Why Is The Vietnam War Important

happened in Vietnam. Back home, on April 17, 1965, twenty-five thousand people picketed the White House. They would all assemble at the Washington Monument for speeches by Senator Ernest Gruening of Alaska and African American leaders, and walked up to the Mall to the Capitol. Many opponents were “realists” and thought that the war was a mistake (The American Journey). On May 10, 1968, the US and N. Vietnam began finally talking about a peace treaty. During this time,

The U.S. had been involved in the Vietnam War for 14 years by 1969, and although President Nixon, elected in 1968, had stated that he would take the troops out of Vietnam, he had not yet done this. As a response to the war, the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam took place on October 15, 1969, with protestors participating in many locations throughout the country. Later, in November, another event was held, with almost 500,000 people protesting in Washington, D.C.

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.

In the 1960s, the Vietnam War greatly affected American society, as many citizens did not condone of the egregious war, prompting protests. Following attacks by the North Vietnamese, the United States began bombing North Vietnam, leaving Americans to question the government’s motives in this war. Only a small number of citizen backed the anti-war movement at first; however, the exorbitant number of causalities, along with the draft system, caused even more individuals to join the movement. The anti-war protest gained an abundance of publicity and respect after Civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Veterans of Vietnam backed the effort (“Vietnam War Protests”). The atmosphere of protest affected nearly all aspects of life in the

Within one generation, The United States have experienced The Second World War, The Korean War and fifteen years of The Cold War crisis. The Vietnam War was the last drop into the cup of American patience. The costs of The Vietnam War were intolerable, because they contravened traditional American values and hopes.

Large protests popped up all around the country. In April 1967, 500,000 people proetested against the war in New York, the largest protests in history at that point in time. Thousands of young men, including Muhammad Ali, moved people of various ages. This protest caused many others to join and oppose the war. On Oct. 21, 1967, 100,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington for a demonstration. But this time, 50,000 people broke away to join the illegal March on the Pentagon. Thousands broke through military police lines, and some even got to the Pentagon itself. Many were arrested, both angrier and younger, as well as more frustrated than the men and women who had led the first wave of

In 1955, a civil war in Vietnam emerged. This involved Viet Cong and North Vietnamese, who supported communism and wanted to reunited North and South Vietnam. They fought against South Vietnam, who supported a western style government in Vietnam. This war is known as the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War started as a disagreement between communist North Vietnam and anti-communist South Vietnam. Before this disagreement was a war between Vietnam and the French. Vietnam received 2.6 billion dollars in financial support from the United States between 1945 and 1954. Nixon, who was President of the United States at the time, sent in troops to attempt to slow the process of sending troops and supplies from North Vietnam to South Vietnam. If I was a Vietnamese person living in Vietnam at the time I would think this would be an act of injustice by trying to make it an

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict that began in 1959 and ended in 1975. Battles took place in the territories of North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. This war can be framed within the historical context of the Cold War. Vietnam had been a French colony and at the end of the Indochina War was divided into two countries. North Vietnam was commanded by Ho Chi Minh, possessing communist orientation pro Soviet Union. South Vietnam was a military dictatorship, became an ally of the United States, and therefore a capitalist system. Between 1959 and 1964, the conflict was restricted to only North and South Vietnam, although the United States and the Soviet Union provided indirect support. In 1964, the United States decided to enter

The Vietnam war took place between November 1, 1955 and April 30, 1975. During the time period of the 1950’s, high tensions had risen in America due to the ever-growing spread of communism throughout Asia. In order to free Vietnam from France’s control and to be an independent nation, Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh attempted to reach out to America on numerous of occasions, all of which failed to be successful. Eventually, Minh turned his attention to the Soviet Union for aid, causing alarm to the American government. The US. believed that if Vietnam were to inhabit communist ideals, that it would reflect the Domino Theory and eventually cause other countries within Asia to fall into communist hands. The US's involvement in the Vietnam War changed

The Vietnam War was a 20 year dispute over the political power struggle, unification, and spread of communism in their newly independent country. Northern Vietnam, officially known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, fought alongside their communist allies, the Soviet Union and China, for what they viewed as their independence and unity of Vietnam. The nationalists of the Republic of South Vietnam fought alongside the US and their other allies in the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) to prevent the spread of communism.

The Vietnam War commenced during a time of great social and political unrest in America. It came during the middle of the Cold War, a fierce worldwide battle between Eastern communism and Western democracy. There was already division going on in America at the time, with events like the “Red Scare” in Washington creating a growing fear of worldwide communism. The U.S. involvement in Vietnam began with Harry Truman aiding the French in an imperial war from 1946-1954, which the French eventually lost to the Vietminh. This loss began the controversy surrounding Vietnam. The U.S. once again entered Vietnam in 1965, this time involved in a civil war between the democratic South and the communist North. What ensued was one of the most controversial wars in American history, which had a lasting impact that is still felt today.

However, by 1967 a lot of anti-war activists began to think peaceful protests were not going to be enough to influence war policy, so they began using civil disobediences, strikes, public disruption, shouting at government speakers and guerilla theatre to get their message heard loud and clear. In March 1967, a national organization of draft resisters was formed. In April 1967, more than 300,000 people demonstrated against the war in New York. Six months later, 50,000 surrounded the Pentagon, sparking nearly 700 arrests. By this time it became typical for, senior Johnson administration officials to encounter demonstrators when speaking in public, forcing them to restrict their outside appearances. Many also had sons, daughters, or wives who opposed the war, fueling the sense of attack. Prominent participants in the antiwar movement included Dr. Benjamin Spock, Robert Lowell, Harry Belafonte, and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. With prominent leaders extending their support in the movement it gave the activist a great deal of motivation and validation.

The war that began in 1945 was a long, costly-armed conflict that rutted the communist regime of North Vietnam South Vietnam. The Vietnam War started after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in the north and continued during the backdrop of the Cold War. The struggle was fought over three decades, costing millions of lives (both Vietnamese and American) and causing vast amount of physical destruction in Indochina (Logevall, P. 281). During the height of the war more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict.

The Vietnam War is a blank page in the history of the U.S. foreign policy. As a matter of fact, there have been many public and congressional debates about the American intervention in Vietnam and the morality of the political decision that proved to be fatal for both countries. Undeniably, the Vietnam War belongs in the period of the Turbulent Sixties which along with other tremendous political events such as the Civil War, divided the American society for decades. Until today the memory of the war still haunts the American conscience. Thus, the purpose of the essay is to examine the significance of the Vietnam War as a collective memory in the American society. Specifically, the main focus will be on how the remembrance of the Vietnam War, as well as the U.S. policy has been constructed in the