President to officially acknowledge the threats of terrorism, allowing further development of revolutionary terrorism in later decades. The arrival of the 1960s oversaw a wave of revolution, brought on by staunch anti-imperialism and opposition to the progression of Civil Rights by the students of America. Following the announcement of intervention in Vietnam, the movement swiftly adopted an anti-war position, re-fuelling their drive for political change. The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) would soon form under this New Leftist movement, seeking to ‘model the new, vigorously democratic society i t desired.’ 3 The primary goal of this organisation would be revolution by peaceful protest, as outlined in the Port Huron Statement , drafted in 1962. 4 The manifesto firmly summarises the society’s attitudes against the use of violence in social and political change, whilst also stating the importance of key social institutions being ‘generally organized with the well -being and dignity of man as the essential measure of success.’ 5 As controversial American involvement in Vietnam continued to grow, however, so too would the level of threat and terrorism orchestrated by these young protestors. As tensions in Vietnam increased, radicalisation occurred within the SDS, resulting in a ‘violent faction’ operating under the name the Weathermen. 6 Brenda and James Lutz argue that youth movements were inevitably ‘movements of the weak,’ as a result of their age and inexperience; terrorism would be ‘one of the few 3 Jeremy Varon, Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) p. 22. 4 Students for a Democratic Society, ‘The Port Huron Statement’, 1962 <http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/huron.html> [accessed 29 November 2015]. 5 Ibid. 6 Jeffrey D. Simon, The Terrorist Trap: Americas Experience with Terrorism, Second Edition , 2nd edn (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001) p. 3.
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