Oral+History+Research

The Vietnam War was the longest and most costly war in American history. More than 58,000 Americans died and more than 300,000 were wounded. While U.S. involvement increased in Southeast Asia, it was matched by a rise of antiwar protest in the 1960s, as dissenting groups formed at many colleges, including University of Wisconsin campuses. Different antiwar protests were organized because of many different reasons. Early protests were organized about the morality of U.S. military involvement. Protests also formed after the invasion of Cambodia in 1970 and the Christmas Eve bombing of Hanoi in 1972. Protests began to grow and virtually, almost every college or university in the United States was with an organized student movement, often led by the left-wing Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) or allied groups.

The University of Wisconsin gained the reputation of one of the craziest and most radical school in the 1960's. Students and professors began to organize teach-ins on the war in 1965. The teach-ins were large forums for discussion between students and faculty about the war. Students marched to protest the Vietnam War, burned draft cards, and confronted army recruiters. In October of 1967, UW students protested against the makers of the weapon napalm, Dow Chemical Company, who were recruiting at the Madison campus. The Federal troops usually used tear gas and even charging with their shields if the protests got out of hand or became violent. And one protest would end up in much destruction and much violence at Sterling Hall.

In August 1970, a radical group called the Weathermen (radical group of SDS that advocated violent means to alter American society) exploded a bomb on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. On August 24, 1970, a Weathermen bomb exploded in Sterling Hall on the main University of Wisconsin campus at Madison. Known as Army Math, the building was the Army Mathematics Research Center. The main purpose of the bombers was to strike a blow at the "government war machine." The work of of five professors and the doctoral work of 24 graduate students were destroyed as a result of the bomb. It caused 6 million dollars in damage, injured three people, and killed Robert Fussnach, a 33-year-old graduate student. The death of Robert angered many radicals and shocked many Americans.

The crime was committed by Madison residents brothers Karl and Dwight Armstrong and University of Wisconsin students David Fine and Leo Burt. The Federal Bureau of Investigation immediately launched an extensive manhunt, and between 1972 and 1976, all the bombers except Burt were caught. In 1973, Karl Armstrong was sentenced to 23 years in prison (later reduced to 10 years); Dwight Armstrong and David Fine received seven-year sentences. Burt has not been caught yet. Although terrorist bombings continued for the next several years, the number of Weathermen attacks dropped dramatically after the University of Wisconsin bombing.

"University of Wisconsin bombing." //American History//. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 19 May 2010. .
==== "Vietnam and Opposition at Home." //Wisconsin Historical Society//. N.p., 2010. Web. 17 May 2010. . "Sterling Hall Bombing." //Wikipedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2010. . ==== = __Media__ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iduajf09Raw  This is a video about protests at Wisconsin and the impact of the Sterling Hall bombing. =

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A result of the bombing of Sterling Hall. As you can see there is much damage and much destruction   FBI wanted posters published shortly after the bombing. =====