Although it does not look like there was not too much thought into the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, there was actually an extreme amount of thought put into it. One end of the memorial points to Washington Monument that represents the first president of the US. The other end of the Memorial points to the Lincoln Memorial which not only represent another president but where other historical events took place. Its shape can be left up to your interpretation; two long rectangular walls come together to form an angle or maybe half of a diamond. The walls are made of black marble that give off a mirror like reflection. “To find one name, chances are you will see the others close by, and you will see yourself reflected through them.” (Lin, 2000) The momorial was built and created to keep the focus on those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for this nation, not to focus on the war, and that is why only names were put on the wall.…
Memorials or monuments are important because they are a symbol or reminder of life changing events or lost loved ones. For example, the 9/11 monument is a remembrance of a tragic event that happened in 2001 when terrorists attacked and around 3,000 people were killed. Although the memorial is not a bad thing it can be closure for families who have lost someone, also it is a reminder to take more precautions to prevent things like this happening in the future. The 9/11 monument also recognizes the many people who lived through this tragic event.…
Portable helicopter landing mats designed for Vietnam have been reused to build large sections of the US–Mexico border wall. The Army Corps of Engineers provided institutional links between these two geographically distant imperial projects. After documenting the historical connections between war and wall, I shift the analytic lens to show how mid-century modernism and imperial foreign policy were entangled aesthetically. General Westmoreland, Agnes Martin, Sol LeWitt, and Richard Serra all draw from the same social imaginary. Substantive political disagreements notwtihstanding, geometric grids animated aesthetic affinities that have made it more difficult to perceive, let alone critique or dislodge, the long tentacles of American…
celebrate our history, our accomplishments, and and all the many people who we cared for that…
It can be argued that the Vietnam war forever changed the path the United States took to wage warfare, the hippie movement changed American culture. The Vietnam War shaped warfare forever in that war had always been convention, there was a definite enemy who wore a uniform. The Viet-Cong used guerilla tactics, the act of blending in with the civilian population and conducting hit and run attacks on your numerically superior enemy. The Vietnam war shaped the way that the public viewed the United States government, the war changed the public’s trust in their all mighty government. It may also be argued that the Vietnam war didn’t affect the path that the United States was on in that, as the world became more progressive in their societal advancements.…
During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States had fought wars to rid the world of communism. The Vietnamese had been controlled by the French since the 1880s. The Vietnamese people had fought for independence and had won in 1954, after they won, the country was split into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam. Communists living in the South were called the vietcong. In the 1960s, they had tried to overthrow the government.…
Both memorials at a glance seem very similar, but when the viewer really looks closely they differ considerably. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built so soon after the war that it was riddled in controversy but what matters is that it gives those men and women who fought and died for their country a place to be remembered forever and a place for those still living to come see old friends and remember. The Korean War Memorial was build long after the war in different times when there was not so much scrutiny over what the memorial entailed. The different times also allowed for not only a statement about remembrance of the war to be made, but also a statement of the United States being one country with many different people ready to defend it when the time…
Did the United States blindly plunged into an unnecessary conflict for wider Cold War considerations? Some characterize the conflict as a limited war fought to defend South Vietnam and its neighbors against communist aggression and bring a united peace for a self-governing Vietnam. But was it necessary and justifiable for the U.S. to intervene in Vietnam: to defend freedom and liberty or to protect imperial interests dictated by America 's world position and economic means? Although it had functioned as an independent state for over a thousand years, the French were just the latest to impose colonial dominance over Vietnam in the…
With World War II not being over long, and already being back at war with the Soviet Union, America’s involvement with the Vietnam War became a highly controversial topic. The draft system was being used again and it had a good portion of America’s population on edge. However, the fear of communism and its possible spread to other places kept Americans willing to fight during both the Cold War and the Vietnam War. America’s involvement in the Vietnam War spanned six presidencies. The average age of a solider that left to fight in Vietnam whether they were drafted or volunteers was between 19 and 21. The United States involvement brought up many important questions, “such as should they stay out of other countries business?” “Should the draft…
Although very popular the Vietnam war was huge conflict during the years of 1964 through 1975, this single incident changed many Americans opinions about the nation's role both in foreign affairs and domestic ones. The Vietnam war failed in its primary purpose which was to assists in the defense against north Vietnamese communism, just like the cold war previously this proved to be another example of escalation. The US involvement in Vietnam damaged the us reputation due to very misguided and complex intentions on the part of political leaders like those in the Johnson and Nixon administration which brought upon unhappiness and social unrest among the public. This political corruption along with mismanagement on the economic system and the…
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.…
In 1969, Richard Nixon was elected into presidency. One of Nixon’s campaign promises was ‘peace with honour’. Peace with honour was a strategy that involved taking U.S troops out of Vietnam, but did not involve directly giving in to North Vietnam and the Vietcong. Peace with honour started the process of Vietnamization. From 1969 to 1974, negotiations and ceasefires took place, until in March 1975 no further aid was given to Indo-China from the USA. There are many important causes and consequences of Vietnamization; these include Anti-War protests in America, the Tet Offensive in 1968 and the election of Richard Nixon. Consequences include the fall of Vietnam to Communism, the Cambodian civil war and the fall of Laos.…
Memorials also give great history in remembering things that could’ve happened before you were born. They can give you a visual on how things were at the time of the event. I personally enjoy looking at memorials to remember all things that happened in the past…
Memorial day is a very special day it is when we remember those who have died fighting for us. Memorial day is a special day for me because I am grateful to still have my grandpa here today. Another name for memorial day is Decoration Day. The reasoning for this name is they would decorate the graves of those you died fighting for us.…
The purpose of a monument affects how a monument will be designed and be built to it is important to establish it early on. Some memorials are meant to remember and honor people. These monuments are often built with an elegant and sometimes simply design to focus on the people that are being represented. When speaking about designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., Maya Lin says that “[t]he need for the names to be on the memorial would become the memorial; there was no need to embellish the design further . The people and their names would allow everyone to respond and remember” (Lin). Lin’s simply black granite walls prove to be a powerful symbol of remembrance. They show that if the memorial’s purpose is to honor and remember, then the design should be simple so as not to draw attention away from those being recognized. If the memorial is meant to teach, it is designed in a much different manner. Some appear as museums such as the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.. These memorials are bigger because they have to house a lot more information. They often include artifacts, pictures, and information as well as names to convey the importance of the subject. Some people might wonder why the purpose and design of a monument are so important. Consider if a Vietnam Veterans Memorial was designed as a museum. The focus would be on the war rather than the veterans who the monument is supposed to honor. The simple design on the other hand delivers a much more powerful message and caters to the purpose of the monument more closely. Or take the Lincoln Memorial. It’s large marble statue of Lincoln and two speeches engraved on panels “manufactures its own aura” that makes the site almost feel sacred (Savage). The power of this memorial would not be found in the simple black marble walls or a museum. So, both the design and the purpose of the memorial are important for people to…
