The GI Coffeehouse Movement, 1968-1972: Class-Based Activism in the Vietnam War

Abstract

This work examines the GI coffeehouse movement of the Vietnam era in the United States from the years 1968 to 1972 by analyzing the underground newspapers that the coffeehouses produced. From one perspective this work focuses on the coffeehouse organizers and those who professed opposition to the coffeehouse movement. Another perspective studies the movement with a focus on the U.S. Army in the American South. Finally, this work analyzes how the coffeehouse movement grew and expanded both regionally and internationally, and eventually established itself within other branches of the military. The coffeehouses that will be the primary subjects of this work were in the American South, on the West Coast, and in Hawaii, Canada, Germany, and Japan. These coffeehouses addressed an array of different issues including racism, rights within the military, and women’s rights. Despite the differences in grievances and methods of activism, ideas about class and nationalism underpinned much of the GI coffeehouse movement.