ABSTRACT
The elite American intellectuals no doubt affected the progress of the war in Southeast Asia. They provided a ra-
tionale for extricating the United States from Vietnam so that by 1966 at least - perhaps by 1965 - when almost all the intellectuals who were going to change their minds had already done so, it became chic in some circles to oppose the war. Opposition was not confined to radicals, leftists, long-haired youth or cranky, maverick Senators. A groundswell had begun which would eventually create a climate such that no responsible American leader could possibly claim the war a good thing - it became merely a case of how to get ourselves out of it. Events themselves were important, as most of our sample of leading intellectuals pointed out. But having a respectable rationale for action is always important, and if intellectuals have any function at all, this is one of their chief ones.
