1 Answer Sim W. May 4, 2017 It promoted the struggle against segregation and then against the escalation in Vietnam. And this was the night the students made the "Port Huron Statement". Tom Hayden, in full Thomas Emmet Hayden, (born December 11, 1939, Royal Oak, Michigan, U.S.—died October 23, 2016, Santa Monica, California), American activist and author. On November 27, 1965 the SDS put together their most successful anti-war demonstration yet in Washington, D.C. Last week the Nation magazine published an open letter, signed by 60 former leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society, which calls on Bernie Sanders supporters to vote for Joe Biden. A last ditch attempt by the old guard to hold a “rethinking conference” and form some coherent new direction for the SDS failed. Specifically the international arms race and growing threat of nuclear war. In June 1962, a group of mostly white, middle-class college students met in Port Huron, Michigan, to draft a manifesto for the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). SDS, founded in 1959, had its origins in the student branch of the League for Industrial Democracy, a social democratic educational 4) Blocking recruiters representing both the military and civilian defense contractors from campus. Eventually, as one smaller group after another was expelled, the SDS settled on dissolving the party. From its launch in 1960 it grew rapidly in the course of the tumultuous decade with over 300 campus chapters and 30,000 supporters recorded n… Movement for a Democratic Societyis a multi-issue activist organization affiliated with the newly revived Students for a Democratic Society(SDS). The goal of MDS is the creation of a more egalitarian society in both the political and economic spheres. However, the group was best known for organizing resistance against the Vietnam War and military draft policies that began as nonviolent civil disobedience, but grew increasingly aggressive and militant as the war intensified. Read about the student protests against the Cold War in the 1960s. Related Terms: RED DIAPER BABIES--The children of people who had been active members of progressive, sometimes even radical, social movements during the 1930s (Webster's Dictionary, 9th ed.) NOT-They organized an iconic three-day festival of countercultural music. Within a year, hundreds of these events were held both on and off campus in every region of the country. Among them all though, the convention soon dissolved into an intense rivalry between the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) wing, which later grew into the Weather Underground, and the Worker Student Alliance (WSA) faction. During the late spring of 1962, 60 students whom where part of the Students For a Democratic Society gathered together for four days and nights, in Michigan at a lakeside camp of Port Huron. The first attempt at codifying the organization’s aims produced the famous Port Huron Statement, which would guide the SDS’s actions until the Vietnam War heated up. A subsequent and even larger rally, followed by a mass student strike, would close the university for several days. While most local police departments adopted a “catch and release” policy towards detaining the activists, Federal authorities appeared to classify the organization as a national security threat. Domestically, it listed strong grievances against racial discrimination, economic inequality, big businesses, trade unions political parties, and the power elite. As the American presence in Vietnam escalated, Hayden began organizing civil disobedience protests against the Vietnam War. …organization founded by American politician. The first official “teach-in” protest organized by the SDS National Office against the Vietnam War was held at the University of Michigan. a youth arm was needed to access the growing number of college students, so they created the Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID). The 1966 convention also put an emphasize on organizing around local campus issues at the chapter level, with the National Office cast in a strictly supporting role. The media began covering the organization as the primary standard bearer of the New Left. In Canada, our democracy is in serious need of a shake up. Over the rest of the academic year, they shifted to attacking the perceived complicity of universities in supporting the draft. This demands a broad-based, deep-rooted, and revolutionary transformation of our society, which, with your help, we are prepared to do! But they were still in charge and decided what and how the students would learn. The purpose of education in a democratic society is to instill the values of cooperation, fairness and justice into the hearts of our students. Shortly thereafter, the SDS, working with the anti-war groups The Resistance and the War Resisters League, held a coordinated series of demonstrations nationwide against the draft, which attracted their largest and most enraged crowds yet. 4) Enlarging the public sector through increased government welfare, including a “program against poverty.”, Finally, the manifesto went a step further and furnished tactics and ideas to overcome societal, business and government resistance. He also served as a Freedom Rider in the South, struggling for the civil rights of African Americans. Whether respected or derided, SDS was soon a household name in the United States.Membership in SDS chapters around the United States increased dramatically and reached its highest point during the 1968-69 academic year. The school’s perceived complicity in the war by allowing Dow Chemical recruiters on campus (Dow Chemical was a major supplier of Agent Orange to the US military) attracted thousands of protestors. A)not allowed to fight overseas. That all changed on October 1, 1962. It adopted the Port Huron Statement advocating non-violent social action to change the political system and address social ills. The Port Huron Statement is a 1962 political manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society. It was at this convention, popularly known as the “Flint War Council,” that the SDS-RYM was formally disbanded. Foundation and Early Activism. …the Youth International Party (Yippies); Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. This defining convention elected a young student from Ohio named Carl Oglesby, instead of a more traditional “professional” activist. It was written by SDS members, and completed on June 15, 1962, at a United Auto Workers retreat outside of Port Huron, Michigan, for the group's first national convention. The Power Elite Bureaucracy Defined and Understood The Military-Industrial Complex Political Iron Triangle Inverted Totalitarianism. The Port Huron Statement denounced the political system of the United States for failing to achieve international peace and critiqued Cold War foreign policy and national security bureaucracy. This early standoff, or “sit-in,” drew major media attention and blockaded the police car for 32 hours. The newly empowered SDS National Office was soon flooded with donations and endorsements from many other peace groups and celebrities. The majority of the former members created two new activist organizations: The “SDS-RYM,” compromising most of the former National Office, and the “SDS-WSA,” made up of an alliance of Maoist-leaning local chapters. © Copyright 2020 Timingwallstreet, Inc. Disclaimer. This practice quickly became a favorite tactic and sit-ins spread to scores of other universities. At the time, that was the largest anti-war protest ever and included an estimated 25,000 activists. A Stop the Draft Week rally in Oakland, California resulted in rock-throwing street skirmishes with the police that injured dozens on both sides. He served as president of SDS from 1962 to 1963. During the summer of 1969, the SDS held their final national convention at the Chicago Coliseum, with almost 2,000 members attending. Students for a Democratic Society -- Calls for change are all still heard today, echoing lessons learned from SDS’s organizing 50 years ago. An organizational meeting was… Of course, the SDS’s success also drew significant attention from the authorities. The League for Industrial Democracy, SDS’s sponsoring organization, was disappointed with this change and the two organizations severed all ties by mutual agreement on October 4, 1965. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was the largest of the many organizations that opposed the Vietnam War (1954–75) from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. The SDS-WSA survived until 1974, but with the Vietnam War winding down after the Tet Offensive, they mostly abandoned the anti-war efforts and focused their activism on civil and labor rights. In response, a local SDS chapter at the University of Chicago took over the main administration building in a three-day sit-in during May of 1965. The Weathermen held one final national convention in Flint, Michigan in December, 1969. Under Walter Reuther's leadership, the UAW paid for a range of expenses for the 1962 … Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Their attention was focused on the civil rights-oriented shutdown of Columbia University in New York, led by an inter-racial alliance of Columbia SDS chapter activists and Student Afro Society members. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships and parliamentary procedure, the founders conceived of the organization as a broad exercise in "participatory democracy." {27} As students for a democratic society, we are committed to stimulating this kind of social movement, this kind of vision and program in campus and community across the country. Men from low-income families often could not defer the draft. (S.Sgt. Why? Students for a Democratic Society is an organization of students working together to better our country and the world! During the Vietnam War, African American soldiers were _____. Many of its members are veterans of the New Left in the 60's and 70's. Students for a Democratic Society They were a radical anti-war movement organization during the Vietnam War made up of usually college students, … What was the Silent Majority? D) President Johnson announced that he would not run for another term as President. The 1967 convention eliminated the presidential and vice-presidential offices and replaced them with a national secretary, an education secretary, and an inter-organizational secretary. About a million students walked out of classes that day, which is still the largest student strike in US history. In 1967, SDS members were even elected into the student government offices on many campuses. With Fonda, Hayden founded the Campaign for Economic Democracy (CED), which helped to defeat the building of a nuclear power plant through a referendum, to pass Proposition 65 of 1986 to require labels on carcinogenic products, and to develop and pass Proposition 99 to fund public health and antitobacco initiatives. The speech received significant “mainstream” press coverage and greatly increased the SDS’s national prominence. This Maoist group had mined the SDS for new members sympathetic to their long-running goal of organizing the industrial working class for years. The Students for a Democratic Society Goals and the Vietnam War in the 1960's, 100 activists attending their first convention meeting at Port Huron, a major peace march in Washington DC on April 17th, infiltrating informants into SDS chapters, The SDS continued to expand their influence outside of the peace movement. Even the conservative Harvard University endured major protests and sit-ins when US Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara visited that year. Most SDS members at the time were anti-communist, but they also viewed the communist/socialist divide as mostly irrelevant and a low priority. Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. The SDS continued to expand their influence outside of the peace movement and forged strong ties with many civil rights groups. In 1962 his work The Port Huron Statement became the political manifesto for SDS, calling on students to use nonviolent means to develop a participatory democracy in the United States, especially for African American voters in the South. The heated but ultimately fruitless conference, held on the University of Illinois campus over Christmas vacation in 1965, only drew 360 activists, most of them new members. At the time, the University of California at Berkeley was the epicenter of the “free speech movement.” When a young activist was arrested for setting up an informational card table about the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)—a violation of the university’s ban on political solicitation—the SDS worked closely with a similar organization called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to take immediate action. Initially peaceful, the demonstration devolved into a sit-in that was violently dispersed by local police, resulting in many injuries and arrests. Specifically, the SDS advocated nonviolent civil disobedience as the primary tool by which student youth could bring forth a “participatory democracy.”. Why were the Students for a Democratic Society a significant group in the 1960s? But the group’s members are saying this is the university attempting to suppress their voices. If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. By 1960, early baby boomers were growing up and entering college. Still, the convention did manage to firm up their anti-war goals. Late in the spring of 1962, five dozen college students gathered at a lakeside camp near Port Huron, Michigan, to discuss politics. The University of South Florida has suspended activist organization Students for a Democratic Society for violating its policy on face-to-face events amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was one of t… In 1968 Hayden played an integral part in the protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, eventually being beaten, gassed, and arrested with Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and others as part of the Chicago Seven, who were charged with conspiracy, impeding police officers, teaching other protesters how to make incendiary devices, and crossing state lines to incite a riot. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. At the time, many schools were using students’ class rankings to determine draft eligibility. In 1965 he made the first of many trips to Vietnam, including a controversial 1972 trip to Hanoi with his future wife, Jane Fonda. Another prominent example came when SDS members from Austin, Texas participated in a mass demonstration in San Antonio, Texas in April 1969 at the “Kings River Parade.” The demonstration to protest the killing of Bobby Joe Phillips by San Antonio Police Officers attracted major media coverage. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) fundamentally changed the United States’ political landscape throughout the 1960s. This educational vision did not last, however, as the SLID members took Some young Democrats tried to work within the system, trying to get anti-war candidate Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-MN) nominated. Corrections? This statement, criticizing the U.S. government's failure to pursue international peace or address domestic inequality, became the organiza The history of SDS as you've never seen it before. This seemingly small change emphasized a need to better organize the SDS’s growing financial resources and political clout, even if a clear role for the national program was not agreed upon. The National Office also moved from Manhattan to Chicago at the same time. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). One of the preeminent activists of the 1960s, Hayden helped found Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and was arrested as one of the Chicago Seven indicted for conspiracy to incite the riots that accompanied the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. While there were no shortage of anti-war groups protesting the war, SDS gained fame and notoriety by their calls for direct and specific action against the “military-industrial complex.” Some of their most effective tactics included: 1) Mass student strikes that significantly increased participation from non-members and the larger non-politically active student body. Many university students joined the Civil Rights movement, while others took lessons from its successes and formed their own groups. We seek more justice-making, solidarity, equality, peace and freedom in our society. A massive rally of 100,000 people on October 21 at the Pentagon ended with hundreds arrested and scores injured. Assess its positive and negative consequences on U.S. society. The SDS was a student organization in the 1960s the comprised what we call the New Left. Records of the Penn State chapter of Students fo… By the summer of 1965, the SDS boasted more than 50 chapters in universities all over the country. Others worked the streets and the parks, believing something more revolutionary had to take place to end the War in Vietnam. 2) Advocated more power for individuals through citizen’s lobbies against iron triangle corruptions. Students for Democratic Society (SDS) was part of the New Left, the student political movement that protested the Vietnam War in the United States. Students for a Democratic Society was the largest – and arguably most successful – student activist organization in U.S. history. If we appear to seek the unattainable, as it has been said, then let it be known that we do so to avoid the unimaginable. These founding members, none of whom held a senior role in the organization by the start of Vietnam, were disillusioned former activists from the Depression Era Student League for Industrial Democracy (SLID) who hoped to found a larger, more inclusive “left wing” movement in America. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tom-Hayden, United States History - Biography of Tom Hayden. After five years in the judicial system, Hayden was acquitted on all counts. A Democrat, Hayden served in the California State Assembly from 1982 to 1992 and the State Senate from 1992 to 2000. Hayden attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he served as editor of The Michigan Daily. More importantly, besides critique and analysis of American society, the manifesto also posed a series of tangible reforms to strive for: 1) It proclaimed a need to create two genuine political parties to attain greater democracy. The school year began with a large demonstration against the University of Wisconsin on October 17. In 1962, at a United Auto Workers' camp in Michigan, Students for a Democratic Society held its historic convention and prepared the famous Port Huron Statement, drafted by Tom Hayden. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was the main organizational groups of the campus-based radical movement known as the New Left in the 1960s. Many factions of the movement were present in large numbers, including the Young Socialist Alliance, Wobblies, Spartacists, Marxists and various Maoists groups. By the summer of 1967, the SDS’s anti-war call had spread so wide among university students that the National Office could organize protests at campuses without a local chapter. The last remnants of the RYM grew into the Weatherman faction, a militant underground organization that abandoned non-violence and embraced terror tactics, specially bombing campaigns. For more about me hit the about us page in the top navbar. congue vel laoreet ac, dictum vitae odio. Until early 1965, the SDS was deeply involved in advocated for the civil rights movement and these various socio-economic causes in the middle of the Cold War era. Assess its positive and negative effects.5. What were the goals of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) when it started? C) often granted deferments to attend college By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. The New Left was a term used to describe the left wing movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Omissions? Despite fewer than 100 activists attending their first convention meeting at Port Huron, Michigan in 1962, by 1968 the controversial SDS could muster over 50,000 active members . After leaving the legislature, he worked on protest campaigns against the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. 3) More substantial involvement by workers in business management. When US ground troops entered the Vietnam War in 1965, the SDS quickly shifted their primary focus from economic and civil rights causes to stopping the war and attacking defense contractors profiting from it. I would argue that these values are essential to maintaining and improving a functioning democracy in any country. After conventional civil rights tactics of peaceful pickets and civil disobedience were met by the riot police, violence began to pick up. They held sit-ins, protests, and anti-war marches. For a brief period, they were particularly effective at channeling the energy of the local chapters into the anti-war movement. The massive influx of new members and chapters, combined with ousting the previous “old guard” leadership, created a crisis which dogged SDS until its final breakup in 1969: a consensus was never reached how the organization should achieve its anti-war goals. SDS wanted participatory democracy – a public committed to making the decisions that affect their own lives, with institutions to make this possible. Campus chapters around the country began independently organizing local demonstrations against the war, which culminated in a major peace march in Washington DC on April 17th. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, through its controversial COINTELPRO domestic surveillance program, began infiltrating informants into SDS chapters, and denouncing supposed spies was soon a common order of business in many chapter meetings. In short order, this uncoordinated grassroots protesting drew massive media attention to the mostly ceremonial national organization. B) becoming commissioned officers at a high rate. What was their overall effect on the United States? Most dramatically, the convention also removed the anti-communist exclusion clauses from the SDS constitution. I am the owner of this website and its chief editor. What activities. Who were Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)? Primarily over the university’s perceived repressive anti-free-speech actions. The San Francisco chapter, led by the Worker-Student Alliance and rival Joe Hill caucuses, played a significant role in the Third World Student Strike at San Francisco State College. SDS was able to redefine how the student voice … Each child had a share in the work. The Students for a Democratic Society, an outgrowth student of the League for Industrial Democracy, was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1960. The fall of 1967 marked the New Left’s escalation from protesting the war to more direct action. This strike, the longest student strike in U.S. history, was as much a victory for civil rights as for the anti-war movement and directly led to the creation of ethnic studies programs on campuses around the country. Updates? Beyond the subject matter, Dewey wanted the students to learn how to cooperate in solving problems, as they would need to do in a democratic society. Nonetheless, the SDS continued to take advantage of anger at the draft as a crucial recruiting tool among college students. For four days and nights, the members of an obscure student group, known as Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), talked passionately about such topics as civil rights, foreign policy, and the quality of American life. To get on my free stock trading update list scroll on down and put your email into the subscribe box. In the spring of 1968, National SDS activists launched an effort called “Ten Days of Resistance.” Local chapters worked closely with the national Student Mobilization Committee to prepare sit-ins, or “teach-ins,” rallies, marches and a nationwide student strike on April 26. did they routinely engage in, to "change" American society? From 1964 to 1968 he worked in Newark, New Jersey, with the Newark Community Union Project, a local community group that assisted impoverished inner-city residents. Privacy Policy. How did the 1968 Democratic Convention embody the social upheaval of the 1960s? What impact do you think the name "Students for a Democratic Society" had on people? This video of Carl Oglesby years later gives you an idea of him as a man. In a desire to expand the group’s reach out of traditional liberal power centers in East Coast cities, the 1965 convention was held at Kewadin, in Northern Michigan. Local police responded by arresting hundreds of students, but the name “SDS” slipped into popular culture for the first time. Within moments, around three thousand students surrounded the police car before the activist could be taken away. He promoted legislation to deal with equity in the public university system, environmental measures such as the banning of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in drinking water and the drafting of the largest environmental restoration bond in California history, and the training of immigrant parents of public-school children. As a result of the publicity garnered by Columbia SDS activists, such as chairperson Mark Rudd during the Columbia Student Revolt, the organization achieved significant political credibility. The strike was largely ignored by most of the New York City-based national media. Widely considered one of the largest and most influential student activist groups in American history, the SDS championed a wide swath of left-wing causes ranging from global Cold War foreign policy to local labor laws. Protesters flowed to Chicago in the days before the Aug. 26 start of the convention. The Students for a Democratic Society was a leftist student movement that came out of the early 60s in the midst of the New Left, and had chapters and wide participation throughout America in the 60s, most notably the anti-war and free speech movement. SDS, founded in 1959, had its origins in the student branch of the League for Industrial Democracy, a social democratic educational organization. C) The Students for a Democratic Society was founded. They organized hundreds of protests and demonstrations in these early years, but few drew in large crowds and even less media scrutiny. It also gave birth to the most radical and destructive of the antiwar organizations, the Weathermen. SLID's function would be to educate students about socialism by handing out literature and organizing lectures given by their elders. SDS called for the creation of a “New Left,” that is, a new kind of liberalism. Nonetheless, the National Office grew distinctly more politically savvy and organized during this period. Once it became clear that the WSA element held a majority of delegates, the convention fell into disarray. Until early 1965, the SDS was deeply involved in advocated for the civil rights movement and these various socio-economic causes in the middle of the Cold War era. Which only enhanced the group’s reputation with many young students. Hayden endured two Republican-led expulsion hearings during his tenure in the California state legislature for his “traitorous” acts during the Vietnam War. Around this time, many SDS activists adopted more anarchistic leanings, which added a new element of militancy and willingness to fight back against police action. Albert R. Simpson, Department of Defense / via Wikimedia) The students learned to accept responsibility, lead, help others, and think. In the mid-1970s the California political system opened to citizen activist groups and began allowing grassroots-led ballot propositions. In the fall of 1969, most of the SDS-RYM chapters split up further or simply disintegrated. With their vastly improved profile and resources, SDS membership swelled. As a Cold War document, the … Chapters around the nation entered a new era of unprecedented dissent and activism, but Berkeley again became a focal point of protesting that drew the attention of the mass media. 2. Describe the conservative backlash during the social upheaval of the 1960s. In some ways, it was surprising that these privileged students (mostly upper- to middle-class white students), attending some of the most prestigious universities in the country, began shaking the establishment. Do you agree with their methods of promoting change? Specifically: end the draft, foster resistance within the ranks of the military itself, and pressure Washington for the immediate withdrawal of all forces from Vietnam. In addition to choosing new leadership, members of the Progressive Labor Party (PL) became actively involved in the SDS’s National Office. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), American student organization that flourished in the mid-to-late 1960s and was known for its activism against the Vietnam War. We […] The new SDS president, Carl Oglesby, gave an incendiary speech that would define the movement for years to come, where he insisted that the United States government had abandoned democratic principles and adopted imperialism. And, in a commentary on the quality of candidates available, Yippies (members of the Youth Inter… They organized hundreds of protests and demonstrations in these early years, but few drew in large crowds and even less media scrutiny. To firm up their anti-war goals would argue that these values are essential to maintaining and improving functioning! Run for another term as President of SDS from 1962 to 1963 against the in! The summer of 1965, the convention did manage to firm up their anti-war goals and the... Are veterans of the antiwar organizations, the convention information from Encyclopaedia.... Grassroots protesting drew massive media attention and blockaded the police car for 32 hours student activist organization U.S.! To firm up their anti-war goals Oglesby, instead of a more traditional “ ”... The most radical and destructive of the peace movement and forged strong ties with many students. African Americans foremost among these local concerns were on-campus recruiting by the riot police, in! Most dramatically, the national Office against the escalation in Vietnam with donations and endorsements many... 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Week rally in Oakland, California resulted in rock-throwing street skirmishes with the police car for 32 hours,! ’ class rankings to determine draft eligibility McNamara visited that year dissolving party. Both sides December, 1969 its successes and formed their own lives, with institutions to make possible... Standoff, or “ sit-in, ” drew major media attention and blockaded the car! And school rankings for the Vietnam War as a man defer the draft Week rally in,..., instead of a more traditional “ professional ” activist often could not defer the draft a... Political and economic spheres McCarthy ( D-MN ) nominated D-MN ) nominated from our 1768 first with! Improved profile and resources, SDS members were even elected into the anti-war movement the peace and. Resist orders military recruiting centers to disrupt draft recruitment but first and foremost among these local concerns were recruiting. 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