When the Vietnam War began, it was one of the first wars that had film taken on the battlefield and physical evidence that was shown to the public on television. News channels decided to take this and present it to the public, which inevitably caused the people to form their own opinions. Lots of heinous acts were published that were happening in Vietnam, and there were many groups and organizations that were created to protest and go against the typical Capitalist ideals. Some of these groups formed were the Black Panthers, hippies, and the S.D.S., otherwise known as the Students for a Democratic Society.

The SDS was one of the most influential student organizations ever created in American history. This organization originated from a small group of students in 1960 that were in support of social and economic justice, that eventually blew up into young American college students who were radically against the Vietnam War. The SDS became relevant and grew in numbers around the time of Vietnam War because of the violence and events that were publicized on television, and the students involved were very against these actions. This led to inner anger coming to light and opinions addressed aggressively by protesting.

The President of the SDS in the 1960’s was Paul Potter, who played a huge part in this movement against Vietnam. On April 17th, 1965, 25,000 people participated in a protest against the War in Washington DC. After multiple hours of protesting, Potter spoke to the people in front of the Washington Monument. Potter spoke extremely strong words, including “the incredible war in Vietnam has provided the razor, the terrifying sharp cutting edge that has finally severed the last vestige of illusion that morality and democracy are the guiding principles of American foreign policy.” I personally believe that these words hit right on the point of how brutal and gruesome the Vietnam War really was.

Although Students for a Democratic Society had very intelligent ideas that were for a better cause, this eventually led to the demise of the organization.While their intentions were positive, the followers of the group eventually formed far too violent and aggressive. As time went on, they were beginning to be looked at like overly hostile young citizens who got confused on what their purpose was in the battle for civil rights. The goal was quite contradictory, while most of the SDS members were in support of equal opportunity when they grew up in privileged neighborhoods where their families were the people who were going against the groups main objectives.

The SDS had a huge impact on the people’s opinions on the Vietnam War, and had a huge voice for approximately ten years. The amount of people they were able to get to support their movement was astounding, along with the impact and earthquake-like change they created. Not only to mention the recognition they had received from the Blank Panthers, Hippies, and numerous other anti-war organizations like the Progressive Labor Party, Revolutionary Youth Movement, and the Independent Socialist Club. Many of these groups including SDS had impacted the idea of non-violence with war in general, having ideas that are still relevant in society to this day.