Reasons for Opposition to the Vietnam War (Edexcel GCSE History): Revision Note

Summary

Support from the public can have an enormous impact on a country’s chances of winning a war - especially in a democracy. Although the American public was initially very supportive of President Lyndon B Johnson’s decision to send US troops into combat in Vietnam, that gradually changed over time. The decision to force people to join the war through the ‘draft system’ and the increased access to television news were both key factors in causing this change.

Initial opposition to the Vietnam War

• When President Johnson sent the first US combat troops into action in 1965, around 70% of the American public supported the war

• By 1971, around 68% of the American public was against the war

• This drop in support and increase in opposition occurred for several reasons: 

What was the draft?

• The draft was the name given to the system that forced men between the ages of 18-25 to join the military

  • When it began in 1966, only those who had been convicted of petty crimes and identified as ‘delinquents’ were drafted

  • From 1969, all men of a suitable age were given a unique number and were drafted based on a randomised lottery

  • Approximately, 650,000 Americans were drafted into the armed forces during the Vietnam War

Why did people oppose being drafted into the Vietnam War?

• People opposed the draft system because it was widely seen to unfairly target the poorest people in American society

  • Refusing to join up once drafted was a criminal offence so many people faced a choice between prison or going to Vietnam

How did people avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War?

• Some men went into hiding and around 30,000 fled to Canada throughout the war

  • Others turned their refusal to join into a protest by publicly burning their papers or draft cards

  • Richer people avoided the draft by studying abroad or getting doctors who were family friends to make them medically exempt

Why was the Vietnam War televised?

• Television ownership by Americans in the mid-1960s had increased enormously since the 1940s and 150s when the Second World War  and the Korean War had been fought

• The cameras used by television news crews had also improved significantly and enabled them to move around the war zone and get close to the fighting

• The result was the conflict being beamed into people's living rooms daily

How significant was television to the opposition to the Vietnam War?

• The Vietnam War has been called the first ‘media war’ because of the amount of influence that TV crews had on people’s opinions 

  • The horrors of the battlefield, which most people had never seen before, were regularly featured on the evening news

  • It gave people a much better idea of what fighting a war involved and it left many people appalled

• Television also caused people to doubt the truth of what they were being told by generals and politicians when it did not match what they were being shown on TV

  • This led to a breakdown in trust between many members of the public and the government