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How Did The Vietnam War Affect The Government

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The Vietnam War was a very long and messy war that started in 1954 and ended in 1975, although the United States joined in 1965. The united states projected the idea of stopping a Communist takeover of Vietnam as their main reason for joining the war. Soldiers fighting in the war were about two thirds volunteer and the rest were selected through the draft. This sparked outrage in many military aged men and was the beginning of the defiance towards the war. (thevietnamwar.info) With so many people fighting the war it was really supported overall by Americans at the start of the war. The Vietnam War affected the relationship between Americans and the government in many ways, some people it strengthened the idea of the government, and many people who were against the war rebelled in many ways to test the governments powers such as skipping the draft, protesting, or anti-war marches. …show more content…

(sss.gov) On 366 blue lottery balls containing the birthdates of future draft members were spun and hand picked out just like the lotto today. All dates were given sequence numbers and when your sequence number was called you had to report to Selective Service. The Selective Service was comprised of local community members who made the final decision if these men went to war. Most US soldiers drafted for the Vietnam War were drafted from poor or working class families, the lower classes were treated the worst. The American soldiers consisted of twenty-five percent poor, fifty-five percent working class and twenty percent middle class men, very few came from upper class families.

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