The Vietnam Anti-War Movement
The sources A to G cover the reasons for the anti war movement
generally quite well. They mention valid points about the reasons for
the anti- war movement;
* Recruitment problems (covered in source A)
* Inexperienced soldiers (covered in source A)
* Photographic Evidence and Media Coverage (Source B)
* Difficulties of unfamiliar terrain (Source D)
* Disapproval of the costs of the war (Source E)
* Moral issues (Source D)
Some sources however are not primary, for example source A, which is
from the book "Four Years in My Lai" which was only published in 1992.
This makes the source less reliable, although from ones own knowledge
is actually correct. The nationality of the authors must also be
considered to rule out the possibility of being biased. Source E for
example is by a British magazine and so could be biased.
Source A tells us about the conscription problems in the Vietnamese
War. "Soldiers were most likely to die in the first 6 months" This
source is explaining that because of the one year duty as a soldier,
by the time soldiers had learnt important skills, they were relived of
duty. This lead to many young soldiers dying, as they had not learnt
properly how to survive from experience. This in turn obviously lead
to the public outrage that their sons, fathers, lovers and husbands
were being killed.
Source B is extremely useful in two ways. Firstly, it is a perfect
piece of primary evidence; it was taken at the time and can be proved
that it was just by looking at it. Secondly it helps to explain why
there were anti war movements, it was showing the public a young child
being burnt by napalm by U.S soldiers. This was the first time the
public had seen for themselves the effects of their nations army, and
the morality of its actions started to be questioned.
Source C, although written by an eyewitness was only published in
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
Boyd talks about how everyone was very eager to volunteer to join the military to have fun and to make some money and it seemed to be very easy because the war was expected to be very short. Things started to look a bit different even when, the volunteers got to the first destination to be sworn into duty. They started to wonder why they were being sworn in to service for 3 years when they all thought the war was going to be very short. Boyd and the rest of them figured that the government must know something more than everyone else knows. Even during the beginning of the service the conditions for the service did not look as good as they had expected, and the officer had seen that the volunteers started having second guesses about doing it so they put them into more comfortable quarters to keep them from going home. During the war most of the time the conditions were horrible. There were many problems with the soldiers during the war. Many died from being wounded, being shot, and the worst of all was the disease. The conditions were so horrible that many men couldn't get enough sleep and even when they did get sleep they were sleeping in the rain or in the snow.
In Document A, the table shows that in February there were 8000 total men and about half of those soldiers died. This evidence proves to show the numbers behind all the deaths we have had and how they got so sick to the point of death. If I had chosen to stay for 1 month longer until my enlistment is up, I would’ve been exposing myself to all the illnesses longer than I already have. The risk of staying is too great to even think about. The next reason for quitting is the harsh conditions we have had to endure.
.... I picked the song “War” by Edwin Starr to talk about the Vietnam War. This song got right to the point and stated that war was good for nothing, which was how most of the nation felt about the Vietnam War. All three of these songs were dependable because they were written during the 1960s-1970s era and captured what was happening during that time. For my other sources, I based them upon which sources I believed were the most reliable. That was my main point when finding my resources. I had to do a lot of research to make sure that I was choosing sources that had reliable and correct facts about this time period. These sources also were not bias and explained for the most part, both sides of the protests. I did not want sources that favored one side opposed to the other because and were personal opinions because that would not be reliable compared to actual facts.
Firstly, This war took place from 1962 and finished in 1975 (Australian War Memorial, n.d) and saw a “welcome home” for the soldiers like never before. The Prime Minister at the time was Robert Menzies who believed that we should send troops to Vietnam to help America stop the ‘domino theory’, a theory in which America believe that when one country becomes a communist, surrounding countries will become communist as well, causing the world to become communist and America would no longer be able to trade any material or weapons to other countries to make money, forcing America to become a communist country as well. However a differing view of the Opposition Leader, Arthur Calwell, was equally passionate against sending troops to Vietnam to fight. In Arthur Calwel’s speech, Calwel stated in the Governments’s announcement “We do not think it will help the fight against Communism” (House of Representatives, 1965). The Public opinion was divided over this war and had never been displayed as overtly as it was during ...
The Vietnam War was the longest war in America's history of involvement. Twenty years of hell, land mines, cross-fire, and death. Vietnam was divided by the Geneva Accord. The north being communist run by Ho Chi Minh. The south being anti-Communist run by Ngo Dinh Diem. Before Vietnam was separated, it was run by France. France had ruled most of Indochina since the late 1800s. The Vietnamese were unhappy with the way the French were controlling, therefore, many of them took refuge in China. When in China, they began to follow the lead of Ho Chi Minh, who wanted to model the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence as that of the U.S. version. In the 1940s, Japan had taken over Vietnam which upset Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionaries when they had returned a year later.
It has been known that the Vietnam War affected many American soldiers who were involved in the war physically and psychologically. The Vietnam War was one of the most memorable wars in history. Many Americans’ lives lost for no objective at all. Chapter 10 informed us about how the Vietnam War started and what really happened during that time. It also gave us background information about Vietnam Veterans and nurses who were involved in the war and what they went through during the war. I had the opportunity to interview a Vietnam Veteran also.
It is understandable that some Americans strongly opposed the United States getting involved in the Vietnam War. It had not been a long time since the end of World War II and simply put, most Americans were tired of fighting. Mark Atwood Lawrence is one of the people who opposed our involvement in the Vietnam War. In his essay, “Vietnam: A Mistake of Western Alliance”, Lawrence argues that the Vietnam War was unnecessary and that it went against our democratic policies, but that there were a lot of things that influenced our involvement.
There were many events that lead up the Vietnam War, it started in 1945 with the hostilities between the French and Vietminh. “Geopolitical Strategy, economics, domestic US politics, and cultural arrogance shaped the growing American involvement in Vietnam” (Anderson 1). As a matter of fact, the Vietnam War was several wars, but it was not until 1962 that America had their first combat mission, however, Americans were killed during ambushes by the Vietnamese before the first combat mission. There is much controversy over the reasons for the Vietnam War, supported by the several different books and articles written about the war. “The most famous atrocity occurred in a tiny hamlet called My Lai in March 1968” (Detzer 127). History shows that the reaction of many Americans to the attack by US soldiers on the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War was opposition, and the actions of the US soldiers during the My Lai Massacre will be forever remembered as a significant part of the Vietnam War and American History.
The Vietnam War To many, the 1960's could definitely be considered one of the most controversial decades of this century. It was a time in which many mistakes were made evolving around the Vietnam War which resulted in the immense suffering of the two nations. The war had many casualties; along with the death of soldiers and civilians, LBJ's presidency and the 'Great Society' also were killed by the war. The US's fear of the domino theory led them in an attempt to control the spread of communism in North Vietnam, whose government was led by Ho Chi Minh. This attempt failed in many ways because of an inexperienced president and his unarticulated ideals of how to control a war and satisfy his country at the same time.
James A. Baldwin once said, “The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose” (BrainyQuote.com). In the 1960s, “the man” was youth across the country. The Vietnam war was in full force, and students across the country were in an outrage. Society needed an excuse to rebel against the boring and safe way of life they were used to; Vietnam gave them the excuse they needed. Teenagers from different universities came together and formed various organizations that protested the Vietnam war for many reasons. These reasons included protesting weapons and different tactics used in the war, and the reason the U.S. entered the war in the first place. These get-togethers had such a monumental impact on their way of life that it was famously named the Anti-War Movement. When the Vietnam War ended, The United States did not have a real concrete reason why; there were a bunch of theories about why the war ended. Through negative media attention and rebellious youth culture, the Anti-War Movement made a monumental impact in the ending of the Vietnam War.
Document C from Mini-Q packet on "How did the Treaty of Versailles help cause World War II"
Self-Interest and Civilians' Attitudes Toward the Vietnam WarRichard R. Lau, Thad A. Brown and David O. SearsThe Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Winter, 1978), pp. 464-483
f you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind. David Giffy (Vietnam veteran)
The Vietnam War took action after the First Indochina War, in fact the Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War. This war included the communist North Vietnam and its allies of the Viet Cong, the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies going against South Vietnam and its allies, the Unites States, Philippines and other anti-communist allies. It was a very long and conflicting war that actually started in 1954 and ended in 1975. The war began after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist party in North Vietnam. More than three million people were killed during the war, this included approximately 58,000 Americans and more than half of the killed were actually Vietnamese civilians. The Vietnam War ended by the communist forces giving up control of Saigon and the next year the country was then unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Many people, including both men and women were directly and indirectly involved within the war itself. Women worked many different roles in the Vietnam War, and they are most definitely not credited enough for all that they actually did.