British news report on protests at Berkeley 1967

The clip opens with a student rally in the main sports stadium of the university. We see a range of banners and protesters. The voice over outlines the reasons for discontent with US policy and why students dislike California governor Ronald Reagan. This British news film was shot in 1967. It was not directly about Vietnam, but about dissent and protest in the USA. The main feature of the programme was Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a former Hollywood actor who became governor of California in 1967. Reagan represented the far right wing of US politics. He was extremely anti-Communist and had traditional views on politics, family and other social issues. Reagan was a hate figure for left wing students in the USA in the late 1960s. The 1960s were a time of increasing liberalism in the USA as shown by hippy movement, music by artists such as the Beatles or Bob Dylan, freer attitudes to sex and the use of drugs. At the same time, many students felt that their own country had gone wrong. They saw the Vietnam War as unjustified and were angry at being called up to serve in it. Reagan saw the student protesters as dangerous and disloyal to their country. Reagan and his supporters did not believe the USA should leave Vietnam, but should take the war further by actually invading North Vietnam. This clip very concisely raises some of the really big issues concerning America at the time. Although it only really shows on group in the argument, the voice over is helpful not in settling the argument but in explaining what the argument is about.

Channel: UK National Archives Video Length: 1m 41s Date Found: Tue, Apr 15 2008 12:26 AM Category: History Date Produced: View Count: 189