affluent children. This grave result can best be shown by what I call the
“Vietnam exercise.” Throughout the Vietnam War, pollsters were constantly
asking the American people whether they wanted to bring our troops home. At
first, only a small fraction of Americans favored withdrawal. Toward the end
of the war, a large majority wanted us to pull out.
Not only did Gallup, Roper, the National Opinion Research Center, and
other organizations ask Americans about the war, they also usually inquired
about background variables—sex, education, region, and the like—so they
could find out which kinds of people were most hawkish (pro-war), which
most dovish. Over ten years I have asked more than a thousand college
undergraduates and several hundred others their beliefs about what kind of
adults, by educational level, supported the war in Vietnam. I ask audiences to
fill out Table 1, trying to replicate the results of the January 1971 national
Gallup survey on the war. By January 1971, as I tell audiences, the national
mood was overwhelmingly dove: 73 percent favored withdrawal. (I excluded
“don’t knows.”)
TABLE 1In January 1971 the Gallup Poll asked: “A proposal has been made in
Congress to require the U.S. government to bring home all U.S. troops before
the end of this year. Would you like to have your congressman vote for or
against this proposal?”
Estimate the results, by education, by filling out this table: