REACTIONS OF AMERICAN STUDENTS TO US MILITARY INTERVENTION IN CAMBODIA, APRIL 1970, UPON THE EXAMPLE OF BROWN UNIVERSITY IN PROVIDENCE

The student strike at Brown University was one of the numerous campaigns organised by American youth as a gesture of protest against US foreign policy in Vietnam. Although the presence of US troops in Cambodia in April 1970 incited strikes at many universities, the fundamental factor for their development proved to be the death of student protesters at Kent State University. The article indicates that the events at Kent State were more important for the inauguration of the titular strike than US military intervention in Cambodia. The author discusses the stand represented by the university authorities and lecturers vis-a-vis attempts at expanding the range of the strike so as to include other state universities, and the construction of political support for its objectives. An important component was the students' self-education initiative known as the free university. The article also draws attention to the strike's prime weakness, namely, the imprecise postulates formulated at three universities simultaneously. Although the protest failed both upon the university level and nationwide, it should be recognised as an important contribution made by the moderate anti=war movement to ending the highly unpopular war in Vietnam.