How Did The Vietnam War Dbq Essay

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The Vietnam War is known as the first war America “lost.” The loss of lives was a devastating number. The American government was very secretive as to their plans in Vietnam. Although President Johnson said that the US had no desire to get involved in the war, he and close government officials prepared in case they truly needed to go to war. The public was eased into a false sense of security. After the United States officially entered the war on March 8th,1965, America grew tense. The public was not afraid to stand up for their beliefs of peace. As hard as the public tried, the war continued. It was a brutal war. Many innocent lives were lost. The estimated number of American military deaths is around 58,000. Countless soldiers were killed …show more content…

Organizations like the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) advocated for students to get involved in protests. Students would boycott classes and start marches or demonstrations to show their support for the Anti-War movement. In document 5b, New York Times journalist Frank Prial wrote an article about the closing of schools. Prial wrote that, “A spokesman for the National Student Association said that students have been staying away from classes at almost 300 campuses in the country…” Before the Vietnam War, students were not encouraged or discouraged to take part in active protests. When the Vietnam War started and students started to realize they could make an impact, they began protesting. Across the country, colleges were shut down from protests. May 6th, 1970, over 80 colleges were shut down - just that day. In document 5a, a protest march down Fifth Avenue was taking place. Over 200,000 students in New York City boycotted their classes on the day of the protest, April 27, …show more content…

In Document 8, Vietnam War veterans that served as Congressmen were said to be very cautious about military action. David Shipler, New York Times Journalist, writes, “But the Vietnam experience has given almost all of them a sense of seasoned caution about using American military power without having the broad support of the American people.” The Vietnam war had a major impact on war veterans, which is prominent in the article. The Congressmen came out of the war with an outlook on wars in general that cause them to be cautious. They gave a new perspective that was helpful in consideration of military tactics in the

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