Historical Significance Of The Vietnam War

Throughout America’s history, few things have left the nation in such controversial turmoil as the Vietnam War. With an American death toll of almost 60,000 troops, the Vietnam War has gone down in infamy as one of the most tremendous struggles Americans have faced both overseas and on the home front. Because of the tumultuous controversies caused by the war, Americans split into two social factions – those against the war and those who supported it. During the years of 1961-1975 - the era in which the war had its greatest effect on Americans - the population of citizens from 18-35 years old and the Presidency were both affected irreversibly.

Vietnam was an entirely new type of war for the United States. It still remains morally and historically problematic in today’s society. The Vietnam War had a tremendous impact on American society and culture, primarily because it was the first war to be televised. The American press played a significant

The war in Vietnam was a war against communism that tore apart the US. The United States of America plunged together with its allies and played a tremendous role as far as fight against communism is concerned. A huge number of American soldiers were deployed in Vietnam a practice that coupled with much unpreparedness. The soldiers were not aware what exactly they were up to in Vietnam. Most Americans at the time were very much against the act. It was one of the most deliberating wars America plunged herself into and the only one to have been lost. Most intriguing is the amount of publicity and media buzz created by the film industry. Vietnam War was the topic of many television networks, music and Hollywood. Journalist and veterans and scholar were never left behind and went ahead to produce tones of literature on the legacies and lessons to be learnt from the war (Hochgesang, Lawyer, and Stevenson). The exploitation of the soldiers and rejection of the veterans created just as much interest as the war had created. One such commentary came from George Kennan, who depicted the war as one of the most disastrous mission The United States has ever undertaken (Westheider 155-159).. This essay will establish the effects the war had to the US soldiers.

Many Americans believed that the war ravaged country of Vietnam, had to be resurrected from grave. Beginning in 1964 and growing in later years, anti-war protests began forming. Outrage from civilians erupted when President Johnson issued the draft, as he felt the Americans needed to take a more aggressive action against North Vietnam. Young men refused to join the fight and protests emitted from college campuses and major cities such as Washington D.C. and New York. ((n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.texasgateway.org) and ((n.d.). Retrieved from http://avuth15.wix.com/thecoldwar are both primary sources illustrating anti-war protests, showing the outrage that America had towards the war. By 1968, the whole country had felt the war's impact. When the war finally ceased and the troops returned home, the protests, the actions by the government and the war itself, had taken a toll on the country. America's opinions were sharply turned against the war. The veterans who fought bravely in the war, returned to a nation that was bitter towards anything related to the war. Today, a Vietnam War memorial has been erected in Washington, to honor those who sacrificed their life for their country. As shown in ((n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.english.illinois.edu), the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built to honor the U.S defence members who died in service in South-East Asia. As a result, the social

Throughout America’s history, many conflicts have occurred with other countries. The U.S has had its run around with conflicts and many of them not being controversial, but some of them have had their share of controversy. One of these controversial conflicts occurred when the Vietnam War broke out. The Vietnam War occurred between the dates of nineteen forty-seven and nineteen seventy-five. The American government was criticized greatly due to intervening in the War. This paper is here to discuss the American involvement in the war, and if the American Government should have got involved in the war or not.

The mass disapproval of the Vietnam War stemmed on the account of Americans losing faith in the government, based upon the moral implication of the war, and the unnecessary interference of the United States in foreign affairs. And due to theses ramifications the public upheaval resulted in a massive social movement against the entirety of the war. However, the brunt of the public’s outcry was felt by the returning soldiers. The primary source is of a young drafted soldier, Sebastian Ilacqua, who recounts his experiences in Vietnam and his unforeseen homecoming from the war. The source is based on his outlooks and experiences which can be interpreted as bias.

The remembrances of the Vietnam War are often thought upon with mixed emoptions. While there are those who praise the “bravest of men in our country” (Keith 38), some are stirred by the memorial, which happens to also be the most frequently toured site in the capital of the united states. It is covered with the names of over 50,000 men and women who served and died in the war of vietnam, it is regarded as a “shrine to the dead” (Taylor 24)  reminder of the loss of too many young Americans, and of what the war did to the United States and its messianic belief in its own overweening virtue.

Though out history, American has had its hand in conflict with other countries. Some of those conflicts have turned out into wars. Looking back at America’s “track record” with war, America has a worthy past of having its citizen’s support. Obviously the two World Wars we not controversial. The United States in the Korean War was criticized, fairly, for its strategy, but the need to defend South Korea was never questioned. In only the Vietnam War was the United States’ very participation criticized. This is such a gigantic change with prior wars that it bears study as to why it happened, and better yet, should have it happened. This paper will discuss the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, by asking the simple question, Should have the Untied States’ gotten involved into the first place. This paper will prove that in fact, America should have not gotten involved with the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War and Era has been a strange configuration of differing parts. So many differing parts that more often than not Historians struggle to find a way to accurately make sense of this behemoth of history. In an effort to make sense of Vietnam, it must first be segmented. Unlike previous military consumed eras, the Vietnam era has no general consensus for long. It must be fragmented by topic, antiwar, politics, soldier’s perspective, cultural changes on the home front, and military engagements. But then it must also be split based on the years in which change is not occurring.

Making A Memory Of War: Building The Vietnam Veterans Memorial by Kristin Hass illustrates the carefully constructed nature of national memory and how this construction is a politically and socially contested process. This contestation is evident in the struggles that memorial faced at every step of its creation beginning with the lack of attention that it received, which made funding the memorial difficult. This was partially due to the unpopularity of the war and partially due to the lack of social clout that members of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) led them to rely on politicians and other celebrities. Even with proper funding, because the Vietnam War was so unpopular, the memorial had to be for the servicemen, not

War was once romanticized in the United States of America. In the past, the U.S was more willing to engage in warfare. However, as war has become more violent and devastating, America's outlook on war has shifted. Instead of solving problems, war has divided the nation, devastated the economy, and destroyed innocent lives. Although each war has been unique and had different outcomes, one thing has become more evident: war is destructive. The United States has become more aware of the horrendous affects of warfare and with each war, they have become less willing to engage in warfare.

For many Americans it is common knowledge to know about the Vietnam War; however, for some Americans the Vietnam War is ancient history, dishonorable, but irrelevant nonetheless. If people do not physically see the many horrors of war it is easy to forget; although maybe it is something we try to forget. However, there are some who may be able to forget there will be some, like politicians, that will not forget. The Vietnam War had a terrible impact on both the United States and Vietnam, and more importantly it would affect foreign policy for many years to come.

The event that terrified the world into thinking we were on the brink of a global nuclear war was the Cuban Missile Crisis. This event started on 15 Oct 1962 and continued to escalate until 29 Oct 1962. Of the 14 days the missile crisis occurred, 27 Oct was probably the day when the U.S. came the closest to an all out war. A U-2 pilot shot down over Cuba during a reconnaissance mission sent both countries into a battle of wits trying to negotiate ways out of their current problem. The shooting down of the U-2 pilot was the most tense part of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. At this point the relationship was so poor that each country had their finger on the [BIG RED BUTTON] to end the world. A major event in the Vietnam war was the fall

The Vietnam War certainly left a distaste in the lives of many who have been affected by the war; scholars have become increasingly interested in the interaction between war and public opinion. There have been many scholarly works published on the Vietnam War, but the issue that will be analyzed here is how public opinion changed the course of the war. The first article by Scott Gartner and Gary Segura is titled, “Race, Casualties, and Opinion in the Vietnam War,” it examined how the diverse races within America in combination with the atrocities in the war led to the formation of opinions that were similar in one race but were different in another race. The second article by Paul Burstein and William Freudenburg titled, “The Impact of

The United States intervention in Vietnam is seen by the world as America’s greatest loss and longest war. Before the start of the war in Vietnam, the thought of the United States losing this war was unheard of because America was technologically superior, no country in south East Asia could contend with them. Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not be the president to allow South East Asia to go Communist . Why the United States lost the war has been a huge debate since the end of the war, because there were so many factors affecting why they lost; the war was a loss politically, after losing support from not only the American public but also the South Vietnamese and losing a political mandate for the war by 1973, when the last