"The youth of a nation are the trustees of posterity"
- Benjamin Dissraeli
The United States’ decades long participation in the Vietnam War created upheaval and conflict in American society. By the mid 1960s, public opinion about US involvement in the conflict was divided. Those who supported President Johnson’s escalation of the war felt American efforts to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia was vital to the nation’s interest. Others saw our attempt to prop up a weak, corrupt South Vietnamese government as an ultimately futile enterprise. Americans expressed their opinions through music, literature, protests, speeches, accepting, avoiding or rejecting military service and in many other ways.
Essential Questions
· What different perspectives did young people take regarding the Vietnam War at the time?
· What might have been some of the reasons for these opinions?
Popular beliefs about youth reaction to the war center around the protest movement. Many Americans assume that all young people disapproved of the war, believing that they all participated enthusiastically in anti war protests, listened to anti-war music, or burned their draft cards to express their opposition to this conflict. In contrast, conventional wisdom holds that supporters of the war were older Americans of an earlier generation. While there were many young people who opposed the war, the assumption that there was a generational split among older and younger Americans over the conflict is a gross oversimplification. Young Americans, just like their parents, were split in how they felt about the war. A whole generation of Americans came of age during this period. Their experiences and opinions would shape American society for years to come. In fact, understanding modern American foreign policy depends in part on a deeper understanding of the variety of perspectives and experiences of American youth of the mid-20th century. Explore the variety of perspectives these youthful citizens had about the war by examining the following primary sources.
Essential Questions
· What different perspectives did young people take regarding the Vietnam War at the time?
· What might have been some of the reasons for these opinions?
Popular beliefs about youth reaction to the war center around the protest movement. Many Americans assume that all young people disapproved of the war, believing that they all participated enthusiastically in anti war protests, listened to anti-war music, or burned their draft cards to express their opposition to this conflict. In contrast, conventional wisdom holds that supporters of the war were older Americans of an earlier generation. While there were many young people who opposed the war, the assumption that there was a generational split among older and younger Americans over the conflict is a gross oversimplification. Young Americans, just like their parents, were split in how they felt about the war. A whole generation of Americans came of age during this period. Their experiences and opinions would shape American society for years to come. In fact, understanding modern American foreign policy depends in part on a deeper understanding of the variety of perspectives and experiences of American youth of the mid-20th century. Explore the variety of perspectives these youthful citizens had about the war by examining the following primary sources.
Created by Megan Berry & Kathleen Gilbert
June 2013
June 2013