The Vietnam War and the Protest Against It

3544 Words8 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: war protests affected the vietnam war.

Secretary of State John Kerry once said “I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and in the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service.” The Vietnam War was a conflict that lasted from 1956-1975 which the United States participated in along with the South Vietnamese who fought against the Communist North Vietnamese. Many Americans strongly disapproved of the war which caused many protests and riots. The war lasted 25 years killing many people and eventually the North Vietnamese won. The Vietnam War was important to Americans back home because it tested the citizen’s right to free speech, effected future foreign policy, and created many issues for returning veterans.

Every colony had ambitious dreams to become free and independent, Vietnam was no different. Vietnam was a French colony since the 1800’s all the way up to the 1950’s (Pendergast 9). For change there had to be a person to start an uprising. The first man to protest the French government was named Phan Boi Chan who did so in 1908 (Pendergast 10). Chan continued his protests with the hope that the Vietnamese people would soon be liberated. After years of his protests the French government officials within Vietnam decided to put Chan on house arrest in 1925 (Pendergast 11). Chan then remained on house arrest until his death in 1940 (Pendergast 11).

Ho Chi Minh was looking up to his idol Phan Boi Chan throughout his years of protesting and eventually decided that he, Minh, would be the next revolutionist in the wave of Vietnamese nationalism (Pendergast 11). When Minh left his homeland in 1911, he was on a quest to find out what would be the best path to achieve Vietnamese freedom. Minh came home with the notion that the...

... middle of paper ...

...yquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnfkerr160198.html

Kallen, Stuart A. The Home Front: Americans Protest the War. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2001. Print.

"LZ Lambeau: Vastly Different Homecomings Awaited Vietnam Veterans and Today's Returning Veterans." Press Gazette Media. Gannet, 10 May 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. .

Pendergast, Tom. Defining Moments The Vietnam War. Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2007. Print.

Rosebrock, Robert L. "Government's Endless War Against Vietnam Veterans." Veterans Today. N.p., 10 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. .

Sitikoff, Harvard. "The Postwar Impact of Vietnam." Modern American Poetry. University of Illinois, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. .

Show More
Related

  • The U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War Was Justified

    1749 Words  | 4 Pages

    When Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh and his political organization, the Vietminh, seized control of their independence from France United States Politicians saw it as another communist take over. When really Ho was more a nationalist than a communist. All Minh wanted was for the United States to recognize its independence from France and to send aid to help it reach its nationalistic goals. "Before the Cold War Ho and the Vietmin...

    Read More

  • Mark Atwood Lawrence´s The Vietnam War: A Concise International History

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lawrence’s purpose in writing this book was concise and to the point. In recent history, due to the fall of the Soviet bloc, new information has been made available for use in Vietnam. As stated in the introduction, “This book aims to take account of this new scholarship in a brief, accessible narrative of the Vietnam War… It places the war within the long flow of Vietnamese history and then captures the goals and experiences of various governments that became deeply embroiled in the country during the second half of the twentieth century” (Lawrence, 3.) This study is not only about the American government and how they were involved in the Vietnam conflict, but highlights other such countries as France, China, and the Soviet Union. Lawrence goes on to say that one of his major goals in writing this book is to examine the American role in Vietnam within an international context (Lawrence, 4.) Again, this goes to show that the major purpose of Lawrence’s study included not only ...

    Read More

  • Exposing the Truth in Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

    2203 Words  | 5 Pages

    Fussell, Paul. "Vietnam." The Bloody Game: An Anthology of  Modern War. Ed. Paul Fussell. London: Scribners, 1991. 651-6.

    Read More

  • President Nixon and the Vietnam War

    2530 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...of the struggle over how the war would be remembered. Blanketed by the discourse of disability, the struggle over the memory of veterans and the country alike would be waged with such obliquity as to surpass even the most veiled operations of Nixon’s minions. While Nixon’s plumbers were wrenching together the Gainesville case against VVAW in the spring of 1972, mental health and news-media professionals were cobbling together the figure of the mentally incapacitated Vietnam veteran. More than any other, this image is the one that would stick in the minds of the American people. The psychologically damaged veteran raised a question that demanded an answer: what happened to our boys that was so traumatic that they were never the same again? As it came to be told, the story of what happened to them had less to do with the war itself than with the war against the war.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien

    2258 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Overview of the Vietnam War." Digital History. Digital History, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Stevie Wonder V.S Vietnam War

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    Source G: "The Vietnam War and Its Aftermath." American Voices. Glenview: Scott Foresman, 1995. 821-47. Print.

    Read More

  • The Disillusionment of the Vietnam War

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    Brigham, Robert K., and E. Kenneth Hoffman. "Battlefield:Vietnam | History." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 19 Sept. 2011.

    Read More

  • Opposition to the Vietnam War

    2708 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Vietnam War created one of the most dividing periods of American history. Many saw the war as an unnecessary conflict that cost dearly in both money and lives. The United States’ involvement in the war was also considered to be unjustified. Despite the many difficulties faced during the controversial time, many activists raised issues in opposition to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War because of its unjust nature with acts such as the high casualty rates, scorched earth policies, and the lack of an immediate threat.

    Read More

  • The War that Changed America Forever

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Vietnam War has had its effects on America, both good and bad. We can ridicule it, we can deny it, we can say it was for the best, we can say we shouldn't have even gotten involved, but the one thing we can't do is ignore it. Because it's become an unforgettable part of history, and we all need to remember Vietnam.

    Read More

  • Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy and the Vietnam War

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anderson, D. (2002). The Columbia guide to the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Read More

  • Treatment Of Vietnam Veterans In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tim O’Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his short story “The Things They Carried” presents the effects of the war on its young soldiers. The treatment of veterans after their return also affects them. The Vietnam War was different from other wars, because too many in the U.S. the soldiers did not return as heroes but as cruel, wicked, and drug addicted men. The public directs its distaste towards the war at the soldiers, as if they are to blame. The also Veterans had little support from the government who pulled them away from their families to fight through the draft. Some men were not able to receive the help they needed because the symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) did not show until a year

    Read More

  • Analysis of America's Longest War: The United States in Vietnam

    1839 Words  | 4 Pages

    Herring begins his account with a summary of the First Indochina War. He reports that the Vietnamese resisted French imperialism as persistently as they had Chinese. French colonial policies had transformed the Vietnamese economic and social systems, giving rise to an urban middle class, however; the exploitation of the country and its people stimulated more radical revolutionary activity. Herring states that the revolution of 1945 was almost entirely the personal creation of the charismatic leader Ho Chi Minh. Minh is described as a frail and gentle man who radiated warmth and serenity, however; beneath this mild exterior existed a determined revolutionary who was willing to employ the most cold- blooded methods in the cause to which he dedicated his life. With the guidance of Minh, the Vietminh launched as a response to the favorable circumstances of World War II. By the spring of 1945, Minh mobilized a base of great support. When Japan surrendered in 1945, the Vietminh filled the vacuum. France and the Vietminh attempted to negotiate an agreement, but their goals were irreconcilable.

    Read More

  • Vietnam Age Of Anxiety Analysis

    1263 Words  | 3 Pages

    Senator John F. Kerry once said, "I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service." The war in Vietnam created an immense amount of anxiety and tension for American soldiers and American citizens. People often felt obligated to fight for what they believed in on many various platforms. This perfectly reflects the literary age of the time, the Age of Anxiety. The tensions of the Age of Anxiety can best be seen through the passionate anti-war protests, speeches, and ballads by the dedicated activists of this time.

    Read More

  • Vietnam War Impact On America

    343 Words  | 1 Pages

    The culture or counterculture of America was significantly impacted by the Vietnam War, and these impacts can still be felt today. As McCoy describes, “The Anti-Vietnam War Movement was on to something-an ideology that war was not the answer, and that, given a chance peace could work-and the movement brought the United States to a previously unseen cultural crossroads” (McCoy 100). During the Vietnam War, the citizens of America were predominately divided in two groups. The “doves” who were against the war in Vietnam, and the “hawks” who supported the war in Vietnam. These separate views in America would cause cultural chaos, and protest became a normal occurrence in the United States and around the world. When America first became involved in Vietnam the majority of Americans believed the United States was stopping the spread of communism and supported the government, but that all change in 1965 with the commitment of combat troops to Vietnam. As a result of the troop movements, the first major protest against the war in Vietnam took place, and for the years to come, protest and demonstrations would become more abundant until the war was over.

    Read More

  • John Lennon's Song Imagine

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    Willbanks, James H. "The Real History of the Vietnam War." ARMCHAIR GENERAL Nov. 2007: 54-67. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

More about The Vietnam War and the Protest Against It

Open Document