Should we abandon our country? The Vietnam war was the war between South Vietnam and North Vietnam. Northern Vietnam wanted to spread communism to the Southern part of Vietnam while the Southern part wanted democracy. Many people opposed the war because it was a foreign war and the U.S had no business digging its nose into it. Others claimed that it was intervening with Vietnam’s own independence. During the war the U.S had “drafted” many poor american citizens to fight in the war. Being drafted meant that you were being conscripted into the war because you meet the physical and mental standards to fight in the war. Some people didn’t think that it was fair and fled the country or lied to the federal government. Those people were called “draft dodgers” ( people who got out of the …show more content…
He says “ For every means we have to escalate the enemy can match us...To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic; yet unsatisfactory conclusion.”(Walter Cronkite, Document B pg.1). The reasoning behind this is many Americans thought that the U.S was all powerful and by them joining the war South Vietnam would have a greater chance to win. What many Americans didn’t know was at the time the only action where no unnecessary americans were killed was choosing not to further entregue the the Vietnam forces. If we were to carelessly decided to drop an atomic bomb Vietnam had the power to do the same. To draft-dodgers this meant that they would have joined a war that would only end (at the time all things pointed to it) in a cosmic disaster. This release from Cronkite, who at the time was a very well trusted journalist, influenced people to have the same decision, that joining the war would either end in a nuclear war between both nations, the death of hundreds of thousands of more soldiers, or the invasion of the North which would escalate to more
The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was gruesome and it was terrible for the United States. A little after the war ended, there was a contest for the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C. Maya Lin was chosen as the designer of the memorial, but John Carhart has some problems with her design. After reading Carhart’s article, he does make some good points about the memorial, but others are not quite right.
The Vietnam war heightened social, political, and economic tensions in America because there wasn’t a clear reason for fighting in it. In World War Two, the reason was clear. A evil dictator was trying to take control over the world, so the solution was to stop him. In Vietnam America tried to stop a political idea from spreading by attacking it. As said in Document E, “It is like sending a lion to half an epidemic of jungle rot”. While in WW2 people were happy to fight and work for their country, with half of the population contributing in some way to the war effort, according to Document F people drafted would purposely fail the tests to get out of fighting. Document B, the song “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die”, the singer makes fun of how
Throughout America’s history, few things have left the nation in such controversial turmoil as the Vietnam War. With an American death toll of almost 60,000 troops, the Vietnam War has gone down in infamy as one of the most tremendous struggles Americans have faced both overseas and on the home front. Because of the tumultuous controversies caused by the war, Americans split into two social factions – those against the war and those who supported it. During the years of 1961-1975 - the era in which the war had its greatest effect on Americans - the population of citizens from 18-35 years old and the Presidency were both affected irreversibly.
In the twentieth century many young adults and many other men were chosen/ drafted to enter the war. The Vietnam War started during the time period of 1959 and this brutal war ended on 1975. It started with the United States sending aid and military advisors to the Southern part Vietnam. The U.S helped the southerners of Vietnam because the northern part of Viet was a communist state so the south wanted to end Communism up in the north. Also, this war was said to be one of the bloodiest wars that took place in the twentieth century. It was a very bloody war because more than 58,000 American soldiers had perished in combat. Also, during the decade of direct U.S Military participation in Vietnam, during early time of the year, 1964 the U.S
The Vietnam War was a long and expensive war that dealt with North Vietnam and South Vietnam clashing out and seeing who comes out victorious; this war took place near a small little country near Southeast Asia. The 4 countries that bordered Vietnam are China, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. This country is only 7,000 miles away from Rahway and if you were to take a flight there it would take 20hrs.
The Vietnam war brought many changes to the United States in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Some of the changes were for the better of the country, take the rediscovered Women’s Rights movements and the ever growing Free Speech movements inspired by New Left, while most of the other changes brought on tensions between government and their people. The Domino Theory pushed our leaders to the edge. In order to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam, the U.S. invaded. The war was useless for the American government to get involved with. Even Robert Kennedy described our presence in Vietnam as ‘... sending a lion to halt an epidemic of jungle rot.’ (Doc E) From new groups forming to rebel, to inflation and loss of trust in the Government, from 1960’s to
Since America was first formed, people have willingly volunteered to fight for its freedom, while others were forced to fight for it by being drafted. During both the World Wars and most importantly, during the Vietnam War, men were unjustifiably drafted to fight for America. It is clearly evident that majority of men that were drafted and fought for the Vietnam War were victims of the government’s corrupt ideologies. In the early 60s, families were notified that their son was to be forced to join the army and fight for their lives.
The Vietnam War lasted longer, bloodier, and more hostile than any U.S. President or American citizen imagined. Lyndon Johnson faced many other enemies during the war such as the duration, the immense number of deaths, and for the first time in most American’s history, failure. Through deep evaluation of Lyndon B. Johnson’s foreign policies as President during the Vietnam war, failure was a recurring outcome, as he faced military and political difficulties over having complete authority over political decisions made leading to the misuse of his respective power, receiving split support through torn Americans at home, and his accord to deport so many troops into combat in Vietnam.
Vietnam is a country located in Southeast Asia. During that time period, they were in the war. American was helping them in the war. There were people that were pro the war and those that were against the war. The people that were pro liked the war and the people that were not pro didn't like the war.
Vietnam was a country divided into two by communism in the North and capitalism in the South. The Vietnam War, fought between the years 1959 and 1975, was, in essence, a struggle by nationalists in the north to unify the nation under a communist government. This was a long standing conflict between the two sides that had been occurring for years. It wasn’t until 1959 when the USA, stepped in, on the side of southern Vietnamese, to stop the spread of communism. It was a war that did not capture the hearts and minds of the American people as it was viewed as a war that the US army couldn’t win and so the government lost the peoples support for the war. This ultimately led to the withdrawal of the US army from Vietnam. Some people, like
War is believed to provide little, if any, benefits. One thing is obvious, however; war plays a major role in the creation of new tensions between the nations in the conflict. This was evident during the Mid-twentieth century. Majority of this time, the U.S. was in a war with Vietnam. The Vietnam war started in 1955 after Eisenhower promised the leader of South Vietnam that the U.S. would protect them from Northern takeover. This promised only got stronger under the terms of Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Thousands of soldiers were sent to South Vietnam to fight against North Vietnamese troops. A draft was even created in 1969. The consequences of the Vietnam war reached the American shore and had much effect on the U.S. homefront. The Vietnam
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
The Vietnam War was Armed Conflict, costly, long, which opposed the communist regime of North Vietnam and the southern allies, known as the Viet Cong against South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States. Controversial war, increasingly unpopular at home, and ended with the withdrawal of US troops in 1973 and the unification of Vietnam under communist control two years later. More than 3 million people, including 58,000 Americans
The Vietnam War was a conflict between the communist army of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong against South Vietnam began in 1954. The United States began their involvement in the Vietnam War by supporting the democratic South Vietnam with weapons and soldiers. Many Americans were divided due to opposition of the US involvement with the war. It was the era of social movements like mexican american social activism, and anti-Vietnam War activism. I have interviewed a Vietnam veteran named Ernie Sanchez that was willing to discuss his experiences and effects of the war. Many Chicanos like Ernie fought against fought against discrimination, fought to survive the war, and fought to recover from the war.