Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War on. As public support decreased, opposition grew. The Gallup News Service began asking the American public whether it was a "mistake to send troops to Vietnam" in August 1965. At the time less than a quarter of Americans polled, 24%, believed it was a mistake to send troops to Vietnam while 60% of Americans polled believed the opposite. Three years later, in September 1968, 54% of Americans polled believed it was a mistake to send troops to Vietnam while 37% believed it was not a mistake. A 1965 Gallup Poll asked the question, "Have you ever felt the urge to
1965 in the Vietnam War were destroyed. Presidential adviser and future Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford in a letter to President Johnson said, "I believe our ground forces in South Vietnam should be kept to a minimum, consistent with the protection of our installations and property in that country ... This could be a quagmire. It could turn into an open end commitment on our part that would take more and more ground troops, without a realistic hope of ultimate victory." "Quagmire" would later become a common word use to describe U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Eight hundred soldiers of the Australian Defence Force