117
votes
Accepted
Was there a diorama at the Chicago Museum of Science where children could play shooting at a Vietnamese village?
The exhibit and the protesting was widely reported in newspapers at the time, including the NYT, which seems to have had at least two articles about it.
This NYT article is vague (page 19; Mar 18, ...
- 30.7k
116
votes
Accepted
Did 20% of US soldiers in Vietnam use heroin, 95% of whom quit afterwards?
Yes, the claims are approximately true.
From a 1976 study:
Two stages of Vietnam drug use are identified-a period of increasing marijuana use followed by the 1970 influx of highly potent heroin to ...
- 14.1k
61
votes
Accepted
Were Vietnam veterans spat on?
Lembcke has published a number of articles asserting many times that this is a myth, so it is probably helpful to cite another writer on the same subject. Bob Greene, in his book Homecoming (1989), ...
- 44.9k
61
votes
Accepted
Did more gay men die in NYC during the AIDS crisis than US soldiers in Vietnam?
False (but it's still a lot)
Government archives also put the total number of US military fatalities in Vietnam at around 58,000.
The New York City Department of Health provides the statistics for ...
- 699
47
votes
When John McCain was shot down was his mission to bomb a civilian light bulb factory?
According to John McCain: A Biography (2009):
His target that day was a solid one—the power plant in Hanoi, the heavily defended capital of North Vietnam
John McCain (2001) has an aerial photograph ...
- 105k
34
votes
Did 20% of US soldiers in Vietnam use heroin, 95% of whom quit afterwards?
The first part of the statement is probably true.
The second part is highly misleading. What the actual paper of the time shows is that 5% of former addicts became re-addicted (basically meaning ...
- 59.6k
21
votes
Were Vietnam veterans spat on?
Yes, according to Honest Dissent vs. Ugly Disorder Life 10 November 1967, page 4:
The 35,000 marchers on the Pentagon were mainly sincere young demonstrators...but also the hoodlums who spat on the ...
- 105k
14
votes
Did more gay men die in NYC during the AIDS crisis than US soldiers in Vietnam?
The original Tumblr post has been edited to disavow the claim ("this post is from 2014 I have NO IDEA what statistic i could have possibly been referencing ... edit again: I think it was probably this"...
- 241
10
votes
Accepted
When John McCain was shot down was his mission to bomb a civilian light bulb factory?
Firstly, there was a light bulb factory in Hanoi at this time.
See for example the Asian Recorder volume 9, page 5802 (March 5-11, 1963)
Plant In Hanoi: A light bulb and vacuum flask factory, built ...
- 105k
4
votes
Did more Vietnam vets kill themselves after the war than died in it?
Looks like bad data:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2343923
Old (1990) data, but estimating 9,000 suicides amongst the Vietnam vets.
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/07/opinion/l-how-many-...
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