Medieval Futures: The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Binghamton University: 1966–2016

1966: The US war in Vietnam begins to escalate rapidly. To meet the needs of this highly intensive, overseas military engagement, the Selective Service conscripts 343,000 American men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six into the US army. Until this year, draft boards had generally granted deferments to full-time university students, but now all “underperforming” students are required to pass an exam to avoid being reclassified as draft-eligible. The antiwar movement consequently becomes more active on university campuses. Antiwar rallies are held in several US cities on March 26, including a large rally in New York City drawing 22,000 participants. Martin Luther King Jr. denounces the war in Vietnam. For the rest of the long decade of the sixties, the war and the student antiwar movements it generated collide—sometimes violently—over conflicting views of the American future.