Introduction
What would you do to help others? Would you sacrifice so many of those who you love? The Vietnam War did just that. Many of the people that they took, didn’t come back. One in every ten Vietnam Soldier was wounded or killed (History.com Staff). The choice of going into the Vietnam War was one of the worst decisions in American history. It led to a string of problems including splitting America, the making of an unnecessary enemy, and the suffering and sacrifice of many lives. People were so upset in Chicago,that they rioted during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. These unseen consequences from the Vietnam War still impact us today.
Why The Vietnam War Started:
As a result of World War Two, the Vietnam War began when the French sought to retake control of Vietnam. After the Japanese defeat in August 1945, the French saw an opportunity to retake Vietnam as one of their colonies (“Vietnam War”). As the controversy of joining the French varied, the country split. The Northern Vietnamese were more in favor of communism, whereas the Southern Vietnamese were mostly in favor of joining the French (poor Southern Vietnamese were not in agreement with joining the French). The country, which was split was only supposed to be split until 1956, when Vietnam was to have an election to see the final decision (“Vietnam War”). Ho Chi Minh, a strong communist believer, tried to move the French out of Vietnam with several rebellions, which proved to be successful by driving the French out in 1954. With the French withdrawal, Ho Chi Minh was able to build an army (History.com Staff). Meanwhile, Ngo Dinh Diem led Southern Vietnam. With the French withdrawal, Diem realized that he wouldn’t win the vote in 1956, so he prohibited the vote (“Vietnam War”). Diem’s opponents rose up against him, sparking the start of the Vietnam War.
Why We Went to Vietnam:
In the early 1960s, the involvement with the Vietnam War started with President John F. Kennedy’s drive to stop the Domino Effect. The Domino Effect was the theory that if one country turned communist, others around that country would follow (History.com Staff). “Since the end of World War II, the U.S. perspective on the Soviet Union and Soviet-style communism was marked by truculent disapproval. Intent on stopping the spread of communism, the United States developed a policy by which it would intervene in the affairs of countries it deemed susceptible to communist influence”( History.com Staff). To help keep South Vietnam from becoming communist, President Kennedy sent technical aid and a small military force to fight against the Viet Cong, which was a group who helped the communist Northern Vietnamese fight.
As the war escalated with United States involvement, the Southern Vietnamese questioned Diem’s (the Southern Vietnamese leader at the time) ability to fight the Viet Cong. The Southern Vietnamese finally retaliated, ending in an assassination of Diem and his brother (History.com Staff). Meanwhile in America, President Kennedy was also assassinated, putting President Lyndon B. Johnson in command. Diem’s death made the Southern Vietnamese government unstable, forcing Johnson to escalate US involvement by putting more troops into the war as well as giving them some economic support. This was just the beginning of US involvement in the war.
What Happened in Vietnam:
President Johnson sent even more troops into the war as it escalated. The military stationed in Vietnam was running so low on troops that the president had to introduce a draft, where men who were picked had to go to the Vietnam War. The United States started aiming to kill as many enemy troops as possible, rather than trying to secure territory for the Southern Vietnamese. The Air Force then started using Operation Rolling Thunder, which was a bombing intended to put pressure on the Northern Vietnam’s Communist leaders. The bombings turned out to be pointless because of the Northern Vietnamese surface to air missiles shooting the planes down. “By 1966, large areas of South Vietnam had been designated as ‘free-fire zones,’ from which all innocent civilians were supposed to have evacuated and only enemy remained. Heavy bombing by B-52 aircraft or shelling made these zones uninhabitable, as refugees poured into camps in designated safe areas near Saigon and other cities” (History.com Staff). The United States at this point seemed like they weren’t fighting to help anyone. They were just killing people to kill people and the deaths tolls kept climbing.
In the war, every 1/10 soldiers were wounded or killed (History.com Staff). One in ten. 58,202 Americans were killed in Vietnam (“Statistical Information”). We used dangerous weapons in the war costing many lives. This includes more than 2 million Vietnamese lives as well as 58,000 American lives (History.com Staff). The Vietnamese suffered even more with 3 million people becoming wounded and a large sum of 12 million became refugees (“Statistical Information”).
What happened in America during the Vietnam War:
America was split-
In America, the country was split, leading to my point of the Vietnam War being one of the worst decisions in history. In 1968, only 35% of the country supported Johnson’s handling of the war (History.com Staff). Also, a whole 50% didn’t approve of the handling of the war (History.com Staff). Half the country didn’t support our country’s leader, which is a huge problem that started protests and violence against his policies about the Vietnam War. The United States were running out of troops in Vietnam, so Johnson started the Vietnam Draft, which was one of his ideas that was disapproved.
The Vietnam Draft was a prime example of America being split. The Vietnam Draft forced people who didn’t want to join the war to go to the war. In other words, innocent Americans were ripped from their families and sent off to a war they didn’t want to participate in. Many soldiers that were drafted were killed in the Vietnam, putting their families in outrage. How would you feel if someone took your relative to do something you didn’t believe in and they never came back because of it? Protests broke out with people with signs stating “we won’t go” and “resist the draft”. This draft even further split America, as well as hurt many citizens.
Unnecessary Enemy-
The Vietnam War wasn’t mandatory for the US, therefore causing America to create an unnecessary enemy. “In the government-run War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, America is portrayed as the archenemy of the Vietnamese people. The exhibits depict U.S. soldiers as heartless villains — even criminals — whose sole mission was to slaughter families, torture innocent villagers and spread ruin across the region” (Glanton Dahleen). This illustrates how the United States are seen and how hated Americans are by the Vietnamese Therefore proving this war created an unnecessary enemy. Also, “In the 40 years since the war ended, most Americans have moved on. Unless you lost a loved one — there were nearly 60,000 American fatalities — or know a veteran suffering in the aftermath, Vietnam has been filed away as ancient history. It has taken a back seat to the more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is not the case in Vietnam. The civil war that dragged on for 21 years is ingrained in the country’s cultural and political landscape”(Glanton, Dahleen). The Vietnamese portray the Americans as heartless villains. Forty years after, the war the Vietnamese hate the States. Forty Years! That is almost two whole generations later. The United States didn’t have to be involved in the war and instead of minding their own business, America made a total “stranger” (the Vietnamese) an arch-enemy in their minds.
How this relates to Chicago:
The August 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago was a major influence on the Vietnam War. According to History.com, “The ensuing riot, known as the “Battle of Michigan Avenue”, was caught on television, and sparked a large-scale change in American society. For the first time, many Americans came out in virulent opposition to the Vietnam War, which they had begun to feel was pointless and wrongheaded. No longer would people give the national government unrestrained power to pursue its Cold War policies at the expense of the safety of U.S. citizens” (History.com Staff). In the end of the convention, the majority of citizens in the United States were definitively on the side of pulling troops out of Vietnam. Also, Chicago had the 6th most deaths in the Vietnam War (Archives.gov).
Another example is in August of 1968 during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which took place in Chicago. During the convention, they were discussing the Vietnam War as a topic. As a result, many peace protestors voiced their opinion outside the convention. The 1968 Convention in Chicago one of the biggest anti-Vietnam War protests. Mayor Daley, requested national guard troops to back up the police for the convention. The mayor also told soldiers and cops to shoot to kill (History.com Staff). Before the event, the National Guard were threatening innocent American’s for using their 5th amendment (Battle of Michigan [HH:MM:SS]). Later, during the actual convention, Wisconsin representative voiced their opinion for the convention to move because of the beatings. The statement got booed as well as applauded (Battle of Michigan [HH:MM:SS]). Outside there were more beatings where the police were beating and gassing random people even if they were running for safety(Battle of Michigan [HH:MM:SS]). The police looked as if they were having fun torturing these people (Battle of Michigan [HH:MM:SS]).
Conclusion:
“This was a war in which everyone lost, and its ramifications continue to haunt” (Glanton, Dahleen).
Due to the many issues such as the unnecessary enemy, many deaths and it splitting America, one of the worst choices that the US made was going to Vietnam. Knowing the negative effects of joining this war, how was this choice a logical one for our country?