You left out . . .

not only the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War, but also the troops _in Viet Nam_ who protested and refused to fight.

But I guess they had no impact on troop marale and the like, eh?

And, no: the majority of protesters were not those you saw on TV. Nor were most of them on college campuses. Many protesters (including deserters and resisters) went to jail for their beliefs.

The majority of the protesters were not about saving their own asses--that being especially true for women who had no chance of being drafted, or those who were I-Y or 4-F and were active against US involvement anyway. They were about life over death. They were about stopping the killing. They were about stopping the killing _yesterday_.

And, no, that involvement did not "turn sour"; it was a lost cause from the outset in 1954.