Vietnam War Facts:
Vietnam protesters often falsely claimed that the draft unfairly targeted minorities. In fact, over 80% of draftees were white, and 10-15% were African American, which was reflective of the relative population levels at the time.
The splitting of Vietnam along the 17th parallel by the 1954 Geneva Conference was intended as a temporary measure, with elections planned in 1955 to reunify the country. The United States feared that Ho Chi Minh would win the national election, and thus helped the authoritarian Ngô Đình Diệm to take power in the South.
A 2015 federal study of Vietnam War veterans found that nearly 300,000 veterans suffer from daily health problems, whether physical or emotional, as a result of their experiences in the war.
The Vietnam War was instrumental in raising consciousness about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which was only recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a legitimate malady in 1980.
