Editing Draft evasion (section)

===Social class===
[[File:James-Fallows-(edit).jpg|thumb|235x235px|Harvard graduate [[James Fallows]] wrote about the shame he felt as a draft evader.]]
Another issue is how best to understand young people's responses to a military call-up. According to historian Charles DeBenedetti, some Vietnam War opponents chose to evaluate people's responses to the war largely in terms of their willingness to take personal responsibility to resist evil, a standard prompted by the [[Nuremberg principles|Nuremberg doctrine]].<ref>DeBenedetti, Charles (1990). ''An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era''. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, pp.&nbsp;127–128. {{ISBN|978-0-8156-0245-3}}.</ref> The ''Manual for Draft-Age Immigrants to Canada'' urged its readers to make their draft decision with Nuremberg in mind.<ref>Satin (2117, orig. 1968), cited above, p.&nbsp;7.</ref> By contrast, prominent journalist [[James Fallows]] is convinced that [[social class]] (rather than conscience or political conviction) was the dominant factor in determining who would fight in the war and who would evade their obligation to do so.<ref name=Fallows /> Fallows writes of the shame he felt – and continued to feel – after he realized that his successful attempt at draft evasion (he brought his body weight below the minimum, and lied about his mental health), an attempt he prepared for with the help of sophisticated draft counselors and classmates at Harvard, meant that working-class kids from Boston would be going to Vietnam in his stead.<ref name=Fallows /> He referred to this outcome as a matter of [[class discrimination]] and passionately argued against it.<ref>Fallows (1977), cited above, pp.&nbsp;162, 164, 166.</ref> Fallows indicated that he might have felt differently about his behavior had he chosen public draft resistance, jail, or exile.<ref>Fallows (1977), cited above, pp.&nbsp;159, 162.</ref>

Historian [[Stanley Karnow]] has noted that, during the Vietnam War, student deferments themselves helped preserve class privilege: "[President Lyndon] Johnson generously deferred U.S. college students from the draft to avoid alienating the American middle class".<ref name=Karnow>[[Stanley Karnow|Karnow, Stanley]] (1997, orig. 1983). ''Vietnam: A History''. New York: Penguin Books, 2nd ed., p.&nbsp;358. {{ISBN|978-0-14-026547-7}}.</ref>