Why did so many young people opposed the Vietnam War?

Question: Why did so many young people opposed the Vietnam War!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Opposition to the Draft, especially since most of the Draftee's were lower class or minorities!. African Americans were twice as likely to be drafted!.

Anti-violence spread like wildfire through the counter culture!.

Vietnam did not represent any threat to USA!.

The "conflict" was started by USA sending one of it's ships into the middle of a battle, and getting attacked!. Then blamed attacks on Communists, Gulf of Tonkin was passed which gave President a lot more military power than he should have had!.

Nixon promised to get out of Vietnam, but instead he invaded Cambodia, and U!.S!. planes had been dropping bombs over the entire Ho Chi Minh trail which went through Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia!.

Was costing the U!.S!. a lot of money, Deficit spending introduced, and economy was in shambles!.

a lot of the veterans ended up injured/having health problems for the rest of their life!.

----- Woops i forgot about how USA was going against it's entire ideology with this war since it supported French Colonialism in the area!. However the French pulled out after a defeat at Dien Bien Phu (sp!?)

also the U!.S!.A forced a corrupt government upon the S!. Vietnamese!. The USA put a Roman Catholic in power, and he tried to outlaw buddhism in a 99% buddhist state!. USA also banned free elections in S!. Vietnam because they had information that Ho Chi Minh would get roughly 70% of the votes!.

Later on, USA removed Diem from power, and turned a blind eye when he was assassinated!. the Government was accused of being behind the Assassination but their is no solid evidence!.

Then the sanctions placed against vietnam caused thousands if not millions of civilians to starve to death!.

My Lai massacre, U!.S!. soldiers killed 500-1000 unarmed vietnamese civilians, according to the media the bulk of the killed were women, children, and elderly!. People were further angered when only 1 soldier out of the entire troop was court-martialed!.

The "pentagon papers" were released to the public, where it was written that the U!.S!. government hadn't been expecting to win Vietnam, and showed that the U!.S!. government had lied about casualty figures!.

People pretty much just lost trust in their government!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

How many is many!?

All the combat troops who fought in the war were young people!. Those who served in the war were in most instances, soldiers who volunteered for the assignment (about 80%) Say about 3 million US servicemen served in the area; that makes over 2 million volunteers!. That total is more than the student bodies at the elite schools where a few students were made into they mythical "every young person" in public and media talk!.

The era's public opinion polls always showed by age gorup distribution, that the young were the strongest supporters of the war!.

Take the myth of the "Vietnam vet"!. Samples often show that 4 out of 5 men who now claim to be vets are lying!. They weren't there or they weren't even in the military!.

Those who claim now to have been a protester, like those who claim to have been at Woodstock or Haight Asbury, are often lying too!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Certainly the draft was one of the critical elements, but more important was the fact that many younger people, able to think for themselves and without the dark experiences of WWII and the depression on their minds, failed to see how Vietnam was of vital national interest!. The VC, after all, had not attacked Pearl Harbor! The war seemed hopeless, never-ending, and of no direct interest to the United States!. Moreover, Hi Chi Mihn was, arguably, the most popular figure in the country, and while we were claiming to support democracy, we were propping up a corrupt, abusive and unpopular government and fighting against the "George Washington of Vietnam!." In short, many young people didn't want to be sent to die in a war they felt was foolish, wrong, and futile!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

around 1947 the communists started to take over viet nam (at that time there was no north or south!. it was called french indo-china) and around the mid-1950s the french were defeated at Dien Bien Phu!. At that time there was "The Red Scare" here in the US!. Fear that the communists were doing a "domino effect" of conquering countries!. So the US started to send "advisors" to Viet Nam!. The communists said they would stop their advance to the south!. The country was then divided into North and South!. The South was backed by the US!. President Kennedy sent more "advisors" to Viet Nam to support the government formed by the US!. The rub was that the South government was very corrupt!. Prez!. Johnson used the "Bay of Tonkin Incident" as the means to send in regular troops to support the South!. What the young people objected to were:
Old enough to fight but not to vote!.
Why was the US supporting a corrupt government that was as bad as the communists!?
The obvious lies that the military was telling about casualties!.
And questioning why the US was really there for!. Speculation was for off-shore oil deposits that Viet Nam has and because of the enormous war industry built around the war!.
also, why was the US fighting a war it couldn't win out right despite what the military said (sort sounds like Iraq!. huh!?) At first, support for the war was great but it slowly faded as questions went unanswered and the in-your-face-news showed the reality of the war!. (that's why news of Iraq is severly limited)!. I lived thu that time!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

many young ppl opposed the vietnam war because it was around the 60's where people were like strong w!. the opinion of peace!. Many ppl beleived the U!.S should stay out of Vietnam war because it was a civil war and many people believed the u!.s was getting involved w/ the civil war and it wasnt right for them to just butt into their civil warWww@QuestionHome@Com

Fear of the draft
Counterculture beliefs of non-violence
Some would say brainwashing by liberal universities
Some just like to be contrary
Many reasons I supposeWww@QuestionHome@Com

They had the draft then and they had to go fight!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Because there was a draft and we didn't want to go!.Www@QuestionHome@Com