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I've just been reading quite a bit about the May 1968 student protests and general strike in France and found it interesting a point that was made about how in some nations, such as France and Italy, student movements and trade unions worked together in the late 1960 and early 1970's, whereas in others such as the USA and West Gernmany they did not.

So what if in the USA the student movement and the trade unions worked together, particularly with regard to opposition to the Vietnam War in the late 1960's and early 1970's? In OTL this didn't occur and in fact many trade unions and workers were hostile to the students (ie the Hard Hat Riot of 1970). In this ATL perhaps after the Kent State Shootings in May 1970, we have many trade unions going on a General Strike in protest?

In OTL trade unions in Australia took action against the Vietnam War. At some stage in the early 1970's the ACTU (the Australian equivalent of the AFL-CIO), put a ban on an of its members from handling non-military items going to Vietnam. Among other things it often prevented letters getting to Australian military personnel in Vietnam. Obviousy this was controversial, but I don't gather it did the trade unions any lasting harm to their public image or reputation.

What POD is required for this to happen? I think you would definitely need someone well-respected in the Democratic Party who was both popular with workers and anti-war for this to happen. The problem was that at this time Hubert Humphrey (popular with workers) was pro-war and George McGovern (anti-war) was unpopular with workers. Perhaps if RFK wasn't assassinated but still lost the 1968 election to Nixon he could lead this?

How would this affect the US government's policy toward Vietnam? How would affect public perception of the students, trade unions and workers?
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