Ethical Issues In The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a war the United States should have never been involved in. The

The Vietnam War was fought to stop the spread of communism that threatened the United States way of life. War strategies that were used were harsh, major battles bloody, and war opposition at home was high. The leaders of our countries decisions caused devastating effects that not only shook our country but the whole world.

It was 1965 and the first U.S. troops were landing in South Vietnam, there were 3,500 U.S. Marines added to the already 25,000 advisers in the country. This war would define how we view life for decades and generations. Most people thought it was a mistaken war with no purpose other than to stop the flow of communism in Asia and the fear of others would follow, and add to the strength of the Soviet Union during the height of the cold war. Some people turned the war into a racist battle ground to justify the uprising and protest against the war. The troops were poorly armed and on average fought 240 days a year when compared to WW2 with only 40 days a year for infantrymen. One out of ten people in Vietnam was a casualty which leads to the 58,000 dead and rising in Vietnam. The 21 first century was defined by this war, which resulted into the carelessness in our defense of our country. We were pulling out of countries and some of them were retaliating and painted a target on the U.S.”s back. Our generation would not be the same without this defining war of a new age.

Vietnam was very gruesome and took half a million lives. These lives consisted of men that were drafted into the war by the Selective Services. These lives were mainly of a minority, or of lower social class. Protesters were against the draft because of the unfair rules.

In A Viet Cong Memoir, we receive excellent first hands accounts of events that unfolded in Vietnam during the Vietnam War from the author of this autobiography: Truong Nhu Tang. Truong was Vietnamese at heart, growing up in Saigon, but he studied in Paris for a time where he met and learned from the future leader Ho Chi Minh. Truong was able to learn from Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary ideas and gain a great political perspective of the conflicts arising in Vietnam during the war. His autobiography shows the readers the perspective of the average Vietnamese citizen (especially those involved with the NLF) and the attitudes towards war with the United States. In the book, Truong exclaims that although many people may say the Americans never lost on the battlefield in Vietnam — it is irrelevant.

I find Ho Chi Minh’s letter far more persuasive than Lyndon B. Johnson’s. Using ethos, pathos, and logos, he forms a solid argument that supports Vietnam’s stance on the war. He appeals to one’s emotions by expressing the injustices faced by his people, writing, “In South Viet-Nam a half-million American soldiers and soldiers from the satellite countries have resorted to the most barbarous methods of warfare, such as napalm, chemicals, and poison gases in order to massacre our fellow countrymen, destroy the crops, and wipe out villages.” Words such as “massacre” and “barbarous” highlight the severity of these crimes, and invoke feelings of guilt and remorse in the reader. Chi Minh uses ethos to support his logos, or logical, views on the

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.

Did you know that thousands of American men died in the Vietnam War? Some people think this war was not a big deal but the loss of life American and Vietnamese makes it a big deal. Besides the loss of life, there were many emotional impacts during, and especially after, the Vietnam War. PTSD stands for post traumatic stress disorder. The soldiers, the country and the families of all the men in the war were all impacted by the war and especially by PTSD.

The big failure America in the Vietnam War is the shameful history of tragic scene for arrogant American, whose pain is still difficult to ease. The crucial event also had a profound impact on today 's international situation. It is believed that the failure included political, economic, military and cultural background and other aspects, which are that common. When it comes to the controversial subject, I hope to put forward some fresh views from where I stand. 1.

On November 1st, 1955, a country divided into two, North and South Vietnam will soon have a war known to many countries around the world. The Vietnam War, or the Second Indochina War occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. At the time, Vietnam had a dispute on what the country should be, Communistic or Republic, which had led war breaking out. North as the Viet Cong group while the Republic Of Vietnam group was South; eventually unexpected events started to unfold, leading towards the end of the war. To this very day, The Vietnam War has changed the ways how many civilians live their lives, especially my family.

During the Vietnam War, President Eisenhower placed CIA operatives and many different military advisers into Vietnam. President John F. Kennedy was the one to finally make the decision to send American soldiers over to Vietnam so that we could fight. President Lyndon Johnson announced and ordered the very first authentic combat by American troops, and finally, President Richard Nixon was the one who ended the war all together. Unfortunately for America, despite all the decades of resolve, whopping amounts of money, over 60,000 American lives and injuries, the United States had still ultimately failed to achieve all of its

The war of Vietnam was caused by men who didn’t really understand the impact their decisions would make. They were not strategic and they didn’t take any advice from the militaire that actually knew what they were doing. Kennedy didn’t trust the Eisenhower and JCS, and didn’t take advice from the Pentagon or the old guard. One of the men in command, Alain Enthoven, was very arrogant and hotheaded. In McMaster’s words, Enthoven, “held military experience in low regard and considered military men intellectually inferior.”

By 1975 the Vietnam war had claimed over 5 million lives, many of which were civilians. This has made it a war that Americans have been ashamed of and tried to forget. W. S. Merwin was outspoken on how he felt about war, which he shows in “The Asians Dying.” He makes a statement on the inhumane way the Vietnam war took human lives. ” The Asians Dying” will shock readers with its gruesome imagery and force them to look at what war does.

1. What problems did the United States face in the Vietnam War? As the United States struggled against communism in Vietnam, it would face many problems. In the late 1950’s President Eisenhower and later President Kennedy sent military supplies and advisers to South Vietnam. Despite the American aid the Vietcong grew stronger with support from North Vietnam.

Young men who went off to fight in World War I and World War II were respected and seen as heroes upon their return home. Vietnam veterans who were coming home were seen as criminals and were strongly opposed by the American people. Vietnam was one of the first wars where the media had a strong influence on the people. The media sent reporters to the battlefields in Vietnam to directly report the horrors of war and what the American soldiers were actually doing. People were horrified when they saw all of the civilian injuries and deaths that resulted from artillery and firefights; people saw the American soldiers as the villains rather than the heroes.