The Vietnam War lasted about two decades. The United States was engulfed in a civil war between North and South Vietnam and wanted to assist the south with preventing a hostile takeover by North Vietnam under the Communism banner. The Vietnam War was not only America’s longest War, but also costliest and deadliest. We spent over $150 billion and suffered close to $58 thousand American deaths and nearly 300 thousand wounded. By the time we decided to withdraw from the war, North Vietnam easily swept through the south and unified Vietnam under Communism. Still to this day, one of the most debated topics regarding the Vietnam War is why the United States got involved and why, when and how we should wage future wars. (Dunn, 2001)…
In this coursework essay, I am aiming to explain why the United States of America became increasingly involved in the Vietnam conflict between the years 1945 and 1966. During this time, America had five different presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.…
There are many misconceptions about the anti-war movement, one being that it was the reason the Vietnam war ended. On the contrary, the movement was more social and cultural than it was political. As a single organization it had little impact, but as a whole movement, it was able to influence on a broader level the politics in America. Even the Johnson and Nixon administration insisted they would ignore the anti-war efforts yet still, they adapted their policies to those who dissented.(456) Those in opposition to the anti-war wave tried with great effort to discredit the movement.…
The article written by Veronia Majerol in New York Times Upfront, titled “The Vietnam WAR” talks more on how the war divided America, mostly between generations, the older crowds supported the war and the younger crowd resisted even…
Unlike with other wars preceding it whom often brought together the citizens of the United States, the Vietnam War took on a role of destabilizing American society. Internal problems like racism and rising poverty that were once put on the backburner would appear as main topics of discussion that helped to further increase the already growing division in the nation. U.S. involvement and occasional interference in Indochina began with the French’s instance and desire to keep control of the region. The failing European superpower wanting to reconsolidate its power in South East Asia and the world after the end of the Second World War fought to take back what they believed was rightfully theirs after the Japanese had made their exit. As with a majority of colonies, the mistreatment and sometimes inhuman conditions that citizens of Indochina endured especially those in Vietnam led to protests and uprising against the few French men who controlled everything in their country and French…
The war in Vietnam in the 1960’s was an extremely controversial topic among the American public. America’s role in the war was questionable, and thousands of young men were drafted into the army against their own personal beliefs. In If I Die in a Combat Zone , author Tim O'Brien argued that the Vietnam War was unjust through his depictions of violent events during the war, how the war affected both the soldiers and innocent civilians, and the inhumane duties required of the soldiers.…
One of the most disruptive wars in American history ended 25 years ago, but the United States is still dealing with the problems that it left. This war was Vietnam War. Many people believe that this war is still affecting America even today. During the Vietnam War the national debt increased by $146 billion (1967-1973). Adjusted for price increases, the debt in 1992 was $500 billion dollars. Even though America lost the war we still got good and bad things out of it. The war helped America exceed in technology but also showed the governments true colors.…
The war was a twenty year war starting in 1954 and ending in 1975. The Vietnam War, a long war between North and South Vietnam over communism, impacted all generations by changing the way Americans viewed war and by hurting the Vietnamese people; furthermore, the U.S. presidents during the Vietnam War had many different views, which affected U.S. polices and the country for many years after.…
If America never would have entered this conflict, the death rate of American soldiers would’ve never existed in the first place. The viewpoints on the Vietnam War made by American citizens are debated throughout the country. Many argue that the Vietnam War should’ve been a civil war between northern and southern Vietnam to settle the conflict of if the south should be under communist rule. From the beginning, it can be argued that America’s Vietnam War involvement should have potentially never been…
Although the Vietnam War was clearly a detrimental event in the history of America, some still try to argue that it benefited America and or strengthened our nation. They may say it benefited our country because in reality, it was a place where we had the opportunity to test new weapons and learn about many new medicines. When trying to refute my personal claim that Vietnam was a bad war for America to join, these are the only two main reasons others say the war was a good event for America’s history.…
The Vietnam War greatly changed America forever. It was the longest war fought in America’s history, lasting from 1955 to 1973. The Vietnam War scarred America’s self image by because this was the first time in history the United States failed to accomplish what they planned to do in war. The war also had great effects on the American people. It was the first war ever broadcast on TV.…
The Greeks and Romans had one thing in common and that was war. Wars through the centuries change events and the mindsets of people experiencing them. Many wars occurred through the centuries and have affected the United States in various ways. One particular war that changed the outlook of America would be the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War affected the culture in the United States during 1950 to 1960’s by citizens striving for love and compassion instead of hate and violence throughout every home, bringing millions together to form one massive group trying to cause the change everyone was hoping for.…
The Vietnam War could be characterized as one of the most controversial incident in America’s history. United States acted paradoxically; they claimed that they protected democracy, they raised an oppressive dictatorial regime in the area of South Vietnam and later the US army was destroying villages in order to protect them (Wiest, 2002).…
New president Lyndon B. Johnson inherited a difficult situation in Vietnam, as the South Vietnamese government was in shambles and the Viet Cong was making large gains in rural areas of the South. Although Johnson billed himself as a tough anti-Communist, he pledged to honor Kennedy’s limited troop commitments in Vietnam. The ensuing political instability in South Vietnam persuaded Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to further increase U.S. military and economic support in August 1964. Early that month, two U.S. Navy destroyers (spy-ships) in the Gulf of Tonkin reported that North Vietnamese gunboats attacked them unprovoked. The American public was incensed, and Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Out of the 535 total members of Congress, only two voted against this resolution. Although Johnson deferred openly escalating the war until after the election of 1964, the furor over the Gulf of Tonkin incident only helped Johnson in his campaign. By 1965, Viet Cong attacks on U.S. forces were becoming increasingly violent. With the free hand recently provided by Congress, Johnson ordered the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy to begin an intense series of air strikes called Operation Rolling Thunder. He hoped that the bombing campaign would demonstrate to the South Vietnamese the U.S. commitment to their cause and its resolve to halt the spread of Communism. Despite Johnson’s campaign promise to keep “American boys” out of Vietnam, Operation Rolling Thunder set the gears in motion for a major escalation of the war, culminating in the first arrival of U.S. ground troops in 1965. The war was undergoing “Americanization.” Throughout 1965, the U.S. military continued its bombing campaigns, so heavily that by the end of the decade it had dropped 3 million tons of bombs on Vietnam.The campaign had little effect because target selection was difficult against the hidden Viet Cong in the rural, non-industrialized Northern…
One of the most notable changes to come out of the Vietnam War that still affects The United States is the right to vote. Many people were angry that men could be drafted into war but not vote in local or state election. Because of this President Johnson ratified the 26th amendment in 1971 changing the legal voting age to 18 (Rohn). Another change the United States tried to make was to stay out of foreign conflicts. A few years after the war had ended, President Bill Clinton ordered American troops to withdraw from a Somalia conflict know as 15-hour Battle of Mogadishu after having sent them there days earlier and 18 were already dead. A lot of distrust of the government arose because of the Vietnam War. The first publication of the Pentagon Papers revealed confidential details about the war’s conduct. This cause a lot of disgust from many Americans. Some Americans never let go of their anger and it only deepened when many decades later bad events were still occuring due to the United States involvement in the war. In 2003, children in south-east vietnam were playing with a war-era steel pellet bomb when it exploded and seriously injured them. Later that year, a 37 year old craftsman wanted some scrap for a project; he was sawing an artillery shell when it exploded and killed him and injured his assistant very badly. These bombs were from the United States and could still happen to anyone in…