One of the neglected stories of the 1960s is the impact of the Vietnam War on the civil rights movement. The war divided African Americans more than any previous issue in American history. The controversy over the Vietnam War was a significant factor in the unraveling of the civil rights coalition in the mid and late 1960s. This book tells the story of the dilemmas facing members of the civil rights movement, who were forced to choose sides in the Vietnam War. It explores how the seeds of the controversy had been planted ten years before the war heated up, during the Red scare and McCarthyism, ... More

One of the neglected stories of the 1960s is the impact of the Vietnam War on the civil rights movement. The war divided African Americans more than any previous issue in American history. The controversy over the Vietnam War was a significant factor in the unraveling of the civil rights coalition in the mid and late 1960s. This book tells the story of the dilemmas facing members of the civil rights movement, who were forced to choose sides in the Vietnam War. It explores how the seeds of the controversy had been planted ten years before the war heated up, during the Red scare and McCarthyism, which rendered dissent against foreign policy tantamount to treason. Starting in the early 1950s, the mainstream civil rights movement embraced the Cold War consensus. The passage of civil rights legislation and implementation of Great Society programs during the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson seemed to validate the movement's embrace of Cold War liberalism. After Johnson escalated the Vietnam War in 1965, the civil rights establishment was initially reluctant to oppose the war. Within months, however, many of the most radical elements of the movement expressed anger over the violence, diversion of resources, and racist aspects of the war. Martin Luther King Jr.'s reaction to the war embodied the civil rights movement's dilemma and eventual polarization. This gripping story constitutes an important chapter of the 1960s.