What was it called when College students abandoned classes as an act against the Vietnam war12/5/2023 ![]() ![]() It was their kin and kind shouldering the bulk of the fighting in Vietnam.īecause the wealthy were almost exclusively white, white soldiers were “actually more likely than Black veterans to be drawn disproportionately from the working class,” as one study noted. Blue-collar whites, in particular, were not more supportive of the war than upscale whites but they were exceptionally critical of the anti-war movement. Rifts within that ’60s generation lingered largely ignored while, polls show, the “generation gap” was overhyped. As Vietnam escalated in 1967, a majority of male collegians - and half of all students - considered themselves a war “hawk,” but two-thirds of them objected to “the same proportion of college students” being drafted as non-college youth. By comparison, 7 of 8 protesters in this era had at least one year of higher education.Ī century after elites lawfully avoided the Union and Confederate drafts, there was again an understanding that only a certain sort did most of America’s fighting and dying in war. (High school dropouts were twice as likely.) Fewer than a fifth of those with a student deferment came from modest circumstances. College graduates were roughly 6.5 times less likely to serve in Vietnam than other civilians of the same generation. Bush, avoided combat by attaining a coveted National Guard slot.Įducational deferments were the lion’s share of the more than 15 million men who legally evaded conscription. Other privileged sons, such as President George W. Most of the era’s youth who came to lead us had a student deferment - including Presidents Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton and Vice President Dick Cheney. The war’s unjust burden combined with how the anti-war movement manifested on college campuses - especially elite campuses - led Vietnam to play an early role forming a class and cultural fault line that severs us still. Unlike any war since the Civil War, Vietnam asked the least of those who came from more. 28, 1971, which marked the end of student deferment in the draft, passed unrecognized. ![]() With all the 50th anniversaries recalled in recent years, it’s telling that Sept. ![]() Two companies of the 1st Air Cavalry engaged joint Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces 10 miles north of Bong Son for a 24-hour fight in the rice paddies. soldiers lie in a sandy trench near An Thi in VietNam on Jan. ![]()
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