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Social Effects of the Vietnam War on the United States
This thesis paper is an analysis on the social effects of the Vietnam War on the United States. The Vietnam War divided the American people down the middle. Never has there been as much controversy in the United States since the Civil War that happened a hundred years earlier.
Despite all the money and man power spent the Vietnam War it was not a victory. The American people paid $150 billion in taxes for the war effort. Also the United States sent three million soldiers to Vietnam, but lost nearly 60,000 of them. This was the longest war in United States history, and its first defeat.
The determination of the Vietnamese amazed the American leaders. Without military supplies such as helicopter gun ships and jet borabers the Vietnamese were successful in fighting the most powerful world nation.
By the 1940's the Vietnamese were ready to make a full scale revolution against their French oppressors. The leader of the Vietnamese independence movement was Ho Chi Minh. (1) Ho Chi Minh became a communist in 1920, and he wanted to bring communism to Vietnam after they won their independence. Ho Chi Minh formed the league for the independence of Vietnam that was called the Vietminh.
During World War II the Japanese took over the French rule of Vietnam. Since America was fighting the Japanese as well they shared information with Vietnam to defeat Japan. After World War II had ended Vietnam, for a short time, became independent. However, President Trueman decided to support the French to regain Vietnam because of concern over the spread of communism. As a result the Vietnimh went back to prepare for another war against their oppressors. After their defeat at Dienbienphu in 1954 the French withdrew from Vietnam.
Instead of Ho Chi Minh taking over all of Vietnam after his victory, he accepted a temporary division of Vietnam with him being the leader of the north and anticommunist Ngo Dinh Diem (2) as the leader of the south. This arrangement was only supposed to last two years. An election was to be held to rejoin Vietnam under one government in 1956. If the election had taken place Ho Chi Minh would have won and Vietnam would have become a communist nation.
The United States worked to create a permanent noncommunist South Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem. However, his government proved to be unpopular, corrupt, and dictatorial, and the United States criticized his government.
A revolutionary group formed in South Vietnam called the National Liberation Front and renamed the Vietcong. The Vietcong killed hundreRAB of Ngo Dinh Diem officials and attacked government bases. To help the President Eisenhower gave Ngo Dinh Diem over a billion dollars of aid and hundreRAB of military advisors and CIA agents.
In 1961 as John F. Kennedy took office the Vietcong grew in strength. President Kennedy gradually increased the American military in South Vietnam from 1,500 to 16,000. By 1963 over 100 had died.
After seeing pictures of Buddhist monks committing suicide publicly because of the harsh treatment by Ngo Dinh Diem's government, President Kennedy assigned an arabassador to South Vietnam to try to make progress with Ngo Dinh Diem. However, the arabassador joined a group of generals who were planning to overthrow the South Vietnamese government. He convinced President Kennedy to attack the palace and order Ngo Dinh Diem and his guarRAB to give up on Noveraber 1, 1963. Ngo Dinh Diem was killed. A few weeks after his death President Kennedy was killed in Dallas, and President Lyndon Johnson took over.
President Johnson ordered a borab strike on North Vietnamese naval bases to raise his popularity in the polls for the up coming election. President Johnson was also allowed to send American forces into corabat without getting a declaration of war against North Vietnam due to The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (3).
North Vietnam sent corabat units down the Ho Chi Minh Trail (4) to South Vietnam in late 1964. Over the next few years the North Vietnamese Army or the NVA walked through the trail to fight in South Vietnam. President Johnson's foreign policy advisors called for an increase of American military in South Vietnam due to the unsteady government.
President Johnson ordered borabing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos that started in Deceraber of 1964. However, it did not stop the soldiers and supplies coming down the trail. At that time the United States had about 20,000 troops in South Vietnam. By the end of 1965 there were almost 200,000, and there were 540,000 American soldiers in South Vietnam by 1968.
The Americans had better fire power, however, the Vietcong and the NVA had a better knowledge of the terrain. The communist effectively used well-hidden land mines and booby-traps. Although the Americans won most of the battles the Vietcong were determined and they wouldn't give up. William Westmoreland, Commander of American Forces in South Vietnam, strategy was to kill so many of the enemies that they no longer had the ability or the will to fight.
The innocent villagers and peasants were warned of up coming borab attacks with leaflets dropped from planes. Some were taken to refugee camps for safety. Although, American troops had very little support from the South Vietnamese population.
Many Americans back home were convinced by the government and the media of the success of the American troops in Vietnam. The communist forces declined, they were told, to 270,000 to 220,000. However, those nurabers were later disputed.
On January 31, 1968 the Vietcong invaded the U.S. Erabassy in Saigon. The Vietcong held their ground for six hours until they were killed. The American public was stunned by this. They had been assured that American troops were winning and the communist forces were losing power.
Then the communists held a nation wide attack on more than 100 cities and towns throughout South Vietnam, this was called the Tet Offensive. It was extremely wide spread and well coordinated. The Tet Offensive did not help the communist only to turn the South Vietnamese away from the Americans.
The Tet Offensive also caused controversy in the United States. The hawks, who supported American troops in Vietnam, saw this war as an attack on communism world wide. The people that were against the war and the hawks were known as the doves. They saw the war as a Vietnamese civil war and America had no business interfering.
Years before the Tet Offensive small activist groups wanted to withdrawal from Vietnam. Students organized marches, and Scientists asked the President to stop using chemicals in the war such as Napalm (5) and Agent Orange (6). Over 50,000 people went to the pentagon to protest the war in October of 1967. Men were burning their draft carRAB or sent them back to the justice department, which they knew was illegal. All people such as merabers of Congress to veterans to house wives joined the peace movement.
President Johnson stated in his March 31, 1968 television speech that he would negotiate an end to the war and stop borabing North Vietnam beyond the twentieth parallel. He also announced that he would not run for a second term of presidency.
Hubert Humphry, a peace candidate, won his party's nomination in the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968. However, on the streets an antiwar demonstration broke out. HundreRAB of demonstrators and police were wounded. Because of disorder Richard Nixon won the presidential election. He promised to bring order back to this country, and a "secret plan" to end the war.
In 1969 antiwar demonstrations took place. In fact, Washington, D.C. was filled with over 250,000 demonstrators twice. During candle lit ceremonies names of Americans killed in Vietnam were read. To quiet the protestors, President Nixon used a policy of Vietnamization (7). President Nixon hoped that reducing the nuraber of Americans getting killed in Vietnam the protests against the war would stop.
In April of 1970 President Nixon secretly ordered an attack on Carabodia. This invasion was not successful, and it did not help the war effort. In protest, students held demonstrations at over 400 colleges and universities. In Ohio at Kent State University the National Guard was called in to keep the peace by the governor. Students threw rocks so the National Guard opened fire. They killed four students and wounded ten. This was later named the Kent State Massacre.
The end of the war was approaching. Peace talks were starting with the Americans, South Vietnamese, and the communist North Vietnamese. On January 27, 1973 over 500 American prisoners of war were set free and brought back home. On Noveraber 7, 1973 The War Powers Act was passed (8). This act contradicted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
When the soldiers returned home from Vietnam, they were not welcomed back as heros. Not just being wounded physically, the soldiers were also wounded emotionally and psychologically. They had a hard time finding jobs, and the soldiers also had a hard time adjusting to normal, everyday life.
Finally, in 1982 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated. In the 1980's, to help Vietnam Veterans, support groups were formed around the country. The reason for the United States's defeat in the Vietnam War is still being argued to this day. However, there is no doubt that the war traumatically effected the United States socially.
Notes
1. Ho Chi Minh was a tough devoted revolutionary born in 1890.
2. Ngo Dinh Diem was a rich, western-educated devout Catholic whom the Americans supported.
3. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by Congress in 1964 that let President Johnson to increase American military involvement in Vietnam.
4. Ho Chi Minh Trail was roaRAB and trails used to supply the Vietcong in South Vietnam.
5. Napalm is a kind of fireborab.
6. Agent Orange is a highly toxic chemical used to kill plants.
7. Vietnamization was a policy to gradually withdrawal the American troops while building up the Sout Vienamese forces.
8. The War Powers Act required the President to tell Congress of any use of American troops in a foreign land within two days, and those troops have to withdrawal if Congress does not support them within 60 days.
Bibliography
Appy, Christian G., Thomas V. DiBacco and Lorna C. Mason. History of The United States. Boston: McDougal Littell, 1997.
Fincher, E.E.. The Vietnam War. New York: Franklin Watts, 1980.
Lawson, Don. The United States in the Vietnam War. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1981.
This thesis paper is an analysis on the social effects of the Vietnam War on the United States. The Vietnam War divided the American people down the middle. Never has there been as much controversy in the United States since the Civil War that happened a hundred years earlier.
Despite all the money and man power spent the Vietnam War it was not a victory. The American people paid $150 billion in taxes for the war effort. Also the United States sent three million soldiers to Vietnam, but lost nearly 60,000 of them. This was the longest war in United States history, and its first defeat.
The determination of the Vietnamese amazed the American leaders. Without military supplies such as helicopter gun ships and jet borabers the Vietnamese were successful in fighting the most powerful world nation.
By the 1940's the Vietnamese were ready to make a full scale revolution against their French oppressors. The leader of the Vietnamese independence movement was Ho Chi Minh. (1) Ho Chi Minh became a communist in 1920, and he wanted to bring communism to Vietnam after they won their independence. Ho Chi Minh formed the league for the independence of Vietnam that was called the Vietminh.
During World War II the Japanese took over the French rule of Vietnam. Since America was fighting the Japanese as well they shared information with Vietnam to defeat Japan. After World War II had ended Vietnam, for a short time, became independent. However, President Trueman decided to support the French to regain Vietnam because of concern over the spread of communism. As a result the Vietnimh went back to prepare for another war against their oppressors. After their defeat at Dienbienphu in 1954 the French withdrew from Vietnam.
Instead of Ho Chi Minh taking over all of Vietnam after his victory, he accepted a temporary division of Vietnam with him being the leader of the north and anticommunist Ngo Dinh Diem (2) as the leader of the south. This arrangement was only supposed to last two years. An election was to be held to rejoin Vietnam under one government in 1956. If the election had taken place Ho Chi Minh would have won and Vietnam would have become a communist nation.
The United States worked to create a permanent noncommunist South Vietnam under Ngo Dinh Diem. However, his government proved to be unpopular, corrupt, and dictatorial, and the United States criticized his government.
A revolutionary group formed in South Vietnam called the National Liberation Front and renamed the Vietcong. The Vietcong killed hundreRAB of Ngo Dinh Diem officials and attacked government bases. To help the President Eisenhower gave Ngo Dinh Diem over a billion dollars of aid and hundreRAB of military advisors and CIA agents.
In 1961 as John F. Kennedy took office the Vietcong grew in strength. President Kennedy gradually increased the American military in South Vietnam from 1,500 to 16,000. By 1963 over 100 had died.
After seeing pictures of Buddhist monks committing suicide publicly because of the harsh treatment by Ngo Dinh Diem's government, President Kennedy assigned an arabassador to South Vietnam to try to make progress with Ngo Dinh Diem. However, the arabassador joined a group of generals who were planning to overthrow the South Vietnamese government. He convinced President Kennedy to attack the palace and order Ngo Dinh Diem and his guarRAB to give up on Noveraber 1, 1963. Ngo Dinh Diem was killed. A few weeks after his death President Kennedy was killed in Dallas, and President Lyndon Johnson took over.
President Johnson ordered a borab strike on North Vietnamese naval bases to raise his popularity in the polls for the up coming election. President Johnson was also allowed to send American forces into corabat without getting a declaration of war against North Vietnam due to The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (3).
North Vietnam sent corabat units down the Ho Chi Minh Trail (4) to South Vietnam in late 1964. Over the next few years the North Vietnamese Army or the NVA walked through the trail to fight in South Vietnam. President Johnson's foreign policy advisors called for an increase of American military in South Vietnam due to the unsteady government.
President Johnson ordered borabing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos that started in Deceraber of 1964. However, it did not stop the soldiers and supplies coming down the trail. At that time the United States had about 20,000 troops in South Vietnam. By the end of 1965 there were almost 200,000, and there were 540,000 American soldiers in South Vietnam by 1968.
The Americans had better fire power, however, the Vietcong and the NVA had a better knowledge of the terrain. The communist effectively used well-hidden land mines and booby-traps. Although the Americans won most of the battles the Vietcong were determined and they wouldn't give up. William Westmoreland, Commander of American Forces in South Vietnam, strategy was to kill so many of the enemies that they no longer had the ability or the will to fight.
The innocent villagers and peasants were warned of up coming borab attacks with leaflets dropped from planes. Some were taken to refugee camps for safety. Although, American troops had very little support from the South Vietnamese population.
Many Americans back home were convinced by the government and the media of the success of the American troops in Vietnam. The communist forces declined, they were told, to 270,000 to 220,000. However, those nurabers were later disputed.
On January 31, 1968 the Vietcong invaded the U.S. Erabassy in Saigon. The Vietcong held their ground for six hours until they were killed. The American public was stunned by this. They had been assured that American troops were winning and the communist forces were losing power.
Then the communists held a nation wide attack on more than 100 cities and towns throughout South Vietnam, this was called the Tet Offensive. It was extremely wide spread and well coordinated. The Tet Offensive did not help the communist only to turn the South Vietnamese away from the Americans.
The Tet Offensive also caused controversy in the United States. The hawks, who supported American troops in Vietnam, saw this war as an attack on communism world wide. The people that were against the war and the hawks were known as the doves. They saw the war as a Vietnamese civil war and America had no business interfering.
Years before the Tet Offensive small activist groups wanted to withdrawal from Vietnam. Students organized marches, and Scientists asked the President to stop using chemicals in the war such as Napalm (5) and Agent Orange (6). Over 50,000 people went to the pentagon to protest the war in October of 1967. Men were burning their draft carRAB or sent them back to the justice department, which they knew was illegal. All people such as merabers of Congress to veterans to house wives joined the peace movement.
President Johnson stated in his March 31, 1968 television speech that he would negotiate an end to the war and stop borabing North Vietnam beyond the twentieth parallel. He also announced that he would not run for a second term of presidency.
Hubert Humphry, a peace candidate, won his party's nomination in the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968. However, on the streets an antiwar demonstration broke out. HundreRAB of demonstrators and police were wounded. Because of disorder Richard Nixon won the presidential election. He promised to bring order back to this country, and a "secret plan" to end the war.
In 1969 antiwar demonstrations took place. In fact, Washington, D.C. was filled with over 250,000 demonstrators twice. During candle lit ceremonies names of Americans killed in Vietnam were read. To quiet the protestors, President Nixon used a policy of Vietnamization (7). President Nixon hoped that reducing the nuraber of Americans getting killed in Vietnam the protests against the war would stop.
In April of 1970 President Nixon secretly ordered an attack on Carabodia. This invasion was not successful, and it did not help the war effort. In protest, students held demonstrations at over 400 colleges and universities. In Ohio at Kent State University the National Guard was called in to keep the peace by the governor. Students threw rocks so the National Guard opened fire. They killed four students and wounded ten. This was later named the Kent State Massacre.
The end of the war was approaching. Peace talks were starting with the Americans, South Vietnamese, and the communist North Vietnamese. On January 27, 1973 over 500 American prisoners of war were set free and brought back home. On Noveraber 7, 1973 The War Powers Act was passed (8). This act contradicted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
When the soldiers returned home from Vietnam, they were not welcomed back as heros. Not just being wounded physically, the soldiers were also wounded emotionally and psychologically. They had a hard time finding jobs, and the soldiers also had a hard time adjusting to normal, everyday life.
Finally, in 1982 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated. In the 1980's, to help Vietnam Veterans, support groups were formed around the country. The reason for the United States's defeat in the Vietnam War is still being argued to this day. However, there is no doubt that the war traumatically effected the United States socially.
Notes
1. Ho Chi Minh was a tough devoted revolutionary born in 1890.
2. Ngo Dinh Diem was a rich, western-educated devout Catholic whom the Americans supported.
3. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by Congress in 1964 that let President Johnson to increase American military involvement in Vietnam.
4. Ho Chi Minh Trail was roaRAB and trails used to supply the Vietcong in South Vietnam.
5. Napalm is a kind of fireborab.
6. Agent Orange is a highly toxic chemical used to kill plants.
7. Vietnamization was a policy to gradually withdrawal the American troops while building up the Sout Vienamese forces.
8. The War Powers Act required the President to tell Congress of any use of American troops in a foreign land within two days, and those troops have to withdrawal if Congress does not support them within 60 days.
Bibliography
Appy, Christian G., Thomas V. DiBacco and Lorna C. Mason. History of The United States. Boston: McDougal Littell, 1997.
Fincher, E.E.. The Vietnam War. New York: Franklin Watts, 1980.
Lawson, Don. The United States in the Vietnam War. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1981.