Life+in+Vietnam+in+the+U.S.

Life at Home during the Vietnam War Research:

Vietnam divided America from the time it became a major issue in 1964. It was the first televised war in the United States. The media used nicknames for those who were for or against the war. People who supported the involvement of the U.S. in the war were called hawks, and the people who were against the involvement were called doves. Between 1964 and the early 1968, the debate of which side was right almost tore the country apart. Many Americans turned against the war in the early 1968. However, in 1965, many Americans supported the war. They trusted Johnson and his advisors on the right decisions that they would make. This is also known as the Americans supporting the government. Though, when Johnson increased the involvement even more, many Americans started to make criticisms. This mostly affected from the point of view of the doves who believed that the bombing of North Vietnam was wrong and sending troops to any conflict that did not directly threaten the United States. For some reason though, the reaction of the Vietnam War was more personal. Sons and brothers were fighting on the other side of the world and anyone who protested the war was protesting them. Supporters said this and also said it was unpatriotic and disloyal.

The military draft was a system by which soldiers were selected for required military service, and such a draft brought immediate targets of war protesters. The draft was administered by the selected service system. The rules were, men eighteen years of age were required to register at their local selective service office. They received a draft card that listed their classification, or eligibility, for service, When the government need additional soldiers, they drafted who were classified as 1-A, this meant that a male was eligible for induction under the classification of 1-A. Draft protesters protested on how young the soldiers were to face war, and that the draft discriminated against poor blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities. These types of people who protested on minorities were collage students. The U.S. government made burnings draft cards a federal cards a federal crime in 1965, but the new law did not stop the practice.

When being drafted, most men followed tradition and joined the military when drafted. Whatever reasons there were in order to avoid the draft, one of them was to attend college. At universities, teach-ins, a form a protest, spread the messages to a wider public. Others fled the U.S., but if they ever wanted to visit their families, they couldn’t because they were regarded as a criminal. Another reason to find a way out was to classify as a conscientious objector. Conscientious objectors were Americans whose beliefs, usually religious, prevent them from fighting in their country’s armed forces. In the end, the men that did serve their country were often blamed for the war when they returned home. They were sometimes spat upon by war protesters and branded as murderers and baby killers.

Barr, Roger. //The Vietnam War//. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1991. Print. "Fighting the War at Home, 1954-1975 (Overview)." //American History//. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 25 May 2010. [].

[|Burning Draft Cards]

[|time Magazine cover in 1966]



Burning draft cards was one of the many solutions for young boys to find a way to not fight in the military for their country or to show that they wanted to protest.