Where have all the flower children gone?

The American left clings to the myth that the anti-war movement ended the U.S. war in Vietnam. In fact, the anti-war movement failed to prompt any substantive changes in U.S. war policy. Rather than "pricking the conscience of the nation," as many on the left continue to claim, ill-kempt demonstrators waving Viet Cong flags and shouting "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam is gonna win" aroused the silent majority to eek out a close victory for Richard Nixon in 1968 and then four years later return him to the White House in a landslide after the Democratic Party, dominated by its radical fringe, nominated George McGovern.