Salvageable manhood: project 100,000 and the gendered politics of the Vietnam War

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Title Salvageable manhood: project 100,000 and the gendered politics of the Vietnam War
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Humanities
Department History
Author Worsencroft, John Christian
Date 2011-05
Description In 1966, the Department of Defense under the direction of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara implemented a program called Project 100,000. Project 100,000 aimed to induct 100,000 men per year into the military, men previously unqualified for mental and physical reasons. A "War on Poverty" program, and part of President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the goals of Project 100,000 were to give men jobs, provide skills training, and to inculcate a sense of obligation to country. From 1966 to 1972, nearly 400,000 "New Standards Men" were drafted into the military under Project 100,000. While Project 100,000 is often discussed under the rubrics of race and class, this thesis argues that gender is the key variable to understanding the program. Project 100,000 must be understood within the context; of a post-World War II culture dominated by warrior manhood and the belief that the military produced strong men. To policymakers, Project 100,000 was about salvaging, rehabilitating, and saving men from a future of poverty and marginalization. While the program failed to deliver widespread training in military occupations that could translate into the necessary skills to compete in the civilian workforce, this thesis finds evidence that tempers past assessments of Project 100,000 as a complete failure. Although the idealism that led the Johnson Administration to create Project 100,000 was overtaken by the exigent circumstances of the Vietnam War, salvaging manhood remains a crucial function of the post-Vietnam military.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Gender; Masculinity; Project 100,000; Vietnam War
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Master of Arts
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © John Christian Worsencroft 2011
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 244,646 bytes
Identifier us-etd3,20572
Source original in Marriott Library Special Collections ; UA9.5 2011 .W67
ARK ark:/87278/s6wh34rd
Setname ir_etd
ID 194767
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6wh34rd
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