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Content: So, using the 9 million figure, roughly 2.25 million men would have left rural communities for the military during the Vietnam era. The Vietnam War had a significant impact on the rural workforce. In the 1960s, almost all farms were mechanized, but the war forced many farmers to become even more efficient by buying larger, more specialized machines and concentrating their operations on one main crop. Economic costs. The Defense Department reported that the overall cost of the Vietnam war was $173 billion (equivalent to $770 billion in 2003 dollars). Veteran's benefits and interest would add another $250 billion ($1 Trillion in 2003 dollars). But the real cost of the war was its impact on the economy, including agriculture. After the assassination of President Kennedy in November 1963, President Lyndon Johnson vowed to carry on JFK's civil rights agenda and, after his own election, a host of social reforms known as the "Great Society." Johnson announced a "War on Poverty" and tried to quietly escalate the war in Vietnam. It didn't work.