"Ohio", Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, 1971
While Springsteen came along a bit too late to protest the actual war, Vietnam was a white-hot focal point for the protest movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That protest movement itself was tragically the genesis of one of the most powerful protest songs ever. It's still hard to believe that the events actually happened. So if you don't know the background, buckle up.
By 1970, protests against the Vietnam War had erupted across dozens of college campuses across the U.S. One of those was at Kent State University in Ohio. Specifically, protests were organized over President Richard Nixon's announcement on April 30th that the U.S. was expanding the war into Cambodia.
Suffice to say, tensions were high. Students at Kent State gathered for the fourth straight day on May 4th, along with the Ohio National Guard, to maintain order. Tear gas was launched, rocks were thrown back, and eventually, things got ugly.
They got as ugly as possible, as American troops fired on American college students. Four were killed and nine more were injured. Neil Young, now a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, wrote his response to the tragedy almost immediately. The group recorded it within days, and it was in record stores before the end of the month. If you were wondering, there was never one criminal conviction.
"Fortunate Son", Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1969
As I wrote earlier, Vietnam generated an amazing amount of protest. John Fogerty's classic protest song pulled off the rare act of double duty. He managed to protest not only the war itself, but the gross injustice of who was pressed into the fighting. More than protesting the war between two nations, Creedence Clearwater Revival struck out against the war between the haves and the have-nots of America.
The rich and powerful - basically the same class - have always managed to escape military duty. The wealthy bought their way out of the draft in the U.S. Civil War, either by paying some desperate soul to take their place or simply paying off the federal government.
During Vietnam, they could just buy medical deferments. It was illegal, but yeah, it happened. "I ain't no senator's son" perfectly encapsulated the searing anger at the injustice of it all. The single eventually peaked at number 3.
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