VIETNAM WAR AS THE WORKING-CLASS WAR
Vietnam War is regarded as one of the most painful and
harshest conflicts in the American history. Probably, the most painful fact
about this war was that thousands of young people went to the foreign and
unknown territory, where they were killed or negatively affected by the war in
different ways. Three American presidents, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, sent 3
million young Americans to South Vietnam. Furthermore, they were fighting in a
war which was on the edge of the American consciousness. The number of American
troops in the Vietnam War gradually increased over the years; from 15,000
troops in 1964 to more than a half a million soldiers in 1968. That was the era
(1964-1973) of the “baby boom” generation, when 27 million people came of draft
age. However, less than 10 percent of that generation went to Vietnam. This
happened due to fact that military service in the period of 1950s and 1960s
became less universal, in comparison to the Second World War period or during
the Korean War (Appy 17-18). Therefore, it became obvious that the option of
participating or not participating in American wars became completely optional
for some members of the American society.
Vietnam War
proved itself to be very costly, both in terms of economy and blood. It brought
many economic problems, such as higher taxes, trade deficit, wage controls,
inflation and a recession in 1970 and 1971 (Bates 90). However, its biggest
implications were related to the working-class, which suffered significant
consequences. Milton J. Bates explains the way in which the American drafting
system functions during the 1960s:
“The American way of choosing military conscripts has always
been selective, and in this respect it mirrors the country’s socioeconomic
order as a whole. In theory all are created equal and all are treated equally
under law. But in practice some are more equal than others; some earn more
money, pay less in taxes, and enjoy a greater share of what Max Weber called life chances” (90-91).
Moreover, Bates elaborates further on this topic, saying that
in the traditional stratification of American society (upper, middle, working,
and lower classes), upper and middle classes live significantly less dangerous
than the other two, especially during the wartime (Bates 91). The difference
between poor and well-off Americans became obvious in the period of the Vietnam
War Draft. This system was consisted of numerous local draft boards, which were
intended to secure the support of the people. Members of these boards were
usually older, well-educated, white-collar workers (Bates 92). According to
Davis and Dolbeare, “the system placed the greatest burden of military service
on rural, white, lower-income, non-college youths and physically and mentally
acceptable Negroes” (cited in Bates 92-93). While describing several men from
his platoon, Phillip Caputo explains the reasons which led those men to come to
Vietnam:
“Most of them came from the ragged fringes of the Great
American Dream, from city slums and dirt farms and Appalachian mining towns.
With depressing frequency, the words 2
yrs. high school appeared in the square labelled EDUCATION in their service
record books…The threat of the draft came with their eighteenth birthdays, and
they had no hope of getting student deferments, like the upper-middle-class who
would later revile them as killers...Others were driven by economic and
psychological pressures; the Marines provided them with a guaranteed annual
income, free medical care, free clothing, and something else, less tangible but
just as valuable; self-respect”(27-28).
Caputo’s reflection shows
the complexity of the interrelatedness between class and participation in
Vietnam War. He shows that many soldiers from his platoon came from the working
or lower classes. Furthermore, the higher social classes were able to afford
professional advisory on different ways of draft avoidance. For example,
students were able to find professional help on numerous college campuses (Appy
35). However, those students who could not afford to pay different expenses (primarily
those from working-class) related to the life in the campus were forced to
reduce their course load and find a part-time job. Consequently, they were no
longer eligible for a deferment (Bates 93). Moreover, the draft avoidance in
the working-class neighbourhoods was considered to be an act of cowardice. Therefore,
the community support for draft avoidance in those neighbourhoods practically
did not exist (Appy 35). These facts show the complexity of the data collected about
the Vietnam War Draft by different scholars.
The ruthless and sobering
experience of Vietnam War was, in most of the cases, reserved just for the
unprivileged stratum of the American society. The young Americans from working
and lower classes will also experience the brutalization and psychological metamorphosis
caused by the unhuman war conditions.
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