How Did The Vietnam War Changed America?

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“Vietnam was what we had instead of happy childhoods.” - Michael Herr, 1977. The Vietnam War not only changed Vietnam but the United States as well. The war was between North and South Vietnam, and the United States helping the South. North and South Vietnam wanted to unify, but both sides had different forms of government. The event was a conflict between the Americans because they did not want Vietnam to become a communist country. America decided to help South Vietnam, angering the North, thus creating a war between the two sides. The war devastated the United States because it was the first war that the American citizens, were all a part of. The Vietnam War grew out of proportion in a matter of years and after fighting for so long, …show more content…

The war began anyway and it brought us into a hectic eight years. We lost as many men as we ate and our economy took a huge blow. The United States was sending troops overseas, taking young men with them, spending money to help warfare, which did not help the people back in the United States (Bill Zimmerman). Most American citizens were not fond of the war. They were getting tired of the death toll rising alarmingly higher every day. College kids were afraid of the draft as well (The Antiwar Movement). The war was aiming for younger adults to go fight Vietnam’s war. “We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” - Lyndon B. Johnson, speech at Akron University, October 21, 1964. The mothers of these soldiers were growing weary waiting for their children to come home, so, the Antiwar Movement was …show more content…

Their population went down by the thousands and the citizens will never act the same. Vietnam turned into a Communist country, despite what the United States was fighting for. South Vietnamese people were left unsure of what to do with their lives. Many citizens fled the country to go overseas to the United States. The people who stayed back in Vietnam were left with no freedom. The Communist government took over and the citizens were not able to live their life with the freedom that they once

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