Music In The Vietnam War
Conflict is something that that exists all over the world. No matter where or when you look there has always been conflict throughout the world. What some may not realize is that in all of these situations, people have always used music to express thoughts about the conflict. During times of tension between nations, there have always been songs written in order to show support towards the fight or in order to protest. One of the most prominent examples of this is in The Vietnam War was no exception for this. The Vietnam war was fought against the United States and North Vietnam. The goal for the United States in this war was to stop the spread of communism and assist their allies, South Vietnam, in the battle. The war lasted from 1954
to 1975 and was not fought like many others (Vietnam War). The war was fought more as a search and destroy mission and there was no territory was actually captured during the battle. Because there was no territory or any another way to judge the success of the war, the body count of fallen soldiers was used to measure the success in battle. The system of body count measuring our success did not sit well with many Americans. With this system in play to measure success man Americans started to protest against the war. There were those who were throwing their military awards over the fence of the White House, citizens who were burning their draft cards even though they knew it was a federal crime, and even those who wrote songs in order to protest the injustice of the war (Rothman). With many different means of protest happening at the same time, there were songs that were written did play a key role throughout the protests. One of the most famous songs written in protest was Fortunate Son, by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song was written back in September 1969 to protest the war (Creedence Clearwater Revival Discography). The song goes off to say that if you were the son of a politician or anyone who has a lot of money that you were able to skip out on the draft; however if you were poor or not a person of value you were sent right off to join the battle via the draft. Considering many citizens did not even want us to be affiliated with the war, many agreed with the message of the song and joined in the protest, so they did not have to fight in a war that they did not want to be in.
to 1975 and was not fought like many others (Vietnam War). The war was fought more as a search and destroy mission and there was no territory was actually captured during the battle. Because there was no territory or any another way to judge the success of the war, the body count of fallen soldiers was used to measure the success in battle. The system of body count measuring our success did not sit well with many Americans. With this system in play to measure success man Americans started to protest against the war. There were those who were throwing their military awards over the fence of the White House, citizens who were burning their draft cards even though they knew it was a federal crime, and even those who wrote songs in order to protest the injustice of the war (Rothman). With many different means of protest happening at the same time, there were songs that were written did play a key role throughout the protests. One of the most famous songs written in protest was Fortunate Son, by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song was written back in September 1969 to protest the war (Creedence Clearwater Revival Discography). The song goes off to say that if you were the son of a politician or anyone who has a lot of money that you were able to skip out on the draft; however if you were poor or not a person of value you were sent right off to join the battle via the draft. Considering many citizens did not even want us to be affiliated with the war, many agreed with the message of the song and joined in the protest, so they did not have to fight in a war that they did not want to be in.