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Why did many Americans protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War?

Many Americans protested U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War (1957–75; a conflict fought over the unification of Communist North Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam) because they felt that the conflict in Southeast Asia did not pose a risk to the security of the United States. (Communism is a system of government in which the state controls the economy and only one political party has power.) Since these protestors felt that there was no real threat, they wondered, "What are we fighting for?" Nevertheless, President Lyndon Johnson (1908–1973) slowly stepped up the number of American troops being sent to Vietnam. Many never came home alive, and those who did return to the United States had been changed by their experience. Opponents of the war often staged sit-ins (sitting in the seats or on the floor of an establishment or a...

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