First Page
5
Abstract
On November 7, 1967, while pollsters were busy recording increased popular dissatisfaction with President Johnson's Vietnam policy, the Vanderbilt International Law Society decided to find out what law students at Vanderbilt felt about the War and the legal implications stemming from it.
About two-thirds of the entire student body participated in the poll. A multiple-choice format was used; yet, many students added lengthy comments of their own on the War. Of course, their interest wasn't just academic. As one voter noted, "My answers are affected by the probability that I'll be going to Vietnam...and I don't want to get shot at."
The national polls in early November were showing the South as a center of "hawkish" sentiment. This was reenforced by a survey taken by the Vanderbilt undergraduate newspaper, the Hustler. That poll showed only 8% of the undergraduate students in favor of a 'smaller commitment' in Vietnam, 27% in favor of a 'larger commitment', and 65% in favor of 'the present United States commitment'.
When the results of the November 7 law school poll were tabulated, however, they showed a far different trend. 49.1% of the law students favored an immediate pull-out or de-escalation.
Recommended Citation
W. G. C.,
The Law School Looks at Vietnam,
1 Vanderbilt Law Review
5
(1967)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vjtl/vol1/iss1/2