The Legacy Of The Vietnam War Essay

The Vietnam War is widely regarded as the lowest point in the history of U.S. foreign affairs. It mercilessly dragged an unwilling country on a fatal ride for twenty years, all while receiving low approval ratings and high funding. The Vietnam conflict served as an optimum environment for the virus of controversy. No one has more experience with controversy than Heinz Alfred Kissinger. He is the ultimate pragmatist, as embodying his philosophy of realpolitik, a diplomatic ideology based on utilitarianism rather than international ethical standards. When one’s political calling card downplays the role of ethics in diplomacy, that individual is bound to garner a high profile reputation. Kissinger himself has lamented the national predicament during this conflict—squeezed between the ultimate rock, his duty to keep peace, and hard place, his duty to act with the approval of the American people. This predicament was rooted in an omnipresent opposition to Communism, as was America’s role in the entire Cold War. Cold War politics were politics of fear. That fear drove competition, which bred a certain variety of leader – a logical, calculating politician with regard for nothing but his country’s success. To avoid an uncontrollable spread of Communism through the westernized world, some moral casualties were strewn about the wayside. However, the American public had no trouble rolling up their collective sleeves to back this forward-thinking activist. In more recent years, some

As communism began to spread steadily and gain more and more attention, Americans became immensely concerned in what most saw as a detrimental threat. President Eisenhower only added to the hysteria by outlining the Domino Theory: the theory that a political event, in this case referring to the spread communism, in one country will cause a similar turn of events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino that causes an entire row to fall down. Although the Vietnam War is seen by many as the only option to try to end the spread of communism, the specious outcome of the war was not effective enough to justify the amount of unethical decisions and situations that were allowed to take place. In 1961, under President Kennedy, 100 Special Forces troops were sent to South Vietnam and by 1963, just two years later, U.S military advisors and Special Forces had increased to 21,000 troops. We will soon see that this is just the beginning and in my paper I will outline the full record of events all the way to the end of the war, including the reasons for U.S involvement, unethical decisions that were made, America 's effort to end the war, and the lasting impact the war had on the United States.

In the history of the United States, few years could be viewed as being more important than 1968. While there were years in American history of great significance, 1968 has the distinction of being a year in which civil unrest, social progress, and the state of change were the norm, and featured events that affected not only America, but the world as a whole. With the condition of America at the time, society was going through changes that would go on to have massive impact on how the world would progress, with some of these events having effects years afterwards.

Upon reflecting on the three main generations that comprise the workplace today, a few differences emerge. “Baby Boomers” grew up in a time when movements were prominent, the Vietnam War occurred, key figures were assassinated, the Watergate Scandal occurred, and television was introduced (Twenge et al., 2010; Schullery, 2013). Overall, “Baby Boomers” seem to exhibit a distrust of authority, value hard work, and want to enjoy their achievements (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Twenge et al., 2010). As such, they are results driven and give their utmost effort (Robbins & Judge, 2015). “Generation X” grew up in a time of computers, divorce, two career parents, MTV, and economic uncertainty (Twenge et al., 2010; Robbins & Judge, 2015). For the most part, they seem to exhibit the workplace behaviors of independence and a lack of commitment to employers (Twenge et al., 2010). They value a balance between work and life and place more focus on extrinsic rewards such as monetary compensation (Twenge et al., 2010). “Millennials” grew up in prosperous times with technology dominating the era and over-protective parents (Robbins & Judge, 2015; Schullery, 2013). Generally, they seem to place a greater value on employee benefits, leisure time, teamwork, and open communication (Society of Human Resource Management, 2004; Twenge, 2010; Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010). In addition, they have also been given the labels of “self-centered” and “entitled” (Myers & Sadaghiani, 2010).

He was one of the most famous American religious leaders of the 1970s. He was that weird little boy who grew obsessed with death and religion. To many of his followers he was the much desired hope they needed in an era of despair. To people now, simply a narcissist. His name, Jim Jones.

From 1954 to 1975, America fought its longest and costliest war. The Vietnam War created massive disruption to Southeast Asia and tremendous turmoil in American society.

When I was choosing a topic for this paper I thought of many significant events within United States history during the time period we covered during the last few weeks, but there is one event that has always had my interest. That is the Vietnam War, more specifically not only the war overseas, but the war that was going on right here at home. For the remainder of my paper, I will be discussing about three major points relating to the Vietnam War. I will be talking about the life of an American solider fighting in Vietnam, the life of that soldier’s family, and the life of the average United States citizen.

Vietnam War occurred in the 20th century was the longest war in the American history, aimed to stop the spread of the Communism of South East Asian . The United States had involved in the conflict in Vietnam as the global superpower following it triumph over the Axis forces in the Second World War, but left Vietnam with a mortifying lost, with a high level of casualty . The perennial and most grievous war created long-term aftermath and impacts on most perspectives of the American life from military, domestic politics, diplomacy, economy and cultures, some of which remain to the present . The Vietnam War spurred the change of the attitudes in an American generation, created a split in the American society that had not existed in the past . American public lost the faith in government, as well as in the sincerity and competence of the authority. The humiliating loss in Vietnam War was a valuable lesson for the United States. It also sabotaged American confidence in the superiority of the nation and the commitment to internationalism, as well as destroyed the American prestige .

have to get involved at all. When the French left, it left a void in

Before the weapons had been fully integrated into a comprehensive United States military strategy, there was an attempt to place them under the control of the United Nations. The reality of nuclear deterrence and strategy was based on multiple events which continued to shape and refocus the actions. The continued development of weapons with increasing yields and destructive power was coupled with the development of rockets as well as increasing sophisticated guidance systems.

During the research for our sixth essay about Vietnam, I was surprised by how much I learned by looking at just one website. The Vietnam war took place between 1954 and 1975. This war caused many changes regarding the American wars to come. There were many different people and weapons used to fight this war. I found most of my information in the Guerrilla section of the given website.

As for the lowering of American nuclear weapons arsenals two main juxtaposing yet viable arguments have come to a head. On one side the leverage of nuclear power must be maintained by the U.S above those who would abuse their power of nuclear superiority if given the opportunity; On the other lies the argument that with the end of the Cold War “these weapons are of sharply reduced utility” and the financial, moral and economical cons far

Sixty-five years has passed since the only battlefield use of nuclear warfare. As time progresses, non-use of nuclear weapons is becoming more of a tradition, and their use is becoming increasingly unlikely. But this does not deter the threats to use nuclear warfare. The value of nuclear weapons is a psychological and political one: knowing that they could be used can deter potential enemies from taking unwanted actions, influence political leaders’ decisions during extreme eras of crises, and compel potential enemies to take actions other than those intended.

The potential damage of nuclear weapons caused a dramatic change in warfare. “Unlike tanks or aircraft, the impact of nuclear weapons on international security is mainly about ideas. To a considerable extent, nuclear military power is a thinking experiment, and nuclear war a war of thoughts.” Strategic warfare produces better results than attacking another country and harming civilians, and nuclear weapons have been great for peaceful resolutions.

After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagazaki, international politics have never been the same. The threat of war requires countries to ensure their survival through whatever means is more effective. Prior to World War II, states would ensure their survival through technology and the quantity of their forces. The invention and possession of a nuclear bombs created a world in which the superpowers engaging in war could no longer be winners. The use of nuclear weapons also did not guarantee survival after the war. In response to rise of nuclear weapons, states had to revolutionize their foreign policy. Otherwise, they were accepting defeat. By refusing to enact policies, a state loses the ability to guarantee that a war would not occur by balancing the power with a nuclear equipped adversary. Indirectly, nuclear weapons cause peace between states led by rational leaders, under the premise of fear.