The Vietnam War A quarter of a century after the Fall of Saigon, Vietnam continues to exercise a powerful hold of the American psyche. No deployment of American troops abroad is considered without the infusion of the Vietnam question. No formulation of strategic policy can be completed without weighing the possibility of Vietnamization. Even the politics of a person cannot be discussed without taking into account his/her opinion on the Vietnam War. This obsession with Vietnam is perfectly national when viewed from a far. It is the only war that the United States has ever lost. It defined an era of American history that most rank with the depression as one of this nation’s most traumatic events.(Warren, 1990) The Vietnam War, to me, is one of the most interesting wars in American history. It was once said, “it is like a shroud of a mystery wrapped inside an enigma.”(unknown) Vietnam, Red China, and the spread of communism brought fear into the homes of many Americans, due to Red China and Russia tightening their strong hold on Indochina. The frequent media coverage on the poor South Vietnamese people suffering under communist rule aroused both fear and anger in America
The Vietnam War, the nation's longest, cost fifty-eight thousand American lives. Only the Civil War and the two world wars were deadlier for Americans. During the decade of direct U.S. military participation in Vietnam beginning in 1964, the U.S Treasury spent over $140 billion on the war, enough money to fund urban renewal projects in every major American city. Despite these enormous costs and their accompanying public and private trauma for the American people, the United States failed, for the first time in its history, to achieve its stated war aims. The goal was to preserve a separate, independent, noncommunist government in South Vietnam, but after April 1975, the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) ruled the entire nation. The initial reasons for U.S. involvement in Vietnam seemed logical and compelling to American leaders. Following its success in World War II, the United States faced the future with a sense of moral rectitude and material confidence. From Washington's perspective, the principal threat to U.S. security and world peace was monolithic, dictatorial communism emanating from he Soviet Union.
The Vietnam War is just another event or period of time in American history, or so some think. Wars affect both the people on the battlefield and the society at home. This era of the Vietnam war was no different. The war in Vietnam began in 1957 and ended in 1975. The communist government of the North wished the United States to stop their support of the South Vietnam efforts against communism. The US didn’t actually start fighting in the war until troops first entered the small country in March of 1965. The United States army and the South Vietnamese army worked together to try and fight off the North were fighting to unify Vietnam as one communist country. Although America withdrew troops in 1973 the South still fought for their freedom and their right to a democratic government. Despite the strong efforts of the both the rebel Viet Cong. in the South and the American soldiers a surrender was inevitable, and it occurred April 30, 1975. All of the history behind the war and the political reasons to back up the cause, caused America to be a changed nation, forever. Music, entertainment, teenagers, books.
The Vietnam War 1965-1975 The Vietnam War has sparked controversy for over five decades. I never knew enough about the war to have an opinion on it, but after I finished my research I came to the conclusion that much of this war was senseless and irresponsible. In the beginning the United States feared that Communism from foreign entities would trickle in the U.S. if given the chance. So when Viet Minh began a series of attacks on the French colonials in Vietnam, President Harry Truman authorized 15 million dollars in military aid to the French. Between 1965 and 1975, the American government dug themselves deeper and deeper into the war. America’s stand point focused on winning the war and proving that we went into this fight for a just cause rather than keeping out the Communists. With the growing popularity of the media and yellow journalism, the American people had a front row seat of what was occurring in the country that few knew much about. Many Americans initially were scared of the “Domino Effect” of communism and in turn supported the war, but after the secrets, the thousands of soldiers and innocent people being killed their eyes were opened to the harsh realities that war brought forward.
