policy - The Black Vault

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be noted, however, that black opinion supporting US
international activities
is largely confined to support for non-military initiatives.
1960's blacks became
In the
more willing than whites to support foreign aid,
trading with communist states, and the United Nations. However, blacks
were considerably more likely to oppose the Vietnam War than whites, and
blacks were particularly opposed to the extension of the fighting in Southeast
Asia to Cambodia and Laos. 37/ Further, some blacks labeled the war
racist, as minorities comprised a disproportional number of draftees.
Earlier in the war,
the black casualty rate was quite high, at 24 percent
of all casualties in Vietnam. This rate was. reduced considerably to
approximately nine percent by 1970, but the accusations that the US was
engaged in a racist war persisted. Thus, during the Vietnam War era,
blacks were defining for themselves not only a new role in US domestic
politics, but a particular view of foreign affairs as well.
4. Labor
and crowbars,
On May 9, 1970, 300 construction workers, ar,;ied with lead pipes
attacked student and other antiwar protestors in the heart of
New York's financial district. Later that month a demonstration was organized
to support President Nixon by the Building and Construction Trades
Council Center of Greater New York.
The organizers of the demonstration
went to the White House to receive the President's thanks. On that
occasion Nixon posed for photographers wearing a hard hat.
These events
and the constant, vocal support given the Vietnam War by some members of
the organized labor leadership like George Meany, contributed to the
development of an image of large-scale labor support of the Vietnam War.
Most certainly, this alleged support was a
large element in President
Nixon's argument that the "silent majority" of hard-working, patriotic
Americans supported his war policies.
Gallup did not ask his questions about whether the US made a mistaKe
by becoming involved in Vietnam to a group of pollees who can be
clearly identified as the laboring class. As a consequence, it is necessary
to examine other subgroup divisions in order to determine the nature
X
and extent of laboring people's attitudes toward the war.
The change of
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