The Pros And Cons Of The Vietnam War

The war in Vietnam was a very contestable event for America and an overall major impact of the cold war. Fear of the spread of communism was on the rise again as Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam wanted to unite the country under one communist leadership. The United States entered into the war to prevent this spread of communism to further their reputation of containing it as they have done in the past. While there are positives to the war in Vietnam, it seems as if there are more negatives in the situation which include massive casualties on both sides, chemical warfare, and a divided nation back home.

Killing innocent people, getting control of the programs, and fighting on a pointless war would be considering Americans as a conscientious object. There is no real reason to go and fight Vietnam. According to Anti-Vietnam War Movement Document, Martin Luther King, Jr. states, " A few years ago...it seemed as if there was a real promise of hope for the poor, both black and white, through the poverty program." (Document A). This quote demonstrates how Martin made a serious urgent request to the public reasons on why his nation was being treated unfair. He wanted the money to go to poverty. He thinks we should get out of the war. Many Americans oppose the war because it was guttered and broken. Additionally, it caused to loose many people in a tragic situation. At first every Americans were happy with their "Great Society" programs but then Vietnam war took away all the beneficial programs that helped them from recovery.

The Vietnam War made impacts on the movement back home. As in 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. even went against his own beliefs of not speaking out about the war he began preaching that it is truly sad to see African American people and the poor who can not make a living, being drafted (Doc C). Not only were they being drafted they were also dying at a much higher rate then just about every other group in society (Doc C). MLK also stated that these individuals were fighting to establish peace and rights over in Vietnam, while they did not even have these for themselves (Doc C). During the Vietnam years there still was some of the American population who supported the war, but would not speak out publicly about supporting the actions. This group was given the name the silent majority. Richard Nixon while in office spoke out about the group saying that the silent majority needs to speak out publicly as all the messages going around about the war are negative (Doc G). He also said in his speech that even though some people may not like the war everyone should help in the mind of creating peace in South Vietnam and that without everyone coming together in the nation that the US military could be defeated in the war (Doc

The Vietnam War was perhaps one of the most controversial and disputed wars in American history. Initially sparked by a communist uprising in northern Vietnam, the war quickly became a scramble for the containment of communism by America and other anti-communist nations. After the communists in North Vietnam defeated the French and relinquished their control over the country, a now independent Vietnam split into two opposing sides, with South Vietnam fighting alongside numerous anti-communist nations in a struggle to prevent the spread of communism. During what seemed to be the final stages of the war, efforts were made to restore peace and temporarily appease North and South Vietnam until some more solid decisions could be made about the fate of the country. These efforts included the Geneva Accords, which were later thwarted, and the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.

The Vietnam War started in 1954 with the defeat of the French and ended in 1975 with the fall and withdrawal of Saigon. The United States’ (U.S.’s) involvement in the Vietnam War started in 1963 with support of weapons, military training, advisement, and supplies until 1965 when U.S. troops went into battle with the North Vietnamese (Szczepanski, n.d.). American troops did not pull out of the war until 1973. Was the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War worth the time, money, and effort they put into it? That answer depends on whom you ask. Some politicians, civilians, and military personnel deemed the U.S.’s involvement in the Vietnam War

The latter half of the twentieth century involved increasing tensions between the United States of America and the Soviet Union due to conflicting political and economic ideals. Specifically, the United States promoted the political philosophy of democracy and the economic policy of capitalism. On the other hand, the Soviet Union practiced communism and vehemently encouraged it upon other nations, oftentimes with force. As a result, the United States began arresting the expansion of communism in accordance with its foreign policy of containment. Despite this, communism soon manifested in Vietnam, but the United States subsequently unleashed the entirety of its resources to prevent this rival philosophy from taking solidified root which resulted in a full-scale war to the dismay of

Another reason American adults were against the war was because of the weapons and strategic tactics used in the war. As stated in “Weapons of the Vietnam War”, Weapons used in the Vietnam War were more mortifying than in any other war. The communist side (the Soviet Union) used not only your standardized weapons, but they also used toxic chemicals and explosives (History.com). South Vietnam was in real trouble, the American-manufactured weapons were no match to the devastating weapons that the communists used. Back at the homefront, people were horrified when they caught wind of what was happening out in battle, this egged on more protests. In accordance with “Vietnam War Protests”, The SDS organized more Anti-war marches and other protests after the United States retaliated on North Vietnam by beginning to bomb them (History.com). The cost of materials were going up and it was getting more expensive to make the bombs and other weapons, the U.S. was putting a whole $25 billion a year into manufacturing these supplies. This upset Americans not just on a moral level anymore, but also on an economic level; the government

“The Vietnam War was unwinnable.” A very controversial statement that raises the question as to how. With the amount of power and money to support the United States, Vietnam looked to have no chance at winning the war. However, that was not the case. The Vietnam War began on the 1st of November 1955 due to the fear of ‘the domino affect’, the United States feared that the North Vietnamese would convert South Vietnam to communism and essentially cause the surrounding countries to follow suit. Which led the United States to become involved and in July/August 1962 involve Australia as well, until 1972 when Australian troops were withdrawn from the war, however, the country was divided in the debate as to whether or not Australian troops needed to be involved in the first place as popular opinion was that the war was unwinnable.

The Vietnam War was certainly controversial. There were many protests that erupted across college campuses and throughout numerous town and cities. Many individuals viewed the war as unnecessary and unwinnable. The draft was also very widely criticized and seen as a negative point in the war. The draft was forcing young college students to go fight in dangerous territory. The most controversial aspect of the Vietnam War is certainly that it was deemed unwinnable by the US government, but they still chose to remain in Vietnam and fight. Why was the Vietnam War unwinnable though? Was it actually unwinnable or did the US government

In 1967, 64 percent of all eligible African-Americans were drafted versus only 31 percent of eligible whites (Black 2009). This fact testifies to only a small portion of why nearly all African-Americans found themselves protesting against the Vietnam War. The lack of civil rights in the U.S deterred many blacks from supporting Vietnam, a conflict aimed at liberating the rights of another people. African Americans were frustrated with a country who fought for other citizens and saw no purpose in fighting for a peoples’ freedom but their own. Although African-Americans were specifically discriminated against both in Vietnam and America, they were not alone in their anti-war position. The majority of the American public opposed the Vietnam War. As the war dragged on, people found no reason to fight in Vietnam and believed that the United States should prioritize their own citizens first. Many public figures, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Muhammad Ali, held similar claims. Their opinions aligned with the public’s concern and suggested that the U.S withdraw troops and focus resources on the civil rights issues at home. These public figures fought for a specific minority, but, in light of the entire American population, the majority of people opposed the war.

Prior to the end of America’s involvement in Vietnam, the country was divided. Large amounts of demonstrations called for an end to the

The Vietnam War was marked by brutality, death, protests, and psychological tolls. No war caused such great division among the American people like the Vietnam War. The war was extremely costly, and it left long-term effects on people all over the world. As a whole, the American people agree that the Vietnam War was a waste of time, money, and life.

It was not a great plan for South Vietnam to renew the war. Immediately the Communist started taking territory and growing very powerful. The Communist forces became so powerful they were at their highest levels ever. The South Vietnamese were getting beat badly by the Communist and that continued into 1975. In 1975 Communist forces captured, even more, land when they captured Phuoc Long Province. South Vietnamese forces lost 20 planes in their effort to defend Phuoc Long Province. The Communist forces also captured Hue and they begin to start an effort to liberate Saigon. On April 30th Saigon falls to North Vietnamese troops. The Vietnam war has finally ended after almost 20 years of fighting. By the end of the Vietnam War, the United States had 58,286 people that had been killed or missing in action. In total, during the Vietnam war, there were 1,353,000 deaths. Vietnam was fought about Communism and to this day the United States is still fighting against Communism like they did during Vietnam.The United States has fought against Iraq as well as other countries in the past because of Communism. Communism is an ongoing problem that the United States is still trying to

The Vietnam War became the worst lost in United States history due to the lack of support from the citizens and soldiers and the poor planning from the government and upper command in the military. The draft caused some bad decisions in regards to the government and the citizens. Forcing something like that

In American History, the nineteen sixties and the nineteen seventies were extremely turbulent and controversial times. Protest rights were being tested and occasionally suppressed, new moral and political values began to develop, and the Vietnam War dominated the twenty-year period. Vietnam invited many young activist people to begin a huge movement of anti-war protesting denouncing the war, the government, and even the soldiers who were picked against their will to fight. Reasons for American entry into the Vietnam War are controversial, and everyone has a different opinion on why we got into the conflict. Multiple reasons contributed to the entry in Vietnam from support of allies who were fighting their battles, to the fact that the