Kerr's management strategy on campus only emboldened the New Left.
In addition to the Free Speech movement, the New Left included other student organizations including Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The former focused on the antiwar efforts to end the Vietnam conflict, placing the students in direct conflict with many of America's most powerful institutions and organizations. Sit-ins, and other non-violent protest tactics were used to gain media coverage as well as to effect real change. The increasing awareness of how the War in Vietnam was proceeding caused the New Left to grow dramatically, providing a credible opposition to the Department of Defense. As Zinn points out, an increasingly large proportion of Americans ceased affiliating with either the Democratic or Republican parties, expressing opposition to the core institutions of government that led to injustices like those being witnessed in Vietnam. Faith in government was eroding fast during the 1960s, paving the way well for the upheaval and turmoil that characterized the 1970s. The New Left was successful in raising awareness of core political issues, gaining traction for Civil Rights, and poking holes in New Right logic. However, the New Left lacked political cohesion and more importantly, sponsorship from big business or big religion. This meant that the New Left became a series of scattered political activist organizations including environmentalist groups and civil liberties organizations, whereas the New Right infiltrated the upper echelons of politics. The failure of the New Left to coalesce led to a kind of political impotence. The New Right proved eminently successful in infiltrating every level of American political culture and society.
Toward the end of the century, yet another division between left and right started to emerge on the heels of the New Left and New Right. The neoconservative and...
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