Dissent in America: Contraction and Expansion in Times of War

Abstract

The United States, when it perceives it is in peril, has a long history of allowing wartime fears and passions to overwhelm or limit freedom of speech. In times of war those who openly dissent are often seen as unpatriotic or aiding and strengthening the enemy, but when the fury subsides history has shown the country most often regrets many of its actions and begins the long process to regain the freedoms that were lost. Over the last one hundred years the United States has been involved in two prolonged wars, the Cold War/Vietnam era and the post 9/11 Global War on Terror. There was little time in between these conflicts for the country to recover the free speech rights that are typically lost during wartime. Many have questioned if peacetime First Amendment rights even apply during wartime and if, relative to the Cold War/Vietnam period in American history, the state of collective dissent within post 9/1 1 developments has been overwhelmed by the exigency of national security. My research will illuminate the multiple intersections and struggles between national security priorities and the tide of dissent that took place during the major conflicts of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including the effects of new technologies on both the government and the public. Two case studies, the 1968 Democratic Convention riots and the 2008 Republican Convention protests, are indicative of the effect continual war has on free speech rights in America and they illustrate the conflicts between the state's need or desire to protect the nation and society's constitutional right to publically dissent.