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The Vietnam War Years

This section explores how individuals easily manipulated the Selective Service during the Vietnam War, the experiences of African Americans and women in Vietnam, the emergence of the protest movement, and the division within the nation over the war.

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The Vietnam War Years

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  1. The Vietnam War Years Section 3

  2. A Working-Class War • Selective Service was easy to manipulate. • Medical excuses • Moved to a state with a more lenient draft board • Joined the Coast Guard or National Guard • College deferment • Most college students were white and wealthy making this a “working-class war.

  3. African Americans & Women in Vietnam • Blacks accounted for more than 20% of U.S. combat deaths despite representing only 10% of population. • Racism was still a problem even overseas. • 7,500 women served as nurses, hospitality, or entertainment.

  4. The Roots of Opposition • The New Left – different activist groups demanding changes in U.S. society. • Students for a Democratic Society – formed in 1959 • Restoration of participatory democracy and greater individual freedom • Free Speech Movement – focused on criticism of the “American Machine” Campus Activism – “an expression of general discontent”

  5. WWI Vietnam War

  6. The Protest Movement Emerges • The movement grows • By 1967, SDS had chapters on 300 campuses. • From protest to resistance • Burned draft cards • Time in jail for refusing to serve • From 1967 – 1970’s, 200,000 were accused of draft offenses; 4,000 draft resistors were imprisoned • War divides the nation • “war doves” • “war hawks” • Johnson remains determined despite increasing turmoil.

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