How many Americans were dead when Viet Nam became unpopular?

[Swede]

Is that what has to happen,dear God I hope not.

[michaelbmoore]

1. No, it's not what has to happen!

We can't let it!

[livinontheedge]

2. 50,000 died in Viet Nam.

It was the steady drumbeat of 400-500 deaths per WEEK that finally turned the tide against the war.

[FloridaPat]

5. Along with all those anti-war demonstrations.

They were everywhere. Then the Veterans started getting arrested for demonstrating. Once the general public starts realizing that the government is lying it's all over. But someone has to scream loud and clear and over and over that the government is lying and at fault.

[michaelbmoore]

12. Yep

And don't stop screaming!

[livinontheedge]

13. You are absolutely right. The demonstrations made a difference.

Weekend after weekend, the news was filled with anti-war images.

[Skittles]

23. YEAH

But Viet Nam didn't have VIET NAM as a past reference for BULLSHIT WARS.

[Melinda]

3. We've lost more US lives in 6 months in Iraq than in Vietnam, 1963-64

I know that the turning point for me began as an adolescent in 1968 when my very near peers began dying at rates of hundreds each month... and it culminated for me with devastating personal loss in 1971.

[NontoxicAvenger]

8. I've hard this and have no doubt,

but can you provide a link so that I can post it for right-wingnuts who call me every name in the book every time I bring it up?

[Melinda]

14. Yes, but I need find it...

I'm swimming in bookmarks. I'll post it asap.

[Melinda]

16. Here you go -- Statistical Graph of Casualties by year:

Vietnam: CACCF Record Counts by Year of Death or Declaration of Death (as of 12/98) Year of Death or Declaration of Death Number of Records:

1956-1960 9
1961 16
1962 52
1963 118
1964 206
1965 1,863
1966 6,143
1967 11,153
1968 16,592
1969 11,616
1970 6,081
1971 2,357
1972 641
1973 168
1974 178
1975 161
1976 77
1977 96
1978 447
1979 148
1980 26
1981-1990 34
1991-1998 11
Total 58,193

http://www.archives.gov/research_room/research_topics/vietnam_war_casualty_lists/statistics.html

Bush has ALL OUR loved ones (our country, our world!) on the fast track to death and destruction. :(

[starroute]

17. Here are some figures

http://cybersarges.tripod.com/casualties.html?o=0

According to this site, US deaths in Vietnam through 1965 were 1864. The figure jumped to 6000 in 1966, 11,000 in 1967, and 16,500 in 1968. That's what it took to really set off the opposition.

[expatriot]

4. I don't know exact figures but...

they say that roughly half were killed from teh beginning of our involvement (early 60's) to the through the summer of 68 (Tet Offensive), about 28K and the other half were killed from the second half of 68 to 73.

[NontoxicAvenger]

6. I can't speak for the general population but

my mom's older brother was in the navy and came back unscathed. Her younger brother was in the army and returned a totally different person. My mom was against that fiasco as early as '68 (my earliest recollections of the situation), and my darling Uncle Pete was haunted and traumatized by the experience until the Goddess saw fit to end his suffering and call him home 6 years ago.

[JanMichael]

7. 63-64', the first two "major" years, had around 350 KIA.

Then there was an uptick in violence that we're all familiar with.

Edited due to a lousy memory...

[slaveplanet]

15. and don't forget

kevlar/flak plate vests , greatly reduce the deathperattack ratio, compared to what they used in vietnam...Had the Iraqi theater US soldiers been using 1963 era protection ...the death rate would be higher.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. This WAR is looking more like the USSR vs Afghanistan!

How many choppers and tanks went up in smoke during the Afghani war that sapped the Russian economy? Now the war in Iraq is sapping the American economy and the choppers and tanks burning in an unwin able endless war are ours! It's not so damned funny when the shoulder fired weapons are turned on our guys like the weapons that once brought the other "superpower" the USSR to it's knees!

[HFishbine]

10. I'd guess about 500 milliion

;)

[Swede]

11. Your a funny,funny guy.

[dofus]

18. I recall anti-war demonstrations

on a few college campuses (University of Arizona in Tucson was one) as early as 1964. So there were people opposed to the war in Vietnam from the very beginning.

My older brother joined the Army in 1961, and after he completed basic training and was sent to Berlin at the beginning of 1962, I recall him saying that he was very happy he hadn't been shipped off to Southeast Asia.

The tide started turning, very slowly, starting in 1967 or 68 as casualties mounted, but I'm not so sure that there was ever a point when as many as a simple majority of people truly opposed the war. And don't forget that the anti-war people got full blame for the war continuing as long as it did. I remember thinking THAT was a load of horse crap, even when I didn't understand the anti-war people and what they were trying to accomplish.

[raysr]

19. How many Americans were dead

when america was told about VietNam?

[kentuck]

20. It was unpopular when Nixon said he had a secret plan to end the war

And there were more GIs killed after he said it than before. So if 58,000 plus were killed in Nam, that would mean it was unpopular when there were 25-30,000 at the max. Perhaps it started before that? I don't recall. I was in Viet Nam.

[aeon flux]

21. 50,000 KIA

there has to be at least twice that many who suffered permanent psychological and physical injuries. According to an official study, an additional 20,000 Vietnam vets have taken their own lives. A conservative estimate according to a book called Suicide Wall. Google it for more info.

[dbt]

22. One huge turning point in Viet Nam 1

Was when Walter Cronkite came into our living rooms and told us the war was unwinnable. We'll not see anything like that this time around, unfortunately. Too much money to be made by other divisions of the five corporations who own American media, doncha know.

:argh:
dbt