"Fifty-eight thousand were killed, two thousand captured, and three hundred fifty thousand; maimed and wounded, almost everyone in this country still feels the effects of this conflict. Today, the young people of this country cringe in response to the senselessness and waste of this struggle. A new generation of college students, workers and young parents bring a unique perspective to the analysis of the consequences of this particular war. These are the sons and daughters of the men that fought to their death in the jungles of South East Asia."
(Hochgesang, Lawyer, and Stevenson).
Many felt that the United States had neither the right nor the responsibility to intervene in a civil war. As the war dragged on, opposition mounted (Hochgesang, Lawyer, and Stevenson).
The Pentagon Papers
Daniel Ellsberg leaked the classified "Pentagon papers" stating that the United States main goal for intervening in Vietnam was to protect American interests, rather than to protect the human and sovereign rights of the South Vietnamese (Newseum).
The Pentagon Papers was the name given to a secret Department of Defense study of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967, prepared at the request of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. As the Vietnam War dragged on and the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam increased to more than 500,000 troops by 1968, the military analyst Daniel Ellsberg (who had worked on the study) came to oppose the war, and decided that the information contained in the Pentagon Papers should be more widely available to the American public. He secretly photocopied the report and in March 1971 gave the copy to The New York Times, which subsequently published a series of articles based on the report’s findings. Amid the national and international uproar that followed, the federal government tried unsuccessfully to block publication of the Pentagon Papers on grounds of national security.
("Pentagon Papers - Vietnam").
Ellsberg proved that Nixon was lying to the American people, when he told them he wanted to withdraw the troops, while actually widening the war. The U.S. believed that it would be an embarrassment for them to withdraw from the small nation of Vietnam (Newseum).
(Newseum).
Cost of War and amount of casualties of U.S. Troops
58,151 dead from the war
303,616 wounded in Indochina
13,167 100% disabled
55,000 have died since returning home (suicide, accidents, addictions, etc.)
500,000 have attempted suicide since returning home.
At this rate, it cost the U.S. approximately $168,000 to kill each “enemy” soldier.
$350 billion to $900 billion estimated final cost of the war to the U.S. (includes veteran benefits, interest, etc.)
303,616 wounded in Indochina
13,167 100% disabled
55,000 have died since returning home (suicide, accidents, addictions, etc.)
500,000 have attempted suicide since returning home.
- $132.7 billion Budgeted War Costs (1965-1972)
- $28.5 billion Military and economic aid to Saigon regime (1953-1975)
- $2.4 billion Military and economic aid to Laotian regime (1953-1975)
- $2.2 billion Military and economic aid to Cambodian regime (1953-1975)
- $0.3 billion Aid to French war effort 1949-1952
- $2.0 billion Approximate cost of the war FY 1975
At this rate, it cost the U.S. approximately $168,000 to kill each “enemy” soldier.
$350 billion to $900 billion estimated final cost of the war to the U.S. (includes veteran benefits, interest, etc.)
("Vietnam War Statistics").
