eventually withdrew from running for president again.

AP PHOTO/SUE OGROCKI

Neil Cooper, a lecturer at Kent State University and Director of the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, viewed exhibits at the May 4 Visitor Center on May 1, 2024, in Kent, Ohio, USA. Kent State University commemorated the shooting by National Guardsmen that killed four students and injured nine others on May 4, 1970.

In the next election, the Democratic Party, which previously won consecutive US elections, was replaced by the Republican Party. The election was won by Richard Nixon from the Republican Party.

”Israeli bombs, NYU is paying, how many children have you killed today?” That was the chant of the student demonstration heard at New York University at the end of April 2024, as recorded in a media report by The Guardian.

Also read: US Campuses Begin Suspension of Pro-Palestinian Protesting Students

This cheer is very similar to the call of anti-Vietnam War protesters in 1968. "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"

The call was heard from campuses to the halls of the White House at that time, as reported by Time magazine. Like today, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations were met with violence from campus administrators and brutality from the authorities.

AKRON BEACON JOURNAL VIA AP

National Guard troops attacked anti-Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, USA, on May 4, 1970. Four people were killed and several others were injured.

On May 4, 1970, approximately two years since the anti-Vietnam War movement was raging, the actions of the authorities resulted in the deaths of at least four students from Kent State University in Ohio and injured several others. Every May 4, the bloody incident is commemorated there.

Also read: Election Results Force Biden to Set Terms of Support for Israel

Although not as large as it was in the 1970s, the Gaza anti-War movement is now considered very similar to the initial anti-Vietnam War movement that began around 1968. “I think both have similar scale and impact the same,” said Temple University historian Ralph Young.

CARLOS AVILA GONZALEZ/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE VIA AP

A message that read "Free Palestine!" was written on the edge of the Ludwig Fountain, near a pro-Palestinian protest camp at Sproul Hall in the University of California, Berkeley, US on May 2, 2024.

Just like in the 1960s and 1970s, according to Young, strong actions today are making many people even angrier. This will only amplify protests and spread them further to other campuses.

I wonder if today's college administrators haven't learned their lessons from the 1970s.

For the past two weeks, more than 2,400 people in dozens of colleges and universities in the US have been arrested as police dispersed demonstrations protesting the Israel-Hamas war. Student protests show no signs of dissipating.

US President Joe Biden responded to the wave of demonstrations with less sympathy. "We are a civil society, and order must be upheld," he said at the White House in his first speech on the wave of student riots on Friday, May 3rd, 2024.

AP/TAMPA BAY TIMES/JEFFEREE WOO

A pro-Palestinian protester was arrested by law enforcement officers at the South Florida MLK Plaza Fountain at Tampa, Florida, USA on April 30th, 2024.

Senator Bernie Sanders assessed that Biden put himself in a politically and morally weak position due to his support for Israel. "This may be Biden's Vietnam," he said during an interview with CNN on Thursday (2/5/2024).

He referred to President LBJ. "I am very worried that President Biden has put himself in a position where he has alienated himself from young people and also most Democratic Party supporters in terms of his views on Israel and this war," said Sanders.

Political divisions

Political divisions regarding the Israel-Hamas war are starting to appear. Although the majority is still in favor, Republican approval of the war in Gaza has fallen.

AP PHOTO/ALEX BRANDON

US President Joe Biden at South Court Auditorium, White House, April 12, 2024.

From 71 percent of Republican Party members who supported the Gaza War in November 2023, the number decreased to 64 percent in March 2024. Support from the Democratic Party plummeted to 18 percent in March with a 75 percent disapproval rate.

The New York Times columnist, Charles M Blow, believes that the current atmosphere is reminiscent of the generation gap on the issue of US support for Israel that is similar to 1968.

Also read: The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is Biden's threat in the 2024 elections

At that time, student protests against the Vietnam War spread to the national political arena. The peak was a violent clash between the National Guard and protesters during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

History professor at the University of South Carolina, Kent Germany, notes that in 1968, under President LBJ, public support ratings dropped from 70 percent in mid-1965 to below 40 percent in 1967.

AP/ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH/DAVID CARSON

Pro-Palestinian protesters gather at St Louis University, May 1, 2024, in St Louis, USA.

Anti-war demonstrations are raging everywhere. Along with that, the support of the US Congress has also declined. As a result, President LBJ has difficulty implementing policies due to the high resistance in the Congress.

In the upcoming election, the Democratic Party, the LBJ party, cannot win. However, previously, the Democratic Party won consecutively. Could history repeat itself? (AP/REUTERS/AFP)