The anti-Vietnam War movement in the United States was a collection of independent groups, all opposed to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. It began in 1964 with nonviolent demonstrations and protests by college students, but later gained support from hippies, mothers, women's rights, black civil rights, the Chicano movement, and even military veterans. There were three main reasons Americans opposed the Vietnam War: the military draft, the use of caustic herbicides, and war expenses. By 1975, the war and the federal government lost almost all of the population's support. The Vietnam War began as a skirmish between North Vietnam, supported by China and the Soviet Union, and South Vietnam, supported by the United States. North Vietnam was brutally repressing South Vietnam, trying to impose communism on reluctant citizens. The United States – which after the Second World War had taken it upon itself to protect free peoples from dictatorships – considered it a priority to protect South Vietnam from invasion and provided them with food and weapons. President Eisenhower hypothesized the domino theory, declaring that a communist state would begin attacking adjacent countries and continue with a domino effect until it dominated the world. Used as justification, the domino theory was irrational, because North Vietnam only intended to reunify the country under communism. Large-scale fighting by the United States began in 1964 based on the anti-communist hysteria that existed at the time. Disillusioned after two years, the majority of Americans participated in the anti-war movement. The first protests began in 1964 by college students, a group affected by the draft. President Kennedy reinstated the draft, but included Selective Service, a law that established priority as to who would be drafted first. Single, unaltered... middle of paper... targeted towards military equipment rather than consumer goods. The US currency lost value and price inflation and interest rates increased, leading to the economic crisis of the 1970s. The costs of the war were left to the taxpayers, which was obviously unfavorable. The anti-Vietnam War movement ended in 1975, the end of the Vietnam War and a humiliating loss for the United States. The Vietnam War was the longest in U.S. history, the costliest during the Cold War era, and arguably one of the least popular wars in America. At its height with the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate scandal, the American people had deepened suspicion and distrust of the federal government. Since then, Americans have never had the same level of trust in government and fear that another war like Vietnam could break out, if it hasn't already. As for the anti-war movement, it no longer exists.