Two years from now the United States is pulled into
WWIII against North Korea who has fired a nuclear weapon at us. With all of the other places that we have troops stationed we are in need to enacting the draft.
The draft is reinstated, however, as a way to raise money for the war effort you can pay $25,000 and be deferred from the draft. Fair or not fair? Should women be drafted?

RESPONSES TO THE VIETNAM WAR
O Outcomes
O The decline of colonialism (British and French)
O Lasting effect on U.S. military policy and employment

O Distrust of the U.S. press
What is the difference between celebrities speaking out against this war and the time period of the 1950’s Korean War.

O
O
O
Realignment of U.S. balance of powers
The spread of communism into South
Vietnam
Beginning of the realities for the U.S. maintaining promises of support

O Draft – in response to an increase of U.S. military presence in
Southeast Asia, the draft was reinstituted during the war. Created a
“working class war” with college / medical deferments.

O
RESPONSES TO THE VIETNAM WAR
26th Amendment – reduced the voting age from 21 to 18. This gave the young men being drafted to fight in Vietnam a way to influence policies that affected them.

O Role of the media – the media irrevocably showed that it could be used to aid American National Strategy or used against it.
Highlighted media coverage turned public opinion against the armed forces and promoted the counterculture environment of the 1960s. (News coverage on TV made this war a “Living
Room War”….non-stop coverage.)

O Credibility gap – refers to the public's skepticism over President
Johnson’s administration’s statements and policies on the Vietnam
War. The publishing of the Pentagon Papers showed the American
Public that Johnson had lied about he war.

RESPONSES TO THE VIETNAM WAR
O Silent majority – term coined by President Nixon to represent the large number of Americans that were overshadowed by the large number of protestors against the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and by the more vocal minority in the media of the 1960s

O Anti-war movement – peace movement of the 1960s advocating the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam. These advocates were usually known as Doves. Pro-War advocates where known as Hawks.

O Kent State University – At a rally to protest the invasion of
Cambodia, National Guard troops fire on and kill four students

CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES RAISED BY
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT POLICY CHANGES
DURING TIMES OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
 1960s – the debate regarding the Gulf of Tonkin incident caused the creation of the War Powers Act, which placed restrictions on the executive branch’s ability to send American troops into combat.

O
O
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and War Powers Act deal with presidential war powers.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave President Johnson authorization (without formal declaration of war by
Congress) to use conventional military force in
Southeast Asia.
How did the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964 affect the powers of the president?

 War Powers Act (1973) limits the ability of the President to send troops into combat areas without congressional approval.
 Why have presidents since 1973 disagreed with the requirements of the War
Powers Act passed by Congress?

The war ends with the withdrawal of American troops, and communists take over Vietnam.