The Importance Of Protests In The Vietnam War

Secretary of State John Kerry once said “I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and in the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service.” The Vietnam War was a conflict that lasted from 1956-1975 which the United States participated in along with the South Vietnamese who fought against the Communist North Vietnamese. Many Americans strongly disapproved of the war which caused many protests and riots. The war lasted 25 years killing many people and eventually the North Vietnamese won. The Vietnam War was important to Americans back home because it tested the citizen’s right to free speech, effected future foreign policy, and created many issues for returning veterans.

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 began in 1954 after years of conflict stretching back to the 1940s between the communist regime of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was attempting to make South Vietnam a communist country; since we are a democracy, the United States opposes the views of communist countries, and because we feared the spread of communism the United States became involved as an ally of South Vietnam. The war ended in 1975, resulting in disastrous effects on Vietnam and America. The assertion of the United States in this war rose controversy among Americans, and I disagree with our involvement in the Vietnam War because of the United States’ reasons to fight.

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.

Anarchic, civil, radical, militant, and rebellions people is what police officers have to face on a regular basis. Both Vietnam protest and protest today are rebelling against the government. During the Vietnam War, citizens were protesting against the U.S government to stop the war and send American soldiers back home. Today people still manage to go out into the streets to protest for the government to stop discriminating certain groups like Muslims and immigrants. Is protesting a productive, patriotic act or is protesting a counter-productive, productive subversive act? Even though people think that protesting is a counterproductive, subversive act, protesting is a productive, patriotic act and people should be able to do it.

James A. Baldwin once said, “The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose” (BrainyQuote.com). In the 1960s, “the man” was youth across the country. The Vietnam war was in full force, and students across the country were in an outrage. Society needed an excuse to rebel against the boring and safe way of life they were used to; Vietnam gave them the excuse they needed. Teenagers from different universities came together and formed various organizations that protested the Vietnam war for many reasons. These reasons included protesting weapons and different tactics used in the war, and the reason the U.S. entered the war in the first place. These get-togethers had such a monumental impact on their way of

A terrible conflict left a mark on American History that had never been seen before. For the first time in the countries’s history people were not proud of their governments role in a war. Protest engulfed the Nation as people were disgusted with choices made by their leaders and the subsequent actions carried out by their soldiers. When the soldiers came back home they were not greeted with the praise that prior generations had gotten. They were given little attention and in some cases hated. This conflict of course was the Vietnam War.

The United States entered this Vietnam war overpowering the Vietnamese, and made a huge mistake with Agent Orange. Vietnam was caused by various things. North Vietnamese and Viet Cong wished to overthrow the South Vietnamese government. The North Vietnamese wanted to reunite their country and would do it at any cost. The U.S supported the South Vietnamese a hundred percent.(www.cnn.com) Vietnam war did not directly involve the United States, we chose to help the South Vietnamese.

The Vietnam War affected the United States politically and culturally. Lyndon B Johnson, the 36th

The Vietnam war started with a governmental conflict that would cause major problems across the country. The North Vietnamese wanted Communism and the South wanted to avoid Communism at all costs, because of Southern Vietnam’s stance of anti-communism they would be joined by America in their attempts to get rid of Communism. America involved

Vietnam was a divided country with the North supporting communism and the South opposing it. The United States was an ally to South Vietnam, with the goal of assisting them to avoid a communist takeover. The United States involvement may have started out with an honorable intention; however, there are many reasons the United States should not have become involved in the conflict, such as it was no business of the United States, it was very costly, many lives were lost, there was no victory in sight, and it went against the United States ethics and standards. Many would argue that the U.S. involvement was crucial, but many more would

The United States entered into Vietnam in 1965 and fought there until 1975. The U.S. got involved because North Vietnam was trying to take over South Vietnam and make them part of the communist North Vietnam. Due to President Johnson and congress believing that if they didn’t engage in this war that the domino effect (which is where one country becomes communist and this causes other countries to fall victim to the same fate) that this would happen. For the first time in the history of any war, the American public was extremely disrespectful to the soldiers coming home from war. The war was extremely costly for the United States and the loss of life was too great. So many lives were lost over there in a conflict that was never to be won.

The Vietnam War which was very important in the history that has shaped the country that we know today.The conflict in Vietnam was very controversial and brought out two different groups ,the doves and the hawks.The United States put troops in Vietnam to try and stop communism and the domino theory.The downside to the involvement was the opposition to the war.Billions of dollars was spent when the congress gave Johnson a blank check.The general public was also mislead by the media and the government.Another reason for opposition was that the army even turned onto the civilians in Vietnam thinking that they were the Vietcong.

The killings touched off protests at hundreds of college campuses across the United States; many of these also turned violent, and two more students were killed in mid-May at Jackson State University in Mississippi. The antiwar movements brought tension between classes. Some people tried to get desk work jobs in the military, doing paperwork or typing things to avoid being on the front line. The majority of soldiers fighting in the war were young people with little education from lower-class families. The deaths at protests made political decision making difficult. Congress tried passing laws that limited the Presidents power.

America’s involvement in Vietnam goes back to World War II when it was still a French colony. After World War II, Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel with the Geneva Accords into the Communist North and Democratic South. The proxy war in Vietnam occurred in the Turbulent Sixties, after the Eisenhower years which the death of Stalin occurred. John F Kennedy was assassinated; with instability in the nation, Lyndon Johnson was installed as president.