Abstract
The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial issues in 1968. The intense and polarised debate between anti-war demonstrators and defenders of the Vietnam War cast a shadow on US foreign policy, engendering what came to be termed the “Vietnam Syndrome” amongst policy-makers and the public. This chapter assesses the legacies of pro- and anti-war activism, arguing that the debates that took place during the late 1960s remained relevant long after US troops had left Indochina. Yet the possibility that direct action could prevent or divert American military intervention diminished over time due to two fundamental adjustments made in the wake of the turmoil of Vietnam: the end of the draft and the shift to an all-volunteer military; and a revolution in military affairs that used advanced technology to wage aerial warfare in place of the mass deployment of ground troops. Resistance to the Vietnam War thus had an ironic long-term effect: the US government found a way both to intervene militarily and blunt the effectiveness of popular antiwar protest.
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