What Did We Learn from the Vietnam War? Essays

“In August of 1964, in response to the American and GVN espionage along its coast, the DRV launched a local and controlled attack against C. Turner Joy and the U.S.S. Maddox , two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin” (Brigham 2). This resulted in the United States government giving Lyndon Johnson the ability to make war under the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. President Johnson then gave orders to perform air raids on Northern Vietnam pushing the United States further into the war. Compared to 1962 when only 9,000 soldiers supported the South Vietnamese, by June 1965 82,000 soldiers occupied the country. The number only continued to rise exponentially, and by 1966 370,000 soldiers had been sent in to prop their South Vietnam allies. President Richard Nixon withdrew American soldiers from Vietnam and as part of the “vietnamization” of the war. Over and 60,000 American soldiers had been lost in a war to preserve the status quo, not to win.

Many soldiers have been lost in the different wars that the United States has been involved. Although there have been many wars only one is unique from the others, it is known as the war that was never won or lost. The Vietnam War started out as a conflict but soon escalated into a full-fledged war. Many soldiers have been lost in the Vietnam War. The United States sent many soldiers into the jungles of Indochina trying to stop the spread of communism from the North Vietnamese. It all seems clear-cut, with the motives and sides easily seen but as the war lagged on, it seemed that the United States became involved, and essentially needed a draft. The United States involvement in the Vietnam War became

In the middle 1960s, every male in America had to register for Selective Service Draft at age 18. He would then be eligible for the draft and could be inducted into the Army for a period of two years. If you were a college student, you could receive a deferment and would be able to finish college without the fear of being drafted. However, once finished with college, a students name would be put to the very top of the draft list and could be deployed at anytime. The anti-war movement was about young men being drafted and then sent into war that most Americans did not believe threatened the security of the US. The Vietnam War was America’s rebellious war, a war without popular support

Gonyea, D. (2014). LBJ Legacy: Vietnam War Often Overshadows Civil Rights Feat. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2014/04/09/300836769/civil-rights-act-anniversary-may-polish-lbj-s-image

The Vietnam War was the first major war American’s had suffered defeat. The Vietnam war was a war of confusion, competition and biasness. The outcome of the war was far greater than an upset American nation, but a severe breakdown of the Vietnamese culture, economy, environment and government. It also had a tremendous impact on American society even up to present day. It was unclear from the beginning of the war if the American’s should even be involved. It was a war between Northern and Southern Vietnam but the U.S saw it as an indirect way to challenge the USSR’s sphere of influence in Southern Asia and to prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism. The Vietnam War completely changed the way the United States

The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or ‘Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.

The Vietnam War started in 1945, resulting in almost 60,000 American deaths and nearly two million Vietnamese deaths, according to Mintze. Years after combat countless Vietnam veterans suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder in every aspect of their lives (Price). Posttraumatic stress disorder is an illness that can happen to anyone who has gone through a horrifying experience. It has been documented in all forms of literature and films the brutality of the war and the side effects it came with. The history of Vietnam is quite long and winding and leaves one to question its purpose (Mintze).

Vietnam was so significant to the United States partly as it would be the first war they would lose. It also had a tremendous financial impact on the country and the casualties were also more in the public eye than ever before due to the media. They learnt that: "a long war for limited objectives, with its steady stream of body bags, will not be supported by the American people" (Martino, 1996, p37). Some suggest that the US should have avoided any involvement in the war.

On March 29 in 1973, the last American troops left Vietnam, leaving thousands of missing behind. The same day, a few hundreds of war prisoners were released in Hanoi. Within a couple of months, the war between the North and the South was restored and it was soon apparent that the communists are more unified and have a military dominance. In Cambodia and Laos, where the fights were not so strong, the communist victory also seemed unavoidable. In March 1975 the northern Vietnam commenced a complete military invasion in the South. Southern president Thieu asked Washington for help, but the democratic majority in the Congress refused and on March 30, the Americans could watch on TV how North-Vietnamese tanks enter Saigon, which was soon renamed to Ho-Chi-Min’s town. Scenes in American embassy in Saigon, where thousands of scared Vietnamese fought for places on board of last American helicopters were a sad ending of the biggest American foreign policy catastrophe.

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 Vietnam war By Maxwell Warren The Vietnam War was a controversial war that many didn’t think it was worth the U.S. entering. The Vietnam war started in 1954 and went to 1975. It is known as the United States “longest war”. 9,087,000 soldiers were deployed in total. A total of 58,220 U.S soldiers were killed. Over 3 million Vietnamese civilians were killed by U.S troops or the by friendly fire. The president at the time was Dwight D.Eisenhower, h e was the first president to “Dive head first into the war”. The war was between the United States allied with South Vietnam against the communist-led North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of communist North Vietnam. The financial cost was over 1 million dollars. The Vietnam war has many causes.

Some of the difficulty the soldiers faced were that they were afraid of another loss cause war. An example of this is according to Bill Hunt, “But our presence may very well bring on a smoldering unrest, and even civil war….Promise me we’ll get the hell out. The one thing I learned in Vietnam is that you don’t mess around in someone else’s civil war. Not unless you’re nuts….. As an American citizen I feel pretty helpless in the face of foreign policy that I know is short sighted or patently wrong”. This shows that they are afraid that the Persian Gulf War would turn into another Vietnam War that the foreign policy would restrict the US from leaving. The difficulty the soldiers would face is another war that we would lose and that they would

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.

The U.S supported the South with money and advisors. Then on August 2nd 1964 North Vietnamese boats fired torpedoes on an American ship patrolling on the gulf of Tonkin. Then president Lyndon Johnson got congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. It said the U.S could use military force in Vietnam. At first the force was limited to bombings, but by the end of 1965 there were one hundred and eighty-four thousand U.S troops in Vietnam and over five hundred thousand my 1968. At first everyone thought it would be and easy fight for the Americans, our army was not prepared for jungle gorilla warfare like the Viet Cong. The Viet Cong would stage steak attacks and suicide bombings. Back in the U.S people did not like the fact that so many men were dying overseas for some small country in Asia. Eventually president Johnson stopped sending more troops, he even refused to run for another term because of the Vietnam war. Richard Nixon became president but didn't end the war until 1973 after his reelection. By the time the war was over about 1.2 million Vietnamese were dead. Also fifty-eight thousand American soldiers died in the

I think the lessons that we should have learned from the Vietnam War were to go to war with another country because of our interest instead of another countries interest. It cost too much money to go to war with a country that never even attacked us and it damaged our economy. Many lives were lost during this war also, which is a lesson that should be