Vietnam War Impact On American Culture

He is considered to be the primary reason why he was not able to win the war in Vietnam as he overestimated the American people’s patience and tolerance of friendly losses. The Vietnam War gives valuable lessons that can be used in the present-day war campaigns. For one, the Vietnam War was based on deception that is the trend today as with the insurgents and terrorist groups. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks, the offensive shocked and demoralized not only their forces but as well as the American public and further eroded support for the war effort. The victory gained by the ‘Tet offensive’ (CNN, 1988) that triggered the deliberate and shameful withdrawal of US forces from the region.

Contextualization and introduction The Vietnam War served as a major turning point of the Cold War, during which the American public split in its support of the conflict. As a proxy in the superpower conflict between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR), the US entered to support the South Vietnamese who were at war against the communist North. To support the South and its Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the United States sent military advisory, conducted airstrikes, and committed ground forces with the hope of curbing the growth of communist ideology in the Asian sphere of influence through a communist defeat. However, the American military ultimately did not apply full force against the Northern combatants under the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN/NVA) and Viet Cong (VC). Despite investing considerable quantities of human and material resources to support the South’s fight over control of Vietnam, the focus often diverted to concurrent threats such as West Germany.

Before his time in office, the tension was escalating between the North and the South of Vietnam. The North supported Communism and wanted to spread it out to the South and all of Southeast Asia. A war started from this tension but America's involvement came later. Once America had realized the North’s intentions, they feared that Communism would spread over to America and the idea of their Democratic society being taken over by Communism scared them the most. America had to intervene so they decided to support the South.

Thousands of newspapers and television displayed the horrors of the war causing protests in the US. Most importantly My Lai massacre which killed approximately 504 innocent women, children, and men who were allegedly Viet Congs. This revelation shocked the whole world especially the US. Additionally, Viet Congs were supported by other countries such as China, Russia, as well as neighboring countries near Vietnam that helped them transport supplies through the Ho Chi Minh trail, unlike the US who also lost the support of its own people and

The violence and instability of this period result in the deaths of thousands of Cambodians, as well as a large influx of hundreds of thousands refugees into Thailand, still traumatized by their experiences under the Khmer Rouge and in search of food, medical care, and security. Clashes with Vietnam broke out in 1977 and on January 7, 1979 Vietnam invaded Cambodia, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge and installing a socialist regime comprised of Khmer Rouge defectors. The rest of the party fled west into the jungles along the Thai border, carrying out guerilla attacks against the Vietnamese. The Khmer Rouge was removed from power when communist Vietnam invaded and established a pro-Vietnamese regime in Cambodia. Many survivors fled to refugee camps in Thailand; of these, many went on to immigrate to the United States.

The Viet Cong eventually lost power and disappeared as well after the war when both the South and North unified. The United States had joined the fight because of the Containment Policy, Domino effect theory, and the attacks against the US by North Vietnam. The United States believed that it was their responsibility to contain Communism. They wanted to stop the spread of communism across the world. They saw that Vietnam as the start of the spread of Communism so it contributed as one of the reasons of going to war.

He did this by bringing in troops and using our troops to fight in the war. Most american longed for change because they knew about all of the policies. Not always using armed forces in an time of crisis is right. Foreign policy is how we deal with other countries. They all wanted to help South Korea because they didn’t have the resources to help themselves.

Perhaps caught by surprise, the NKPA had no choice but to retreat, with the US driving them back and recapturing South Korea. The defensive war soon became an offensive one: it was a war to weed out communism, to liberate the North from the communists. (But, as they will eventually realize, it is one thing to try to contain the spread of communism, and should they go a step further to try to expel communism out of the system, they ought to be prepared for the escalation that would

Many Americans post-world war II were afraid of the spread of communism because of their belief in the domino theory, if one country falls then the rest will too. Under external and internal pressures such as the failure of the Potsdam conference Harry Truman adopted a foreign policy during the early years of the cold war ( the late 40’s) called containment. The objective was to stop the spread of communism around the world by creating military alliances such as NATO ,and providing aid to unstable/weak countries through the Marshall Plan. Unfortunately, like many other U.S foreign policies it was effective at times, but also dreadfully ineffective. In order to combat the continuous spread of communism, Truman passed the Truman doctrine, which allowed for foreign intervention in countries affected by Communism.

The Vietnam war was a very long, costly conflict to stop the communist of North Vietnam spreading to southern Vietnam. The United States got wrapped up in this war because they wanted to prevent communism spreading to different areas in the world. As stated above, one of the sources of media used was the

His predictions proved to be incorrect. As U.N. Forces advanced north of the 38th parallel, they found themselves facing Chinese forces. MacArthur wanted to start the war with China, Truman was against this. Douglas MacArthur stated, “It seems strangely difficult for some to realize that here in Asia is where the communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest, and that we have joined the issue thus raised on the battlefield; that here we fight Europe 's war with arms while the diplomats there still fight it with words; that if we lose the war to communism in Asia the fall of Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probably would avoid war and yet preserve freedom.

The Vietnam War is very infamous and it has had many consequences on the U.S society and Asian Americans for years to come. One of the main effects from the war is the body count. Over 3 million Vietnamese citizens and 58,000 American troops had died in the bloodshed along with thousands more wounded. The use of Agent Orange not only destroyed Vietnam’s environment, but also caused health problems for the Vietnamese and the American troops using them, eventually leading to cancer. Society wise, the war had changed the way the public saw the U.S government.

Government officials knew that citizens were unable to withstand the gruesome photos taken of the realities of the war. Showing real images that featured the outcomes of war would have caused Americans to become disheartened thus decreasing American morale. To insure victory, the government enforced the use of censorship throughout the nation. In one propaganda poster, the caption reads “Let’s Censor Our Conversation About the War” (“Censored”). The propaganda poster revealed the extent of which the government kept a eye and ear to all American citizens as an attempt to preserve American loyalty.

Before the American Civil War, both the Northerners and Southerners states were making economic advances. The railway allowed for the formation of a communication system that was national. The availability of railroads made the settlements of the western states easier. Immigration had a steady increasing rate and economy was booming for the North. They also discovered mineral resources that boosted the iron and textile industries of the North.

Events of Vietnam locked the United States onto a path of immense military intervention and ultimately destroyed Johnson 's presidency. Johnson’s decision to escalate the situation was based on America’s initial understanding of the war, combined with poor war tactics and a terribly unreliable security counsel apparatus, which resulted in the