Even today, there is still a great deal of controversy considering the circumstances and the outcome of the Vietnam War. Professor Lewis Sorley sought to put an end to this altercation with the release of his book, A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam. In his writing, he discusses factors of the war from General William C Westmoreland’s command in 1964, to the major withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam in the early 70’s, to the bitter end in 1975, and shortly thereafter. His argument was that we did in fact win the war militarily. However, Sorley also believed that on domestic soil, the U.S. military had lost not only the war, but also the support of the very people it sought to protect…
The Vietnam War involved many decisions and outcomes, many of which have latter been reviewed with more uncertainty then confidence. With this Michael Hunt, the author uses both American and Vietnamese resources, some which before the book were never heard from. He uses these sources to try to explain how the United States of America was sucked into involvement with Southeast Asia. The overall conclusion of the book does not bring to many new views on why the United States involved itself with the issues of Vietnam but more confirms already believed views that they began in the conflict with comprehension of Vietnam’s problem other than the issue of the cold war.…
While some argue that America was right and has just justification for entering the war to preserve democracy and to fight for some greater good for peace it is quite simple to see that the U.S involvement in the Vietnam War was greatly unjustified, due to the fact that the war was originally a civil war between two different governments in Vietnam, in addition to that the majority of Vietnam’s citizens were on the “enemy’s” side. The only reason American leaders stayed in it so long was that they didn’t be want to be seen as cowards to other countries and wanted to keep their never surrender look to the public because they were already too deep into the war.…
In “The Other Wes Moore” the author, Wes Moore, tells the story of his life and compares it to Wes Moore’s life, a man who was born in the same area at the same time. The story takes place in the city of Baltimore around the year of 2000. Both Wes’s grew up in similar situation’s, raised solely by their mothers. Wes Moore the author grew up with only two memories of his father after he passed away while the other Wes Moore’s father left him and his mother before he was born. Both parents lived paycheck to paycheck and struggled to provide for their children.…
“Vietnam: A Necessary War” is a summary of a book of a similar name by author Michael Lind. The book addresses the viewpoint that the Vietnam War was both moral and necessary for eventual victory in the Cold War. Michael Lind graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with honors in English and History, received an MA in International Relations from Yale University, and a JD from the University of Texas Law School. In 1990-1991 he worked as Assistant to the Director of the U.S. State Department’s Center for the study of Foreign Affairs. From 1991-1994 he was Executive Editor of The National Interest, and from 1994-1998 he worked for Harper’s Magazine,…
Throughout America’s history, few things have left the nation in such controversial turmoil as the Vietnam War. With an American death toll of almost 60,000 troops, the Vietnam War has gone down in infamy as one of the most tremendous struggles Americans have faced both overseas and on the home front. Because of the tumultuous controversies caused by the war, Americans split into two social factions – those against the war and those who supported it. During the years of 1961-1975 - the era in which the war had its greatest effect on Americans - the population of citizens from 18-35 years old and the Presidency were both affected irreversibly.…
Australia grew more divided between the anti-war movement and government supporters. Australia’s anti-war movement was strongly connected to protests against conscription, or ‘National Service’ as it was called. The conscription lasted for 42 years.…
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Vietnam War (1945–1975).” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 28 Oct. 2010.…
First, Brian VanDeMark discussed how badly Vietnam divided America in so many different ways. Not only did the war split political leaders but typical people for a long time. Lyndon Johnson’s biggest…
In chapters 3 and 4 of Robert McMahon’s Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War, there are a number of reasons given for the increased American involvement in Vietnam from the late 1940s to the mid 1950s. McMahon includes several documents in these chapters that point to three main reasons used to justify our role in Vietnam.…
Between 1954 and 1964 US involvement in Vietnam increased significantly about the time that the Gulf of Tonkin occurred and to an extent it can be seen that the Gulf of Tonkin was the main reason that the US got involved in Vietnam because shortly after the event happened, it lead to various battles between North and South Vietnam in which two élite battalions of South Vietnam troops were defeated by Vietcong ambush tactics. However,this event has speculated other possible reasons why the US got involved in Vietnam which include: President Johnson’s desire for a blank cheque, the Domino Theory and the Policy of containment. These factors will be explored in the following paragraphs.…
Unlike his predecessors, Johnson didn’t believe in “Domino Theory”, but rather believed that U.S. credibility and his own personal credibility were indistinguishable. According to Fredrik Logevall, “the core component of the credibility imperative was an assumption that a failure to stand firm in the war would cause allies around the world to question, and perhaps lose faith in, America’s commitment to their defense.” Thus, if America failed to come to Vietnam’s defense how could other nations continue to rely on U.S. support which Johnson took personally as his perception was the same as America’s perception. Furthermore, when George Ball proposed that the best option for America would be to withdraw from Vietnam, Johnson responded saying, “wouldn’t we lose credibility breaking the word of three presidents.” Johnson was an ambitious man who wanted to implement his idea of a utopian Great Society and be viewed as the greatest American president ever. Thus when, Johnson jumped at the opportunity to ‘Americanize’ the Vietnam War through the use of bombing campaigns, such as Operations Rolling Thunder and Arc Light, and deployment over 180,000 American troops following congressional approval of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in August of 1964, as he would not become, ‘the first American…
In conclusion, the US’s decision to take part in the Vietnam war was a mistake. They should of remained neutral and let other countries handle their own business instead of encroaching into international affairs. From the Americans citizens perspective, the involvement was unnecessary and it lost the trust of…
Although very popular the Vietnam war was huge conflict during the years of 1964 through 1975, this single incident changed many Americans opinions about the nation's role both in foreign affairs and domestic ones. The Vietnam war failed in its primary purpose which was to assists in the defense against north Vietnamese communism, just like the cold war previously this proved to be another example of escalation. The US involvement in Vietnam damaged the us reputation due to very misguided and complex intentions on the part of political leaders like those in the Johnson and Nixon administration which brought upon unhappiness and social unrest among the public. This political corruption along with mismanagement on the economic system and the…
Lyndon B. Johnson presidency has been tormented ever since he left office. One main event that downgraded his presidency the most was the Vietnam War. When a majority of Americans remember of the Vietnamese War, Johnson’s portrait pops up in their minds. Some people blame Johnson for starting and losing the war. While, I just want to say that these people are just arrogant; these people do not look at the facts. Johnson once said, “I did not start the war, but inherited it.” After World War II, Ho Chi Minh and the People's Congress create the National Liberation Committee of Vietnam to form a provisional government. This Committee had…