Early dissent, later crisis
Open dissent inside the armed forces was relatively rare in 1967. The large-scale breakdown of morale and discipline that people often associate with the Vietnam War, including widespread refusals of orders and resistance organised by soldiers, belongs mostly to 1968 through 1971. What 1967 shows is the beginning: a few well-publicised refusals, a rising number of desertions, and the first organisations and meeting places for dissenting service members.
The military in 1967
By the end of 1967, nearly half a million American troops were in Vietnam, with Vietnam troop levels having risen steadily since 1965. Many were draftees. The Selective Service draft supplied a large share of the army’s manpower, while volunteers dominated in other branches. The services were, in culture, hierarchical, short-haired and patriotic, and they were the opposite of the youth culture growing outside the base gates.
Yet the people serving came from the same generation. They listened to the same rock music, read some of the same papers and were not insulated from changes at home. Soldiers in Vietnam often carried portable radios and tape players, and the music of the time was part of their experience.
The Fort Hood Three, 1966
One of the first widely reported refusals came in June 1966. Three soldiers, Private James Johnson, Private Dennis Mora and Private David Samas, were ordered to deploy and declined to go to Vietnam. They became known as the Fort Hood Three, after the Texas base where they had been serving. They called the war illegal and immoral, were court-martialled and received prison sentences.
Their case drew support from antiwar groups and made the point that soldiers, too, could refuse. It was a 1966 event rather than a 1967 one, but it set a pattern for later cases.
Captain Howard Levy
In 1967 a similar case involved an officer. Captain Howard Levy, an army dermatologist at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, refused to train Special Forces medics for work in Vietnam, saying it would be unethical. He was court-martialled in mid-1967, convicted and sentenced to prison. His case was widely discussed in medical and legal circles, and it showed that opposition was not confined to young enlisted men.
Desertion and sanctuary
Desertion rose during the war, and official figures later showed a large increase across the later 1960s. Some deserters went to Canada, and others went abroad or underground. In late 1967, four sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid left their ship in Japan with the help of a Japanese antiwar group, and their case drew attention when they later reached Sweden. Sweden eventually became a destination for American deserters.
The figures are difficult to compare across years, because the military counted absence and desertion differently, so it is safer to describe the trend than quote precise totals.
Veterans and early organising
Opposition also came from returning veterans. Vietnam Veterans Against the War was founded in 1967 by a small group of veterans in New York. It remained small at first and grew sharply after 1969 and 1970, when more veterans returned and began speaking publicly. Its best-known public hearings, the Winter Soldier Investigation, were held in 1971.
GI coffeehouses and underground papers
The first coffeehouses for service members were set up near bases by civilian antiwar activists, offering a place to talk and read away from military supervision. The earliest examples date from the late 1960s, and the best-known one opened near Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in 1968. Dozens followed over the next few years. Soldier-edited newspapers, produced off base and often borrowing the style of the underground press, also appeared from around 1967 and grew in number after 1968.
Servicemen’s unions and other groups were organised by activists, with mixed results. Commanders sometimes responded with discipline, searches or by declaring such places off-limits.
What happened after 1967
Later events should be dated clearly. In October 1968, soldiers held at the Presidio stockade in San Francisco staged a sit-down protest that led to serious charges and a major public controversy. From 1969, reports of soldiers refusing to go into combat grew, and the killing of officers and sergeants by their own troops, known as “fragging,” was reported in the early 1970s. The My Lai massacre, which took place in March 1968, became public in November 1969. Most American ground troops had left Vietnam by 1972 and 1973.
Historians disagree on how widespread these problems were and how much they affected the outcome of the war. What can safely be said is that the army the United States sent to Vietnam in 1965 was in a different condition by 1971, and that the first signs of the shift were visible in cases like the Fort Hood Three and Captain Levy.