The Impact of Vietnam on Trust in Government

Trust in government dropped dramatically during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Data spanning this period are presented from two nationwide studies of young males. The results show that views about the role of the United States in the Vietnam War played a substantial part in the decline in government trust; however, actual service in the armed forces did not seem to produce a disproportionate drop in that trust. Along a number of other dimensions distinctions emerged between those who did and did not serve; nevertheless, the similarities outweighed the differences.