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
The war in Vietnam to do this day has gone down as one of the influential and controversial wars in United States history. The war lasted from 1955 to 1975.The nation as a whole began to uproar over the war and the major consequences of the war. There were many reasons why so many Americans were against the war. Public opinion steadily turned against the war following 1967 and by 1970 only a third of Americans believed that the U.S. had not made a mistake by sending troops to fight in Vietnam (Wikipedia). Not to mention, many young people protested because they were the ones being drafted while others were against the war because the anti-war movement grew increasingly popular among the counterculture and drug culture in American society and
The Vietnam War was one of the longest, and the most costly war in America 's history. Vietnam War was primarily fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975 and never reaches United States shores. This disastrous war was fought between North Vietnamese and it allies Viet Cong against the United States of America and the South Vietnamese army. As most war are known to me bloody and cruel, The Vietnam War was especially cruel and devastating, it took the lives of millions of Vietnamese civilians. Civilians who will never get to see their country united under one banner, and unfortunately thousands of Americans solider lives were regrettably taken because of the war, names of those solider are forever written on the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall, a permanent
As the Cold War raged on, the United States continued to try and contain the spread of communism. A popular belief during this time was the domino theory, which stated that if a country fell to communism, the surrounding countries would also fall. Therefore, the United States began sending aid to the South Vietnamese in order to resist the communist North. However, this quickly escalated into more and more troops being supplied, and the Vietnam War began to take shape. The Vietnam War would be marked by failure in both military and political leadership, angering the American public at every turn.
“There is at the outset a very obvious... connection between the war in Vietnam and the struggle I and others have been waging in America,”(Document E: Martin Luther King, Jr.). During the period of the Vietnam War, division struck the United States due to people’s vast opinions, this caused a rift in the country and began protests. Citizens of the USA did have legitimate reasons to protest the Vietnam War, but not all agreed with that. American citizens had many different reasons to protest the Vietnam War, but the biggest reason was that people were realizing how horrific wars truly were.
The Vietnam war took a major death toll in Vietnam, United States, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. Just in the U.S., “more than 58,000 American soldiers were killed while more than 150,000 others wounded”. On both sides, there were almost 2 million civilians dead and 1.1 simply on the Vietnamese side. The My Lai Massacre, where soldiers brutally killed Vietnamese children and mothers, presents an example where the war mentally changed the soldiers in the war in a very horrendous way. On the other hand, the United States took brutal losses in the Tet Offensive, where the Vietcong slaughtered over 100 towns and twelve United States air bases.
The Vietnam war was a troubling war that lasted from 1955 to 1975. It was located in Vietnam and was fought by the U.S., as well as North and South Vietnam. There was bloodshed from both sides and many innocent lives lost. The Vietnam war was not only a troubling time in Vietnam, but also for the United States. Richard Nixon was the United States president at the time of the war and was the one that pushed America into joining the war, but realized he only cared about winning.
The Vietnam Was devastating time for not just America, but worldwide. This War lead to 1 million, four hundred and fifty thousand casualties from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This devastating number only increased when you also take into account the other side, the Americans, with more than 50,000 casualties. One may argue that a major reason the Vietnam War occurred was due to the disagreement between the Soviet Reds and the Great Uncle Sam after World War 2. The Reds wanted to spread communism, this left Americans not too pleased because they were capitalist all the way.
In McDonald’s song, the effect of the draft and its effects on society are highlighted by the lyrics, “Send ‘em off before it’s too late. Be the first one on your block To have your boy come home in a box,” [Doc B]. More than 50,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War, and after withdrawing from the battlefront, Americans felt it was for nothing. Robert F. Kennedy said, “we have sought to resolve by military might a conflict whose issue depends upon the will and conviction of the South Vietnamese people,” [Doc E]. To the war, Americans provided weapons, supplies, and troops.
November 1, 1955 marked the beginning of the conflict in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a fight against the Domino Theory, or the idea of the spreading of communism. Northern Vietnam was a communist territory, and the United States government feared that Southern Vietnam would soon become a communist state as well. In order to prevent this from happening, the US government drafted many young Americans to fight against Northern Vietnam. At first, many Americans supported the country’s involvement, though as time went on, many people became weary of the country’s involvement in the battle.
The Vietnam war was the longest, considered one of the most important, and expensive war in our history. The United States became involved in Vietnam since we promised that we would fight against anyone who supports communism. American government thought this would be a short, uncomplicated war to win seeing that Vietnam is a third world country. As the war went on American citizens thought twice regarding our involvement in the war because of; billions of dollars were lost, our government was lying to us, and thousands of American lives were lost. America had robust intentions to try to stop communism from spreading to South Vietnam, however the outcomes of this war were too overpowering to call this war a success.
The Vietnam War was a war the United States should have never been involved in. The “Domino Theory” was a direct cause of the war. The war resulted in much death; innocent civilians and young Americans were killed. The Vietnam war also resulted in rioting, distrust for the United States government, and the loss of many lives. 58,000 Americans were killed and 300,000 were wounded.
58,000 Americans were dead by the end of the entire war. It all started with control issues between the North and South of Vietnam. Even though both sides wanted a unified Vietnam, the two leaders wanted the unity in a different way. Ho and his supporters in the North modeled after other communist countries while Bao and his supporters wanted close economic and cultural ties to the West. They began fighting to take power which started the war.
Wealthy Americans could obtain deferments or avoid the draft altogether, either by enrolling in college or seeking medical exemptions. This led to resentment among working-class and poor Americans, who were more likely to be drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. " The Kids(protesters) are putting us in, and the papers are putting us in; Lindsay is out advocating rebellion." Middle class(Vietnam protesters, College students):, Primarily, the middle class led the protests; anti-war protests also revealed class divisions. Many leading anti-war activists were middle-class or upper-middle-class students and intellectuals who could participate in protests and engage in civil disobedience without fear of losing their jobs or going to jail.
“Our present course [in Vietnam] will not bring victory; will not bring peace; will not stop the bloodshed; and will not advance the interests of the United States or the cause of peace in the world.” Robert F. Kennedy, March 1968 The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial events in American history. The war was between communist North Vietnam and the democratic South Vietnamese. Many Americans felt that we entered the war under false pretenses and were interfering in a civil war that we didn’t belong.
The Vietnam war was preceded by a very turbulent time in our history with problems here in the states such as racism, women’s rights, and a president being shot. But in Vietnam they were going through a civil war, which they had done before, but not to this extent, this time they got the U.S.S.R. involved. It was communist Russia and North Vietnam against South Vietnam. The U.S. started to get