The Vietnam Peace Movement document summarizes the impact of televised coverage of the Vietnam War and the resulting peace movement in the United States. Television allowed people to witness the brutality of war from home, fueling public backlash against the war and the formation of the hippie counterculture movement. Growing unrest led the U.S. to withdraw all troops from Vietnam by 1975, making it the first American war to face such large-scale domestic opposition. Public opinion polls from 1965 to 1971 show declining support for U.S. involvement in the war over that period.

1. The Vietnam Peace Movement
Dr. Langdon Ph.D

2. War in the
Television Era
• The Vietnam War
was the very first war
to be televised on a
massive scale.
• This gave people the
opportunity to see
the brutality of war
all from the comforts
of their own home.

4. The Counterculture
• The observations of cruelty of war lead to a
public backlash against the Vietnam War.
• This started the peace movement and lead to
what many people refer to as “hippies”. 

7. The Effect of the Peace Movement
• Due to the growing unpopularity of the
Vietnam War, the United States would remove
all troops by 1975.
• This was the first U.S. war that had a public
backlash of this magnitude.

8. Month Percentage who agreed with war
August 1965 61%
March 1966 59%
May 1966 49%
September 1966 48%
November 1966 51%
February 1967 52%
May 1967 50%
July 1967 48%
October 1967 46%
December 1967 48%
February 1968 42%
March 1968 41%
April 1968 40%
August 1968 35%
October 1968 37%
February 1969 39%
October 1969 32%
January 1970 33%
April 1970 34%
May 1970 36%
January 1971 31%
May 1971 28%