The Vietnam War And Its Effects On American Society

The Vietnam 1 Running head: SOCIAL EFFECTS OF THE VIETNAM WAR The Vietnam War's Effects on American Society Halley E. Moore Metro High School- St. Louis The Vietnam 2 Abstract The Vietnam War had a profound effect on American society. It changed the way we viewed our government, the media, and our Constitutional rights. Because of this shift in perspective, the country was torn apart and yet still came together in new and different ways.

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 today is considered one of the most traumatic but important events in the United States history. The war was between the North and South Vietnamese however the United states got involved to help the South avoid falling into the communist ways just as the North did. There were some positive aspects in the war, however there seemed to be more negative situations and opinions that overpowered the good. Opposition grew as the result of; the Gulf of Tonkin, the John Kerry testimony and the Tet Offensive. These aspects along with many others allow many to come to the conclusion that the war was fatalistic thing.

The Vietnam war was an absolutely brutal time in American history. The war lasted for the majority of the 1960s and left many young men dead. The short story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien and the film Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam give us just a glance into the war by giving using the three themes of fear, pressures, and blame/guilt to embody the concept of war and how it absolutely changes a person. War not only destroys countries, but it destroys people.

Problem that the Vietnamese war veterans faced was the psychological effects which was very common for Vietnam veterans to have. The main cause of this is because it was different compared to other wars in the past like the condition that the soldiers were in. Studies has shown that a World War II soldiers experienced up to a total of 60 days under combat like conditions. A Vietnam infantryman endured on a comparable basis 300+ days therefore Vietnam veterans have more likely to develop psychological problems than a World War II veteran. (POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD), 2001)

There was also some infectious disease happened around the Vietnam War. The one of the popular infectious disease is Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). HCV is a virus that primarily affects the liver, which can cause liver failure, liver cancer, or esophageal and gastric varices. HCV is spread primarily by blood to blood contact which associated with intravenous drug uses. During the Vietnam Era, the poor sterilized medicinal equipment, such as needle stick sharing become a exposure of soldiers getting the HCV. According to the research on Vietnam era veterans and nonveterans on HCV’s development, the research suggested that Vietnam veterans have a higher prevalence of HCV than other veterans and nonveterans. Vietnam War is one of the significant war

The military was getting stronger and the people of Vietnam were affected by the casualties. Between both North and South Vietnam 2 million civilians were dead. There was another 1.1 million North Vietnam and Viet Cong people dead (Spector) A way to honor those that have passed was to create a memorial. The people were dying fast therefore the economy was suffering slightly. The farming was beginning to go down and businesses were widely affected by the amount of people injured or dead (Spector) The struggle with both farming and business caused yet another wave of refugees. Due to the amount of bombing there was 1,034,300 hectares of forest destroyed. Since there was so much land destroyed it has a serious impact on the lives of the people of Vietnam (Rohn). Many suffer from diseases caused by the chemicals. These casualties have impacted the world around including all that were involved. It was also a war of a lot of deaths.

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).

The Vietnam War was a violent and costly war that needed many men to fight for its cause. These men are now known as the Vietnam veterans. Numerous veterans who fought in the war were injured or lost a comrade during battle. These soldiers fought to protect the United States and its people while risking their own lives. A lot of these brave men were either killed or injured and did not gain the

The Vietnam War holds its place in history as one of the most devastating wars for the

The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in

It doesn't just stop at physically injuries, many were also affected by mental disorders.. Over 10 thousand people was affected with some kind of mental disorder during vietnam, with one of the most common ones being PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder). PTSD affects the way people experience life after experiencing dramatic events, like war. It affects people differently, and our triggered by different things. Loud noises, flashing lights, are just a couple examples of things that can trigger people that have

The Vietnam War's Effects on American Society Abstract The Vietnam War had a profound effect on American society. It changed the way we viewed our government, the media, and our Constitutional rights. Because of this shift in perspective, the country was torn apart and yet still came together in new and different ways. The Vietnam War's contraversiality spurred a great many sources of protest, against our government's use of power, how far we could stretch the rights of free expression, and primarily against the violence of the war itself.

The Vietnam War was marked by brutality, death, protests, and psychological tolls. No war caused such great division among the American people like the Vietnam War. The war was extremely costly, and it left long-term effects on people all over the world. As a whole, the American people agree that the Vietnam War was a waste of time, money, and life.

The chemical weaponry that were used on the Vietnam vegetation had an adverse effect on the people in a way that even after three generations, the effects are still evident on the children. Many of them are born with malformations and severe defects in the nervous structure and immune system. The chemical also affected the American soldiers and veterans as many of them have health issues related to these weapons. Although the American government thought that they were only punishing the North Vietnamese, American veterans ended up victims of chronic and unhealthy conditions.