Influencing the Decision Makers: The Vietnam Experience

Although much has been written about foreign policy dissent in the United States, little is known about the relative effectiveness of dissenting tactics. Using evidence from the author's larger study of the impact of the anti-Vietnam War movement on Johnson and Nixon, this paper describes how dissenting opinion reached the Oval Office and those activities that were most likely to attract serious attention from the presidents and their advisors. During the Vietnam War period, mass demonstrations, letter writing, public petitioning, and face-to-face meetings with officials all captured administration attention. At times, dissenting activities, especially several large demonstrations, played a central role in the formulation of American foreign policy. In general, however, decision makers reacted unpredictably and sometimes irrationally to criticism. Consequently, foreign policy protesters were wise in employing all of the traditional forms of dissenting activities since all, at one time or another, reached their targets.