Domestic Violence and America's Wars: A Historical Interpretation (From Violence in America, Volume 2: Protest, Rebellion, Reform, P 173-200, 1989, Ted Robert Gurr, ed. -- See NCJ-119368)

• NCJ Number: 119374
• Author(s): R Brooks
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 28 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Historical Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This essay analyzes the domestic protest and violence that erupted in response to American involvement in the nine major wars conducted by the United States since 1775: the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.

Abstract

The focus is further limited to include only those conflicts with a clearly antiwar component, e.g., the New York City Draft riots of 1863, while excluding the racial violence of World Wars I and II and the ghetto rebellions. Violence initiated by war opponents or by those who support it -- whether civilians, police, or military -- is examined. Technically nonviolent events such as the legal repression of draft resisters or the relocation of Japanese-Americans in 1942 are not considered. A distinction is made between violence that in effect represents support for the other side in internecine conflicts like the Civil War or the American Revolution and violence arising from opposition to war beyond America's borders or to the means by which it is conducted. The study examines why there have been so few antiwar riots in the American past, despite much opposition to American wars. It draws some conclusions about similarities and differences between antiwar violence during the Vietnam conflict and that associated with earlier wars. 73 notes.