Political attitudes and the Vietnam war: A study of college-educated men of the Vietnam generation

Groups of Vietnam veterans (n = 52), Vietnam era veterans (n = 77), and nonveterans (n = 249), all of whom had graduated from an Ivy League university in 1966, were compared in terms of their retrospectively reported general political orientation in 1966 and their current orientation and specific political attitudes in 1990-1991. The Vietnam veterans rated themselves as being more conservative than the nonveterans on political orientation and on specific political issues in 1990-1991. The Vietnam-era veterans tended to take an intermediate position politically between the other two groups. Controlling for retrospective political orientation in 1966, intensity of military experience predicted more ideological conservatism and more support for the war against Iraq, as well as a more conservative position on a number of specific political issues of current interest. Results are consistent with the idea that critical experiences in young adulthood, namely military service in Vietnam, may affect political attitudes over many years.