Vietnam: The Mixture of Protests and Politics

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 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 era of the Vietnam War was not only a time of war abroad but also in our own country, a war against poverty and inequality. People of color were fighting for their rights to be seen as equals in the labor force, education, and in the military. One of the famous leaders of the civil rights movement was Martin Luther King Jr. who was backed by President Lyndon B, Johnson. President LBJ was interested in creating welfare programs that would benefit those in poverty and give them hope, he was all about creating a “level playing field” to create opportunities that would benefit society as a whole.

Anais Moss The Vietnam War was a very devastating war. There were many negative aspects that came along with this tragedy. Figuring out whether or not your against or for the war. The war on vietnam started in 1954 and ended 1975.For the United States of America the Vietnam War lasted for 11years. The United States originally got involved to help stop the spread of communism. Can you believe it saw two presidential terms? During this war the Civil Rights Movement was going on full force. African Americans were volunteering to go fight for a country that wasn’t even willing to give them basic rights. Such as getting de-segregation abolished, non- discrimination, and the right vote. Despite how America felt they were still willing to risk their lives. There were many aspects that came along with this war. A lot of people supported the war out of ignorance. They didn’t know the full intentions and actions that were taking place. Violence was a major downside to the war, many lives were lost during this period. With the Guerilla Warfare tactics that were taking place--the dropping of Napalm on the Vietnamese civilians was devastating because this toxic chemical was being dropped regardless of if there were men, women, children or enemy soldiers being involved. The use of unrestricted force and violence, gave Lyndon B. Johnson authority to do as he pleased when passing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The amount of American Soldiers lost to this war is an unimaginable number. Young

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.

Blacks had to deal with many discrimination issues throughout their experiences in Vietnam. “The armed forces were dominated and controlled by whites, and more often than not the cultural needs of African American were ignored” (Young 339). Dr. King described the Vietnam War as racist stating: “ a white man’s war, a black man’s fight”. However, personal racism was the most noticeable, as stated by James E. Westheider.

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.

In the speech “ Beyond Vietnam- A Time to Break Silence”, Dr. King speaks out on the issues brought upon by the Vietnam War and how it has a negative impact on African Americans. He displays a frustrated and irritated tone to shed light on this problem in order to entice anger within the African American community of Harlem and call them to fight against social injustice and fight for their civil rights.

The Vietnam War was unsettling to Americans, causing a divide in the nation. Hundreds of thousands of men were drafted to fight overseas. Americans were confused as to why, after a decade of fighting, there was no victory in this lengthy and costly war. Military policy was difficult for Americans to grasp and presidents were unable to put an end to this dragged out war. As more troops were deployed to Vietnam, more Americans protested. It was a time of political and social upheaval, where Americans lost faith in their government. American soldiers were also disenchanted. One Vietnam veteran explains,

There have been many wars in the history of the world. A lot of bloodshed over things that could be resolved in other ways. But even when it comes to war, few were as unproductive as the vietnam war. In my opinion, the Vietnam war should never have happened. It was nothing but a poorly planned show of dominance shrouded in secrecy by the president. I don’t believe the Vietnam war was justified.

In the past 40 years, the United States have been involved in many revolutions throughout the Middle East and developing countries. Some of these revolutions have been successful while others have not. Revolutions occur when countries have been under extreme dictatorship from a menacing source. Revolutions since the past 40 years have included the Communist party dictated by Mao Zedong in the 1960s, the most controversial war, The Vietnam War, Khmer Rouge, the overthrow of Taliban rule in the 1990s, and the most recent Jasmine Revolution in 2010.

Firstly, the invasion of the Vietnam War cannot be justified when the US 's ally in the war is a corrupt democracy. When the Vietnam War began the United States’ puppet state was Ngo Dinh Diem’s South Vietnam. Diem was a dictator or the President supposedly of South Vietnam that took power for himself there, and threw all of his civil and political opponents into violent concentration camps. The South Vietnamese President had also oppressed those of different religions specifically Buddhism ("NGO DINH DIEM, FIRST PRESIDENT OF SOUTH VIETNAM."). Eventually, the Viet Cong who would rather support a communist regime formed due to the oppressive nature of Diem’s ruthless democracy. By the time North Vietnam sought to unify the country Diem had opposition from all perspectives, including his most trusted peers. Even with his mockery of a democracy, the United States believed it had to support his efforts in the defense of democracy in South Vietnam. The United States did want a change of power, but were willing to continue with Diem if deemed necessary to win. Benjamin Frankel states this by stating “advised the State Department that the United States should begin to search for an alternative to Diem. On 1 November 1963 South Vietnamese military officers overthrew Diem, and he and his brother were shot to death” ("Vietnam War: Was U.S. Military Intervention in Vietnam Justified?"). Democracy is about everyone having fair trials, civil liberties, and the right to free speech.

Protests against the war took many forms—marches, boycotts, rallies, and demonstrations. Between 1965 and 1971, many protests against the war took place. In April 1967 simultaneous marches in San Francisco, California, and New York involved some 250,000 antiwar activists. In October 1967 about 50,000 more militant protesters marched on the Pentagon. As the war continued, more and more people began to question U.S. involvement. For example, in 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke out against U.S. government policy in Vietnam. Previously, civil rights leaders had been cautious about criticizing the war for fear of losing President Johnson’s support of the civil rights movement. However, as the war continued, more and more spoke out against it.

The Vietnam War started in 1959 and ended in 1975, this was the only war that America could not win. They tried everything, but the Vietnamese guerrilla warfare, in addition the foreign environment cause the stronger and bigger American Army to pull out. Allowing North Vietnam to Annex the south, and bring communism into Vietnam. At the same time Vietnam was fighting a war in their homeland, United States was fighting one of their own in there. This war was a little different; this was a fight over basic human rights and equality among the people. This war was a civil rights movement, for African Americans to have equality. Even with the inequality toward them, African

The war in Vietnam has always been a sensitive issue for a lot of people. Not many people understood why we sent our men and women over and, why we were fighting a country who had not directly attacked us. Many more people have had varying ideals and beliefs on if we, The United States, should have intervened, myself included. While I don’t completely agree with us being known as the “Worlds Police,” to protect the peoples’ freedom in ours and others countries, I can understand why we did we step in and sacrificed the blood of our own countrymen. Why we fought for the South Vietnamese, Laos and Cambodian people. We will never know which choice was the right choice but, unfortunately, I do not believe that President Johnson made the correct choice by going to war.