What was the impact of the Vietnam War on the Great Society?

Answer 1

The Cold War had a lot to do with Civil Rights. At the time Martin Luther King was doing his part to help Civil Rights and the US Government wasn't doing much to help him with it. King was getting donations from all over, including communist countries. This part was kept 'hush' because the FBI was watching King to make sure there was no wrong doing and due to the policies of the media, this wasn't allowed to be publicized. This also affected the Civil rights movements positively in a small but influential mannerism.

Answer 2

The war diverted Johnson and the people away from his "great society"; he wanted to be remembered for "his" great society, not the war. Johnson hated the Vietnam War so much that he refused to run for president in 1968. It deflected people from it.

Answer 3

That's why the 1960's were so turbulent, everything was happening at the same time: Civil Rights Movement (was also referred to as the "de-segregation" movement), Feminist Movement ( "Women's Liberation Movement" -called "Women's Lib Movement" by people during those times); ASSASSINATIONS (Presidents, Senators, Movement Leaders), Landing a man on the moon; and the Vietnam War (which included the anti-war protests and draft-riots). While the war was still going on...and the 70's dawned, the "Environmentalist Movement" hit hard...save the TREES! Save the whales! Save the dolphines! Save the Porpoises! The latter got it's lead when the public found out that the US Navy was using porpoises to find enemy frogmen in Vietnam. The Communists had sunk a US Naval vessel (former CVE-11 USS Card) in Saigon harbor in 1964. Now those porpoises were going to be put to work, finding enemy sappers! The Environmentalists got wind wind of it, and the homefront war of Vietnam and the turbulent era widened still further.

Answer 4

The Col War was perhaps the largest overlooked contributor to the progression of Civil Rights in America. After the Second World War ended and the Cold War gained momentum, the USSR began to use racial inequality in America as a Propaganda focus point. A famous campaign launched under Khrushchev used the slogan, "And do your negroes sit at the back of the bus?" in an attempt to discredit the American view of their superiority. Certain news stories of racial disharmony in the US became international stories, especially in newly independent ex-colonial states. For more information on this, I recommend reading Cold War Civil Rights: An Image of American Democracy by Mary Dudziak

Answer 5

There was the impression that young black men were being sacrificed in Vietnam at a dis-proportinate rate. Resentment to this pattern did add a new argument to the civil right movement.

Answer 6

The Vietnam War interfered with the civil rights movement. Attention was split between the war and the domestic (home) problems.