1. A Nation Divided

2. Avoiding the War Looked for lenient draft boards
What were some ways that young men used to avoid military service in Vietnam
Found doctors to give them medical deferments
Looked for lenient draft boards
Enrolled in college to receive a deferment
Joined the National Guard or Coast Guard

3. In what sense was the Vietnam War a “working class” war?
Enrolling in college to get a deferment required having money
So, 80% of U.S. troops came from lower economic levels.

4. Opposing the War: organizations and group opposition
New Left: (name given to the youth movement of the 1960s)
Students for a Democratic Society
The Free Speech Movement
College Students- Young people

5. Reasons that “doves” opposed the war
The war was draining U.S. strength
Belief that war is immoral
Belief that the U.S. should not try to police the world
Belief that this was a civil war between the North and South Vietnamese and was not really U.S. business
President Johnson had revoked college deferments for those not getting good grades.

6. Ways that “doves” showed their opposition
Held antiwar demonstrations
Publicly burned draft cards
Marched on Washington
Fled to Canada and Sweden to dodge the draft

7. Defending the War By 1967: Most Americans supported U.S.
involvement in the
Vietnam War
Hawks criticize the
Johnson administration's
policies in Vietnam:
The “Hawks”( those that
supported the war) felt
that Johnson should
escalate the war more
quickly