There are many theories of cause and effect, fate, reality, and karma. Some believe everything passes as it is meant to be, while others believe that there is no fate, only individual choices. Regardless, massive, revolutionary events occur, and these events carry change. Some change is greater than others, or impacts certain groups more than others. Certain eras have highlighted moments that come to be historically considered turning points, and generations point to these moments to explain similarities in their character. In the sixties and seventies, the first U.S president was nearly impeached, and instead resigned, the US closed trade with a communist nation and opened up to another, and at least four famous leaders were assassinated. …show more content…
From Eisenhower, to Kennedy, to Johnson, consecutive American presidents sent extensive monetary and military funds to their “anti-domino effect” war efforts. Much of this was done without the absolute consent of the people. Numbers were smudged, secrets were kept, and the trust of the general public was shaken. With the passing of the Tonkin Resolution, a statute that gave congressional powers to the president and extended war declaring abilities, things changed further. Ultimately it came out that Johnson acted quickly, without substantial evidence, as he blamed the North Vietnamese for a false attack. Regardless, due to his actions, laws were passed for the first time that let the declaration of war slide into a grey zone. In addition, the United States faced serious lasting economic issues as a result of the unchecked funds being sent to South Vietnam. Though not discounting these issues, possibly the most serious negative and lasting results of the Vietnam took a social and cultural …show more content…
Many Americans felt that the US should not be involved in foreign affairs to the degree it became entangled, and meanwhile, within the war, nearly half of all troops sent out became casualties, and an extensive number of US citizens were detained as prisoners. This served only to magnify the pain and confusion felt at home, where grieving families felt utterly helpless and betrayed. For the first time, the public received real footage of the war, and could view the horrors of the violence that occurred for themselves as well. The use of Agent Orange and other chemicals shocked and disgusted those that witnessed it. In addition, for the first time in US history, daft dodgers came to be publically communicative of their actions and even celebrated. Massive protests were staged to fight against the corrupt and inconceivable actions of the government. Thousands marched on Washington and in tens of other locations across the country. In what became a momentous movement, student voices were raised to an unforeseen platform as it become increasingly acceptable to express dissent and uncertainty, if not outright condemnation, of the policies and actions of the government. The Vietnam War and the succeeding anti-war movement irreversibly changed the relationship between the people and their government, and therefore,
In August of 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the closest thing there was to declaring war on Vietnam. A war that resulted in millions of people dying, and the loss of liberties for a large number of people. The Resolution was passed because the government (and the American people) believed that the Vietnamese had fired torpedoes at a US destroyer on routine patrol in the Tonkin Gulf on August 2, 1964. It was also reported that a second deliberate attack happened against a pair of ships two days later on August 4, 1964. Based on this information, the President in a news conference announced to the U.S. that he was ordering air strikes against North Vietnam in retaliation for the attacks on US ships. But information now leads us to believe that President Johnson had ordered bombers to strike for an attack that never happened. It has even been reported that before the air strikes even began there was reason to believe that the attack on August 4th never happened. There are transmission reports from the commander in the Tonkin Gulf, Captain John J. Herrick stating that there was an overeager sonarman who "was hearing ship's own propeller beat" and freaky weather conditions. Also, Navy pilot, James Stockdale, who was flying in the area that night, stated that "our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets there were no boats there. There was nothing there but black water and American fire power."
The Vietnam War was the most publicized war during its era; moreover this was the most unpopular war to hit the United States. All over the country riots began to raise, anti-war movement spread all over the states begging to stop the war and chaos overseas. This truly was a failure in the political side of things. For the public, all they saw was a failed attempt in a far away country. Events such as the Tet Offensive where the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong established an all out attack on key locations around Vietnam, and although the Viet Cong was virtually wiped out, this still had a large affect psychologically on the troops as well as the populist back in the United States. Another atrocity that occurred during this war was the My Lai Massacre. This was the mass murder on unarmed civilians in South Vietnam during March 16,1968. Around November 1969, the world saw this and was outraged with the killings of innocent civilians prompting and giving the public more reasons to stop the war. Although the war was very unpopular, men and women were still fighting and dying for America. Heroes such as Captain John W, Ripley of Dong Ha, Medal of Honor recipients, and overall troops that gave the ultimate sacrifice were forgotten for a brief period. As unpopular as the war was, the American people should still know the stories and good that some of these troops had done for the United States.
There was a growing feeling that the government's Vietnam policy was not working and that many social injustices went unaddressed. (Chicago Riots Mar the Democratic National
One of the most violent protests of the Vietnam War took place in May of 1970 at Kent State University in Ohio. Protests were common across America during the war but this was by far the most violent. On May 4, l970 members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University protesters, killing four and wounding nine of the Kent State students. The event triggered a nationwide student strike that caused many colleges and universities to shut down . This deeply divided the country politically and made ordinary citizens take notice of the protests that were taking place across the nation’s college campuses.
Paul Potter, president of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), held his first anti-war rally that attracted 25,000 people. The movement occurred between 1960 and 1970. Paul Potter’s speech, “The Incredible War”, was established in hopes of ending the war by creating a social movement. The only way for people to end the war is by challenging the system, creating posters, and not by having a couple marches because that wasn’t going to benefit them. “This war was mainly fought mainly by Vietnamese Communists, who were strong in the north of Vietnam.” (Britannica) The goal of the movement was to end the Vietnam War because it was taking away the American’s freedom and destroying their peace in the world. The Americans and South Vietnam were mostly involved in the movement. The movement started because Vietnam wanted to become a communist government and until then, corruption occurred.
Engaging in the war in Vietnam brought a whole different set of "American Views" to the topic of war. This time the country did not support the war like we've seen in the past. Mostly by young people, the war effort was criticized and Americans staged massive protests. The Vietnam War's controversy spurred a great many sources of protest, against our government's use of power, how far we could stretch the rights of free expression, and primarily against the violence of the war itself.
President Dwight Eisenhower conditionally pledged to support South Vietnam’s new nation in 1955. In the time period between 1955-1961 the United States pumped seven billion dollars in aid so that Vietnam would not “go over quickly” like a “row of dominoes” (McNamara 31). In the next 6 years Vietnam would cost America billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and the disaffection of much of the United States public. Yet in the end, South Vietnam would fall to the North less than 2 years after the United States military involvement ceased.
On August 2, 1964 an incident happened between the USS Maddox and a North Vietnamese torpedo ships. While the Maddox was doing a casual sweep through of the Tonkin Gulf, the North Vietnamese ships began to follow. Captain Herrick ordered his men to shoot while he radioed an aircraft carrier for assistance. After feeling threated, the North Vietnamese ships each fired one torpedo. Two missed and the third failed to launch. The Maddox was barely touched, as for the Vietnamese ships, two were in bad shape and the other had sunk. Meanwhile, over in Washington D.C., President Lyndon B. Johnson was frantic about the situation he had been informed of. At first, President Johnson had no desire to hold any reprisal against North Vietnam. He proceeded to tell Russia that he had no interest in extending the conflict. However, he did warn that there would be consequences for their action. This conflict had our stationed soldiers on high al...
In 1968, the United States of America was participating in a violent war that some of the general public greatly disapproved of. Tension between political parties was rising and this did not help efforts with the war. Anti-war sentiment was growing in popularity amongst the younger generation; they wanted to get their voices heard. Protests and riots were occurring more frequently and growing larger in size all throughout the United States. This was the case for eight Chicago men who protested peacefully.
The taxpayers were upset because the cost of war was approximately $100,000,000,000 dollars and the American taxpayers had to pay for it. Students were against the war because of the African Americans. they were the next to be drafted. The students saw the Vietnam War as something they could fight against. They held peaceful Archer 10 demonstrations and protests at universities all across the country.
The Vietnam War was a horrific war between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. There were many causes for the Vietnam War from both the North and South side. There were also many emotions during the war for United States citizens, Vietnam citizens and soldiers of the war for both Americans and Vietnamese. United States couldn’t help but get into the war. They had to intervene which brought tons of good and bad things to the United States. The Vietnam War wasn’t only affecting the North and South Vietnam it also affected the United States and the citizens of the war from both the United States and Vietnam.
The conflict in Vietnam for the United States started when President Dwight D. Eisenhower went along with the domino theory and sent in military advisors in South Vietnam to stop the communist movement from taking place in South Vietnam. The Vietnam conflict was between the communist’s and the United States. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, and Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Cong, a guerilla group to help spread communism. The United States were supporters of the South Vietnam because they wanted them to maintain their government rather than falling to the domino theory of communism. After Eisenhower’s term ended John F. Kennedy became president and took control of the situation of Vietnam but on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated. Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded presidency and the problems of Vietnam were left to himself. In 1963, the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred where, the U.S.S Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese naval ships on august 2 1964. Two days later an even more controversial attack happened where it was reported another ship was attacked again but has later been proven false. Johnson used these events to gain congressional approval to enter into Vietnam. However the Tonkin Gulf Incident was questioned to have even happened which makes the war undoubtedly questionable Immediately after the incident . Many troops were killed in Vietnam and the United States eventually lost the war and does not achieve their goal to stop communism. Despite the large amount of conflict in Vietnam that needed to be resolved, escalating the war was the wrong idea by Johnson, as the many consequences of the war for the United States outweighed the potential spread of communism.
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.
The Vietnam War was the first major war American’s had suffered defeat. The Vietnam war was a war of confusion, competition and biasness. The outcome of the war was far greater than an upset American nation, but a severe breakdown of the Vietnamese culture, economy, environment and government. It also had a tremendous impact on American society even up to present day. It was unclear from the beginning of the war if the American’s should even be involved. It was a war between Northern and Southern Vietnam but the U.S saw it as an indirect way to challenge the USSR’s sphere of influence in Southern Asia and to prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism. The Vietnam War completely changed the way the United States approached military action and helped establish the role of the United States within the new world order.
The draft took more and more people in as the years went on, and in1968 it peaked to over 500,000 soldiers involved in Vietnam. The government was so desperate for troops that even men with poor eyesight fought, and no education was needed. The people began to strike out and a revolution took place to restore peace to the nation. Some key ways to get the movement attention included student activism and anti-war messages present in songs and literature.