This week's blog will be in four parts. Each part will cover a different aspect of the Vietnam Conflict. For each part, write 100 words for the comment section. Please don't post your comments separately. Post all four parts as one large comment. This blog is worth 100 points.
Conduct your own Google/YouTube Searches for the following topics.
Part One: Basic Facts
-Write ten interesting facts about the Vietnam War (100 words minimum)
Part Two: Difficulties Fighting
-Describe the difficulty the U.S. Troops faced fighting "inferior troops" in the landscape of Vietnam. (100 words minimum)
Part Three: Governmental Deception
-How did the U.S. Government (LBJ Administration) cover-up/hide certain details of the Vietnam War? (100 words minimum)
Part Four: Protests At Home
-Why was there such a backlash at home, manifesting in protests and draft-dodging, regarding the Vietnam War? (100 words minimum)
Vietnam was under Chinese rule for roughly a thousand years until 938 AD.
ReplyDeleteVietnam was a French colony from the mid-19th century until its expulsion in 1954.
Since the US Congress never declared war against Vietnam, it should be called the Vietnam conflict instead of the Vietnam war.
Nearly two-thirds of the American men serving the war were volunteers.
During World War II, there were reportedly 40 days of combat in 4 years while during Vietnam war, there were 240 days of combat in 1 year on average.
John F. Kennedy was the first US President assassinated during a year of war since the US Civil War.
The U.S. didn’t lose the war but withdrew before they likely lost.
Vietnam war, which lasted for approximately 20 years, is the longest war in the entire U.S history.
After the war, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines stayed free of communism.
Vietnam veterans are less likely to be in prison only one-half of one percent of them have been jailed for crimes and have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.
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On the ground in Vietnam, U.S. forces faced challenging environmental conditions as they tried to engage an elusive enemy. Much of the fighting in Vietnam took place in hot, wet jungle terrain. Soldiers suffered from heat stroke, malaria, trench foot, fungal infections and other ailments brought about by hot, humid conditions. America's opponent -- the Vietcong -- were well-trained in guerilla warfare and extremely knowledgeable of the country’s terrain, being native Vietnamese.By 1973, over two-thirds of the U.S. population believed that the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War had been a mistake according to Peter Sperlich and William Lunch. This is because America faced many problems as it attempted to conduct the war in Vietnam. These problems ranged from the difficult combat conditions to growing anti-war sentiment stateside. Ultimately, these problems forced the US to withdraw its troops from Vietnam, resulting in the ultimate victory of Communist forces in Vietnam.
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Daniel Ellsberg, who had served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer from 1954 to 1957 and worked as a strategic analyst at the RAND Corporation and the Department of Defense, had been an early supporter of U.S. involvement in Indochina and had worked on the preparation of the 1967 study. By 1969, however Ellsberg had come to believe that the war in Vietnam was unwinnable. He also believed that the information contained in the Pentagon Papers about U.S. decision-making regarding Vietnam should be more widely available to the American public. After secretly photocopying large sections of the report, Ellsberg approached several members of Congress, none of whom took action. In 1971, while working as a senior research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for International Studies, Ellsberg gave portions of the report to Neil Sheehan, a reporter at The New York Times.
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Protest to conscription has been a feature of all American wars, since the Spanish-American War in and continuing through the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Yet during the Vietnam War, draft evasion and draft resistance reached a historic peak. Combined with the revolt inside the military and the larger civilian antiwar movement, draft resistance acted as another fetter on the government’s ability to wage a war in Vietnam, and brought the war home in a very personal way for a generation of young men. Draft resisters filed for conscientious objector status, didn’t report for induction when called, or attempted to claim disability. Soldiers went AWOL and fled to Canada through underground railroad networks of antiwar supporters.
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Delete1. From mid 19th century, until 1954, Vietnam was a French colony.
ReplyDelete2. Congress never formally declared war against Vietnam, making it technically the Vietnam conflict.
3. A total of 9,087,000 military personnel served active duty during the Vietnam war.
4. Close to 2/3 of Americans that were men that volunteered not drafted
5. The Medal of Honor was awarded to 240 men in the Vietnam conflict.
6. A total of 58,148 were killed in Vietnam another 75,000 were severely disabled.
7. 61% of those who died in Vietnam were younger than than 21 years or older
8. Thirty one sets of parents lost two sons in the conflict.
9. 997 solidgers died on the first day 1,448 died on the last day.
10. Only one half of Vietnam veterans are in prison.
1. From mid 19th century, until 1954, Vietnam was a French colony.
2. Congress never formally declared war against Vietnam, making it technically the Vietnam conflict.
3. A total of 9,087,000 military personnel served active duty during the Vietnam war.
4. Close to 2/3 of Americans that were men that volunteered not drafted
5. The Medal of Honor was awarded to 240 men in the Vietnam conflict.
6. A total of 58,148 were killed in Vietnam another 75,000 were severely disabled.
7. 61% of those who died in Vietnam were younger than than 21 years or older
8. Thirty one sets of parents lost two sons in the conflict.
9. 997 solidgers died on the first day 1,448 died on the last day.
10. Only one half of Vietnam veterans are in prison.
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Amercian soldiers were better armed and better equipped and more extensively trained than the Vietnam cong. The majority of Americans sent to Vietnam completed eight weeks of basic training followed by courses of infantry,engineering and other specialization, each lasting between two and six months. The heat humidity monsoonal rain and ground water meant that the uniformed GI were almost constantly covered with sweat or water. One historian estamated that between 150 and 300 US personal died by snakebite. Though trained to follow orders and disregard other factors. Most Americans were aware of what they were going up against. Their mission was to secure the south Vietnam to gain the trust of the people to eradicate the Vietcong.
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The onset of that American war in Vietnam, which was at its most violent between 1965 and 1973, is the subject of these annotated transcripts, made from the recordings President Lyndon B. Johnson taped in secret during his time in the White House. Drawn from the months July 1964 to July1965, these transcripts cover arguably the most consequential developments of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, transforming what had been a U.S. military assistance and advisory mission into a full-scale American war. From the incidents in the Tonkin Gulf in August 1964 to the deployment of forty-four combat troop battalions in July 1965, these months span congressional authorization for military action as well as the Americanization of the conflict. In between lie incidents of increasingly greater magnitude, including the decision to deploy the Marines and the shift from defensive to offensive operations.
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There was a whole lot of backlash at home because some people said that it wasn't our war to be in. That we shouldn't have even been involved in it. The press wanted to get as much publicity out as possible to show the nation of how different and difficult the War truly was. Draft dodging was a thing that was prominent it was Americans telling the military that they didn't want to go overseas and die for a cause that didn't benefit them at all. People wanted to show what matters to them the most which was their personal safety. Overall people didn't want us to get right back into another war which we could avoid and didn't have to be in any more than we already had to.
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1)The U.S. suffered over 47,000 killed in action plus another 11,000 noncombat deaths; over 150,000 were wounded and 10,000 missing.
ReplyDelete2)Among South Vietnam’s other allies, Australia had over 400 killed and 2,400 wounded; New Zealand, over 80 KIA ; Republic of Korea, 4,400 KIA; and Thailand 350 killed.
3)two North Vietnamese torpedo boats in broad daylight engaged USS Maddox, which was gathering communications intelligence in the Gulf of token
4)Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that removed most restrictions from the president in regards to Vietnam
5)operation Rolling Thunder began on March 2, 1965, and continued to November 2, 1968. Its primary goal was to demoralize the North Vietnamese and diminish their manufacturing and transportation abilities
6)By the end of 1967, there were 540,000 American troops in Vietnam
7)financial costs had risen to $30 billion a year.
8)On January 30, 1968, during Vietnam’s celebration of Tet, the lunar new year, the vca and nva units launched a massive attack
9)at the end of the war the vc had no more tha 40000 men
10)Richard Nixon prepared the southern Korean army to take over the former U.S. responsibilities when we moved out
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Much of the fighting in Vietnam took place in hot, wet jungle terrain. Soldiers struggled with many illnesses including strokes malaria, trench foot and other jungles infections. The native Vietcong members also knew the terrain well so the were well entrenched and used gorilla warfare. The soldiers who fought for us came home to angry people saying we shouldn't have been in the war in the first place also people felt sending U.S. troops into a foreign country that did not pose an immediate military threat to U.S. citizens was inappropriate 100
In march 1965 president Johnson landed United States troops in Vietnam.The Vietnamese launched a major military campaign. They attacked 33 of 44 us embassies. Which Johnson covered up from the American people. Johnson in his election speeches also said that no escalation was needed in South Vietnam.I do not believe that the war would have been less hopeless if the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs had been followed. It would have been much more bloody. It might well have involved a nuclear war or a major conventional war with China. That would have been even more catastrophic than what actually happened. So the worst was avoided. Due to johnsons lies. 111
There was so much backlash towards the war at home because it was a war that we didn't really need to get in because there was no immediate threat to home here in the United States. However it was necessary to wage war on communism because it was spreading all across Asia and if it had reached all of Vietnam the rest of Asia would probably convert too also South Korea is a big ally of ours so it was our duty to help our ally. However the media portrayed the war as brutal 103
1. The Vietnam war lasted a total of 19 and a half years.
ReplyDelete2. During the war the Soviet union only lost a total of 16 people and New Zealand only lost a total of 37.
3. A total of 12000 american helicopters were used in this war.
4. The war cost america a total of $111 billion dollars.
5. A total of 3 million people died as a result of this war.
6. The untied states lost 55,280.
7. the average age of death for Americans was 23.
8. The age of 21 was a total of 11,465 deaths.
9. South Korea had a total of 5099 deaths.
10. 3 million south Vietnamese civilians were killed in this war. (120)
While we were fighting in Vietnam we faced many struggles. For one in order to well in a war, your army needs to have people who want to be there not a bunch of kids who could care less because they were drafted. Alos the conditions that they were fighting in were horrendous. I mean they are fighting in a swampy and nasty area vs an enemy who didn't really were any uniform so you couldn't tell who was who and this enemy knows the land better than all of the Americans combined. The Americans were struck also by many diseases. (101)
Well to begin Lyndon Johnson covered up by lying to the American people. he lied about our involvement in the war and tried to say that everything was okay and there was nothing to worry about. You see Johnson knew how expensive this war was going to be but he did not want the people to know because he thought that they may worry too much about it. Not only did he believe they would worry too much but he thought they would escalate the whole situation to a point where they would expect the war to be won and nothing less than that.(104)
So one of the reasons men dodged this draft was because they were scared. Which makes sense and is also why 24 thousand plus men dodged this draft. Also, some men just left the country and went to places like Canada and Sweden and France and the United Kingdom. If caught doing so or returning to the United States, you would be put in jail, to work, or better yet back into the military. Peop[le were causing a major issue by protesting the draft and burning things. The biggest protest was at the Lincoln memorial and there was a total of one hundred thousand people. (105)
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part 1
ReplyDelete1. U.S. troops engaged: 8,744,000
2. The U.S. helped non-Communist South Vietnam fight invasion by Communist North Vietnam.
3. By the end of 1965 the number of American troops in Southeast Asia rose to more than 184,000 and by 1968 stood at more than 525,000.
4. Vietnam was a French colony from the mid-19th century until its expulsion in 1954.
5. During World War II, there were reportedly 40 days of combat in 4 years while during Vietnam war, there were 240 days of combat in 1 year on average.
6. After the war, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines stayed free of communism.
7. Vietnam veterans are less likely to be in prison – only one-half of one percent of them have been jailed for crimes and have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.
8. Since the US Congress never declared war against Vietnam, it should be called the Vietnam conflict instead of the Vietnam war.
9. The Vietnam War began on 1 November 1955 and ended with the fall of Saigon 30 April 1975, lasting 19 and 1/2 years.
10. The average age of Americans that died was just over 23 years. 11,465 of the personnel who were killed were under the age of 20. (211)
part 2
The US soldiers were by far more trained and equipped than the vietcong were for the battles that would take place during the War. However the hot, humid, and rainy terrain would play into effect in a major way as the rugged jungle terrain would cause the US troops to be slowed down greatly. The veitcong had the advantage because they new their own turf and how to maneuver through the jungle unlike the US troops who knew little. poisonous creatures, malaria, and heat strokes would be even more so of a fight than fighting the vietcong themselves. Also because of the thick jungle it was hard to see who you were shooting at making it even more difficult on the US. (124)
part 3
Lyndon Johnson lied about the war in order to try and keep the domino effect from happening in Southeast Asia. He lied to the American people by saying the Vietnam War was to be quick with few casualties and little resistance as the US would win big and quickly. He knew the entire time that the US casualties for the war would be high and that the sacrifice would be great. However due to the reach of communism he believed that by lying he could save the nations over there from communism but thanks to wartime news everyone knew just how bad it was. (104)
part 4
There was so much draft dodging in the US and protests against the US taking part in the draft because of how this didn't seem to be a war the US was meant to be involved in. When we fought back in World War 2, people actually saw a world threat in the Fascist nation of Germany. It seemed like a common evil that was meant to be brought down and destroyed. The people rallied against the clear enemy and thus brought them to the ground. Vietnam however was not as great of a common enemy as them. It was a small southeastern nation in Asia with little power in and of itself. It seemed to costly and pointless to risk lives for an unimportant cause to them and via the wartime news, they saw first hand people getting killed in action or losing limbs. So some people did rally up against the US draft system and protested the war. (160)
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ReplyDeleteThe Vietnam War is known as “the American War” in Vietnam. Then in 2005, NSA documents were declassified that proved that the second Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was used as a justification for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
ReplyDeleteIn 1967, protesters in USA requested a permit to levitate the Pentagon 300 feet in the air, through songs and chants, to exorcise it of its evil and end the Vietnam War. Authorities agreed to only 3 feet. At the end of the Vietnam War, the USS Midway crew pushed $10 million worth of helicopters into the sea so that a Cessna full of evacuees could land on the deck. 110
The U.S tried to have an elusive enemy. The U.S were way more trained and ready and prepaired unlike the Vietcong were for the battles. A lot of the soldiers during this time struggled a lot. The way they struggled were there were a lot of diseases and illnesses going on that caused sickness and some even death that couldn't be treated. So the American soldiers were just all together better soldiers with better knowledge of how to go into the war they knew what they were doing. The one good thing about the Vietcong was that it was at their place and how to get through the obstacles of the jungle unlike the U.S troops. 118
As the war went on, the U.S. media began to change its main source of information. Journalists began to focus more on research, interviews and analytical essays to obtain information instead of press conferences, official news releases and reports of official proceedings. With an increase in American households that obtained a television set, more and more citizens were able to keep up with the war. Although it was useful to have all information acquired during the war, the media played a huge role in what the American people saw and believed. 91
At the end of the war back home there was so much backlash because everyone at home was saying that the U.S shouldn't have even been involved in the war at all. People also said that it didn't have much to do with the U.S because it wasn't like a straight up threat to us. Wars are and were truly really difficult just everything about wars are really really difficult and I think the oressnreally showed that during this time of the war. 83
1. At the end of the Vietnam War, the USS Midway pushed $10 million worth of helicopters into the sea so that a Cessna full of evacuees could land.
ReplyDelete2. Hugh Thomson, the man who landed a helicopter in the line of fire to confront and stop American troops who had by that point killed close to 500 unarmed civilians in the My Lai Massacre, was labeled a traitor by Congress and ordered not to speak about the event
3. The Vietnam War is known as "The American War" in Vietnam.
4. In 2005, NSA documents were declassified that proved that the second Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was used as a justification for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, never happened.
5. In 1967, protesters in USA requested a permit to levitate the Pentagon 300 feet in the air, through songs and chants, to exorcise it of its evil and end the Vietnam War. Authorities agreed to only 3 feet.
6. Slinkys were used in the Vietnam War as mobile radio antennas. They would sling the Slinky over branches.
7. During the Vietnam War, an estimated 125,000 Americans fled to Canada to avoid the military draft. Around half returned to the US when President Carter, in his first day in office, granted them amnesty.
8. Congressional Medal of Honor Winner Peter Lemon was high on marijuana when he single-handedly fought off two waves of Vietcong troops and dragged a wounded soldier to safety
9. During the Vietnam War, the US military produced recordings of ghostly voices and eerie sounds to play to the Vietcong, who believed that if a body wasn’t buried, the person’s soul would wander the Earth forever.
10. There was a false belief during the war that the Vietnamese had a superstition with the Ace of Spades card, considering it to be a symbol of death and that they would flee at the sight of the Ace. Therefore the U.S. Playing Card Company shipped crates of this card to Vietnam, where they were scattered during raids in an effort to terrify the Vietcong. (349)
In South Vietnam, they experience very little climate change, with mostly hot and humid temperatures, as well as dense and lush rainforests. Although one might think that the rainforest would provide the perfect hiding place for soldiers against their enemy, that's not exactly how things went. In some cases, that would work, but not for everyday travel. The dense terrain also made it harder to keep up with your group, as well as target the enemy. The Vietnamese also had an advantage because they knew the terrain well and how to handle it. Soldiers experienced trench foot, malaria, and other terrible diseases and issues. The Vietnam land was probably the hardest to maneuver in any American war. (118)
Lyndon Johnson his some major and important details about the war to help protect his Great Society Program. Through the whole campaign, he made it very clear that he felt that escalation wasn't needed in South Vietnam. He was worried that if he clearly and accurately laid out how extreme the costs of war would be that the people of America would want escalation on a war-winning level. From 1964 through 1968, the Joint Chiefs continuously urged a litany of secret recommendations, including mining Haiphong; hitting the dikes; bombing near the Chinese border; closing all transportation routes from China; sending ground troops to Laos, Cambodia and the southern part of North Vietnam; possibly full-scale invasion of North Vietnam. (118)
Most movements against the Vietnam war began at teach-ins by leftists, but after 1965, became more nationwide after bombings began against North Vietnam. Groups such as the SDS got much public support, and grew over the course of three years. When more and more body bags were being brought home, protests peaked and anger consumed a great portion of America. By May 1968, 562 troops were killed in one week. In October 1965, the draft increased to 33,000 from 3,000 in February. In March, a protest formed by professors at the University of Michigan had 2,500 in attendance, with 35 other schools participating from all over the country. (111)
Part 1: 9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975.
ReplyDelete2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam.
Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation.
240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.
The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1961. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. Davis Station in Saigon was named for him.
58,148 were killed in Vietnam.
75,000 were severely disabled.
23,214 were 100% disabled.
5,283 lost limbs.
1,081 sustained multiple amputations.
Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21.
Part 2. The main strategy and tactics of guerrilla warfare tend to involve the use of a small attacking, mobile force against a large, unwieldy one. The guerrilla force is largely or entirely organized in small units that are dependent on the support of the local population. Tactically, the guerrilla army makes the repetitive attacks far from the opponent's center of gravity with a view to keeping its own casualties to a minimum and imposing a constant debilitating strain on the enemy. This may provoke the enemy into a brutal, excessively destructive response which will both anger their own supporters and increase support for the guerrillas, ultimately compelling the enemy to withdraw.
Part 3On this day in 1966, Rep. Melvin Laird (R-Wis.) accused the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson of deceiving Congress and the American people by hiding the true cost of the Vietnam War. In September, Laird followed up by charging that Johnson had delayed a decision to escalate the ground war in Southeast Asia until after the 1966 midterm elections.
By withholding accurate information on the size and scope of U.S. troop deployments to Vietnam, Laird contended, the administration had widened a “credibility gap.” Laird cited Pentagon sources as reporting that 254,000 U.S. troops were serving in Vietnam, and that an additional 90,000 were performing tasks directly concerned with the escalating war effort. Those numbers were significantly higher than those that were made public at the time.
Part 4 During the 1964 presidential campaign, Johnson vowed that his administration would not send American ground troops to Vietnam. But the promise, however genuine, could not be kept. Just months after winning the election, Johnson chose to follow advice from the National Security Council to deploy U.S. combat soldiers to South Vietnam. Without an official declaration, the United States waged an ever-widening war.
ReplyDeleteBy 1968, the number of American G.I.s in Vietnam had exceeded 500,000 and the U.S. had dropped more tons of bombs in Southeast Asia than all those used in World War II. In addition, U.S. fighter pilots spread chemicals that destroyed forests and crops, and released napalm, a thick form of gasoline that seared the skin of all those exposed to it. Johnson authorized the Army to pursue Viet Cong guerrilla soldiers in "search and destroy" operations in the jungles of South Vietnam. These operations were often unorganized, chaotic missions that resulted in the deaths of many civilians. "Body counts"—weekly reports of enemy losses—mattered most to the White House and assured some officials that progress was being made. But the will of the enemy could not be broken, and the United States would not allow the South Vietnamese government to fight on its own.
On 31 March 1968, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the nation. He announced his plan to pursue negotiations with North Vietnamese leaders in order to bring an end to the war in Vietnam, but then, as if he distrusted his own words, his tone turned solemn. "With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office." Johnson concluded, "Accordingly, I shall not seek another term as your President.
Part 4 During the 1964 presidential campaign, Johnson vowed that his administration would not send American ground troops to Vietnam. But the promise, however genuine, could not be kept. Just months after winning the election, Johnson chose to follow advice from the National Security Council to deploy U.S. combat soldiers to South Vietnam. Without an official declaration, the United States waged an ever-widening war.
ReplyDeleteBy 1968, the number of American G.I.s in Vietnam had exceeded 500,000 and the U.S. had dropped more tons of bombs in Southeast Asia than all those used in World War II. In addition, U.S. fighter pilots spread chemicals that destroyed forests and crops, and released napalm, a thick form of gasoline that seared the skin of all those exposed to it. Johnson authorized the Army to pursue Viet Cong guerrilla soldiers in "search and destroy" operations in the jungles of South Vietnam. These operations were often unorganized, chaotic missions that resulted in the deaths of many civilians. "Body counts"—weekly reports of enemy losses—mattered most to the White House and assured some officials that progress was being made. But the will of the enemy could not be broken, and the United States would not allow the South Vietnamese government to fight on its own.
On 31 March 1968, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the nation. He announced his plan to pursue negotiations with North Vietnamese leaders in order to bring an end to the war in Vietnam, but then, as if he distrusted his own words, his tone turned solemn. "With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office." Johnson concluded, "Accordingly, I shall not seek another term as your President
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ReplyDeletePART 1
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1) A total of 997 soldiers are reported to have died on their first day in Vietnam with 1,448 soldiers dying on their last day.
2) Vietnam veterans overall have a lower unemployment rate than those in the same age group who are non-vets.
3) Communists in the north begin fighting France for control of the country in 1946
4) In 1954 the United States Got involved in the vietnam war
5) The U.S. didn’t lose the war but withdrew before they likely lost.
6) Vietnam war, which lasted for approximately 20 years, is the longest war in the entire U.S history.
7) After the war, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines stayed free of communism
8) John F. Kennedy was the first US President assassinated during a year of war since the US Civil War.
9) In 1962 the Sigma war games predicted that American intervention in the Vietnam War would be unsuccessful.
10) Richard Nixon sabotaged Vietnam peace talks to give himself a better chance in the 1968 U.S. Presidential election, prolonging the war by 5 years. (179)
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PART2
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There was large difficulty for the American troops due to many things. First of all the morale was low for the American side due to not fighting on ground they knew and the methods the vietmanese used were setting up traps and put the American soldiers in horrible condition. There was also rampant drug use to relieve stress during the war. There was no clear view or front line for the United States to rely on. They seemed to be trapped as some points and not really given clear orders. We were fighting for the wrong reasons, supporting a corrupt government there and in a hostile place where we were immediately identifiable as foreigners. We did not speak the language, did not understand the culture. We were rich, they were poor. We acted like rich kings. We turned many of the neutral citizens against us. (145)
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PART 3
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The pentagon papers played a large aspect in how we hid out war in the east. We didn't want to tell Americans what was really going on due to the enlistment amount already being low. As the Vietnam War dragged on and the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam increased to more than 500,000 troops by 1968, the military analyst Daniel Ellsberg came to oppose the war, and decided that the information contained in the Pentagon Papers should be more widely available to the American public. Lyndon Johnson was afraid that communism would spread to America and make people join the communist side, but due to the brutality and witnessing the effect communism had on a country made people stick devoted to serve the United States. (126)
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PART 4
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Many groups of people disagreed with the politics of war and how it was changing the United States. They had already seen how WW2 changed america and thought our conflict was worthless over in vietnam. College grounds even protested against war and this made many dodge drafting or refusing to enlist. They heard and saw how bad it was and thought all this death was for nothing. I think we can actually compare this to our current conflict throughout the years of afghanistan and iraq. Even though some of us dont know the first hand account of this we can compare it to our modern day war and relate. (109)
Part 1: (156 words)
ReplyDelete1. The Vietnam War began on November 1, 1955.
2. Most of the conflict took place in Vietnam, but later the fighting spilled over into Laos and Cambodia in the early 1970s.
3. The conflict took place during the Cold War, the global struggle for supremacy between two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union.
4. The USA was concerned that if the whole of Vietnam became communist, it would spread to other countries in the region - this idea was known as the “Domino Effect."
5. The leader of the North Vietnamese was called Ho Chi Minh.
6. More than 3 million people died during this war.
7. Between 1965 and 1975, the US spent $111 billion on the war.
8. A ceasefire to end the war was signed in Paris in 1973.
9. Nearly two-thirds of the American men serving the war were volunteers.
10. The Vietnam War is the longest war in U.S. history.
Part 2: (102 words)
The United States troops faced many difficulties during the Vietnam War. The Vietnamese troops knew the fighting terrain a lot better than the United States troops did in the first place. This is obviously an advantage and caused the U.S. troops to suffer. The Vietnamese people know how to get around and deal with such harsh conditions. Since the U.S. was fighting in a foreign country, they often had to worry about various diseases and having clean water. This was another major setback during the war. Soldiers also suffered from many diseases due to the hot weather, not just from different foods.
Part 3: (129 words)
The Pentagon Papers was the name given to a secret Department of Defense study of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. These were prepared at the request of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. Pictures were secretly taken of these papers in March of 1971 and were given to The New York Times. They published the papers and because of this, uproars were an outcome. The government then tried to block these papers so no one would see them, but were unsuccessful. These papers confirmed many people’s suspicions about the active role the U.S. government had taken in building up the conflict. Though the study did not cover the policies of President Richard M. Nixon’s administration, the revelations included within it were embarrassing.
Part 4: (111 words)
The draft, as a system of conscription which threatened lower class registrants and middle class registrants alike, drove much of the protest after 1965. Objectors did play an active role, although their numbers were small. The growing opposition to the Vietnam War was partly attributed to greater access to uncensored information presented by the extensive television coverage on the ground in Vietnam. Most people had to experience their own type of “personal war” at home that was completely different than actually fighting. A lot of people were stating that the U.S. shouldn't have even been a part of the war in the first place. The outcome would be so much different.
Part 1
ReplyDelete1. Since the US Congress never declared war against Vietnam, it should be called the Vietnam conflict instead of the Vietnam war.
2. Nearly two-thirds of the American men serving the war were volunteers.
3. During World War II, there were reportedly 40 days of combat in 4years while during Vietnam war, there were 240 days of combat in 1 year on average.
4. John F. Kennedy was the first US President assassinated during a year of war since the US Civil War.
5. The U.S. didn’t lose the war but withdrew before they likely lost.
6. Vietnam war, which lasted for approximately 20 years, is the longest war in the entire U.S history.
7. Vietnam veterans are less likely to be in prison – only one-half of one percent of them have been jailed for crimes and have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.
8. North Vietnamese torpedo boats reportedly attack U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964. President Johnson ordered retaliatory air strikes and Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which gave permission for U.S. retaliation.
9. By the end of 1965 the number of American troops in Southeast Asia rose to more than 184,000 and by 1968 stood at more than 525,000.
10. President Nixon begins troop withdrawals from the region in May 1969, as massive demonstrations and protests against the war went on in the United States.
Word count: 230
Part 2:
Although the soldiers of the United States had superior weapons, troops, and supplied, they struggled to fight the North Vietnamese for one simple reason; they did not know the land. The Vietnamese had several advantages though this, one, they could use guerrilla hit-and-run tactics, absolutely ideal when fighting a larger, superior force. Two, they could use their knowledge to lay traps, and plan ambushes when and where they saw fit. Three, their soldiers blended in with the general population, allowing them to hid in plan sight, and evade our soldiers. Whereas, the American soldiers would stick out like a sore thumb, plus they would not know the native language. Four, they felt like they were defending their homeland, which drove them to fight harder and fiercer and helped to gather support from the populace.
Word count: 134
Part 3:
Much of the public's View on the Vietnam war was influenced by lies told by the Government, and those lies had far reaching effects. The lies started during Lyndon B
B. Johnson's administration, but they continued throughout Nixon and Kennedy's administrations. The people were lied to by not only the presidents, but senior U.S. government and military officials. As goals changed and chaos mounted, these U.S. officials then became driven by concerns about saving face. Image-making and image-saving took precedence over reality. The truth about Vietnam, that the U.S. was actually losing the war, hurt. So it was denied, especially in public discourse.
Word Count: 103
Part 4:
As the war dragged on, despite positive by the presidents, the American people began to grow restless. They started doubting the government, and protesting the war, saying that America had no business being in the war, and that the war was too expensive, both in lives and material cost. They were sick of American blood being shed for a cause that no one believed in anymore. They were frustrated and even fearful of the government, afraid of what other lies the government may have told them or secrets they might be hiding. People expressed all this pent up fear, frustration, and anger in mass protests and draft dodging, their way of telling the Government that they were still answerable to the people.
Word Count: 122 words
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