Ethical Dilemmas During The Vietnam War

This war would keep Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam Communist Party busy for the next 8 years. [N] At the beginning of the war, the U.S. was neutral in the conflict because of our opposition to imperialism and to avoid helping colonial empires regain their power and influence, because the Viet Minh had recently been our allies, and because most of our attention was focused on Europe where Winston Churchill argued that an iron curtain had fallen. This was the beginning of the Cold

The Vietnam War was first derived from the gradual oppression of the communist party of the north over the region of South Vietnam. The North Communist party was supported mainly by China and the Soviet Union whiles the Anti-Communist party of South Vietnam was supported by United States and France. The communist party group, as known as the Viet Cong, was recognized for their guerilla war strategies within the region of South Vietnam, intended to fully expand and unify Vietnam under Communist rule. U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War starting in November 1, 1955, develops from the theory of the domino effect, stating that if one country falls into communism, a threat that can develop into the encouragement and spread of communism throughout the world in the future. It is basically viewed as a potential harm to the welfare of the United Sates. Therefore, due to the conflicting forces of the historical, political, economic and cultural nature of the war itself, it is known to be the longest enduring war in United States history that altered many lives of the Vietnamese and American community, leading to suffrage and acts of courage.

The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam.

The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or ‘Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.

For many in the United States "Vietnam" is a term which conjures up visions of war, anarchy, and finally defeat and humiliation. It was a war that many felt the U.S. should never have gotten involved in, and was a waste of more than 50,000 American lives. And for many years after the war ended the prevailing wisdom remained that the U.S. had failed. But as years turn to decades, and Vietnam is fading into the recesses of history, one can begin to look at the war in an objective manner; as just one part of the larger "Cold War." When viewing Vietnam as part of the larger Cold War, one can see that the United States should not only have been there, but it was necessary as part of the overall strategy to defeat Communism world wide.

Over thirty years ago the Vietnam War ended, and the U.S. came back home with their tails between their legs and nothing to show for other than a high number of casualties, and a huge pile of debt. The U.S. underestimated the North Vietnamese army, and it was costly. Many believe that the Vietnam War was none of the U.S. business, but on the contrary, many believe we should have tried to stop the spread of communism. The long-lasting Vietnam War was unnecessary for the U.S. to be a part of; it put many people through unneeded stress and hard times.

The Anti-war movement started during the 1960s and shaped America’s public opinion on conflicts for years to come. As in all American conflicts, the will of the people controls the actions of the military. Without Homefront support, the American war machine dies. American pop culture during the 60s and 70s, sought to change public opinion against the Vietnam War. Through blatant Anti-war lyrics to their actions, the popular artists and musicians of the era changed the mindset of a generation to oppose the military actions in Vietnam.

In the 1960s, America found itself divided among various social matters. Conformity, civil rights, and the Vietnam war. While the older generations viewed fighting in the war as a civic duty and a true testament to what it meant to be an “American”, the counterculture did not share this belief. Regardless of how anyone felt about the war, it had escalated to epic proportions and as one citizen put it, “It was on our mind every single hour of the day” (PBS CITE). Vietnam was the first war ever to be televised, and with that came constant coverage and a growing concern from young Americans. In addition, the military draft made matters worse by forced the youth America to fight. “By 1968, the war in Vietnam had claimed over 15,000 American lives”(CITE PBS). Between the draft and the growing American casualties, greater tension in the US was created. Young Americans had to ask themselves if the war was worth fighting.

A small country such as North Vietnam was able to win a war against a superpower like the United States of America, through, namely, tactics – such as Guerrilla Warfare -, the ignorance of their enemy, the attitude of the South Vietnamese, as well as a strong leader such as Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnam War was a major conflict (of the Cold War) which lasted from 1959 to 1975 , with US involvement from 1964 to 1973 . US reasons for their involvement in the war was their fear of “The Domino Effect” - or – the US fear that communism would spread to Vietnam and Southeast Asia, making them a major threat to national security. The Fall of Saigon marked the end of the war in 1975.

There are truths, lies, half truths, and bullshit - but more concerning still, there are situations where an unambiguous truth is found, and simply ignored or suppressed due to the work it would create if it were widely known. This sort of 'suppression through inaction' is nowhere more common than in the large institutions and bureaucracies tasked with carrying out the functions of the state. Do these political and military institutions have an ethical obligation to seek the truth, even without publicly publishing this information outside of their institution? Is it wrong when any organization, when granted the power to legally employ lethal force, chooses to suppress information within the institution that contradicts the opinions and sensibilities of the leadership?

War may seem like a heroic ideal, but the mountain is very steep. George Washington had us settle at Valley Forge in December 1777. Washington had mostly six and nine-month men that are debating to not reenlist. Reenlisting means to stay at Valley Forge and fight in the war, but I am considering to not reenlist. I will not reenlist due to the amount of deaths, lack of money, and the amount of exposure to the harsh elements.

The Quebec Agreement was signed on August 19, 1943 between the United States and Great Britain and guaranteed that the two countries would share scientific information relating to the atomic bomb project, also known as interchange. From the beginning of the project they had agreed to share information in order for a bomb to be built during the war, but once it moved into the development stage James Conant suggested to President Roosevelt that their agreement was no longer viable. Conant argued that the bomb could not possibly be used by the British during the war and therefore the United States did not have to honor the interchange agreement. The United States was not ready to enter into a post-war alliance at that point and it was obvious that Britain did not have the resources necessary to build bombs that could be used during the war. However, the realities of the post-war situation eventually won the day and the United States and Great Britain resumed full

By now, most Americans should be familiar with our history with Vietnam and the war we had with them almost six decades ago. It was a dark time in U.S history, and is an event that is never seen in a good light on either side of the spectrum (which, in this case, is the United States and Vietnam). Around 48,000 American soldiers lost their lives in the war (plus countless Vietcong), and those that did survive usually came home with some form of trauma, be it mental, physical, or both (www.cnn.com). Combine that with the rampant protesting across the nation, the shady nature of Nixon 's presidency, and the mounting debt being created, and this whole situation creates what one would call a “mess”.

Ha and Amela, lost a lot of their belongings that they cherished a lot because they were forced to leave their home because of war. An example of that would be, “Mother chooses 10 and Burn the rest.” It connects because they only had enough room to bring 10 and she burns the rest so that there is no proof of them leaving. (LAI 58) A girl named Amela once had everything and had lots of money and was able to go to other countrie. Then she lost all of it because of a war. An example would be, “Amela lost a lot and now they barely have nothing.”(Arthur Brice) Another girl named Ha, had to leave her home because war was coming closer and closer to her home so she had to leave and she could onnl pack a certain amount of things, “one pair of pants, one pair of shorts, three pairs of underwear, two shirts, sandals, toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, ten palms of rice grains, three clumps of cooked rice, one choice.” (LAI 55) They could only pack so much because everything else was gone, or they didn’t have enough room to carry it. In conclusion, Amela and Ha lost most of what they had because of war.

    War is never pleasant for anyone, the shedding of blood and tears falling to the ground. The Vietnam war was no exception; both the North and South Vietnam and their ally, the United States used questionable tactics and equipment to survive and prevail in the war. Initially, the war was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, but the US intervened, later on, to fight against communism(North Vietnam). The US had a crucial impact in the war, supplying South Vietnam with military and economic aid to win against North Vietnam. North Vietnam didn’t lose their composure, despite given this news and instead fought vigilantly to cause a stalemate between the two sides. Vietnam took a turn after this event, leading to an innumerable amount of deaths throughout the war. Like many wars, the question lies: was the