Brutal, lengthy, and traumatizing are all words that can be used to describe the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, which spanned from November 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975, was a conflict between the Communist North Vietnam (and their ally the Viet Cong) and South Vietnam (and their ally the United States of America). In the film “The Fog of War”, former United States Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara explains the lessons America learned from the changes made during and after the war. In 1965, the United States entered the Vietnam War which greatly impacted and altered the United States’ foreign policies, government, and society. Several changes made during this period impacted the United States for the better, such as the right to vote at eighteen,
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According to author Robert H. Reid, America did not want to enter the war due to the fact that Americans wanted to believe that the Communist North Vietnamese would simply retreat and not take the risk of starting a war with the world’s strongest military power. They came up with this belief through empathizing with their enemy(Lesson 1). According to McNamara, empathizing with your enemy worked by allowing you to put yourself in your enemy's shoes in order to understand their opinions and thought processes. McNamara’s theory is very similar to American sociologist George Herbert Mead’s concept of Role Taking, or taking the role of others in order to allow individuals to anticipate what to expect from others. However, America’s beliefs failed them because the Communist North Vietnamese did not back down or retreat. After this America had to take a second glance and reexamine their reasoning on how and why they believed that the North Vietnamese were fighting by this rule (Lesson 8). This was one of the first milestones that would eventually lead to America’s entrance into the Vietnam War. Another reason that America decided to get involved is because they wanted to keep the Communist North Vietnamese from spreading communism into Asia. During the Vietnam War America used the Domino Theory, which was first used in the Cold War by Dwight Eisenhower, They wanted to protect South …show more content…
One of the major impacts of the Vietnam War that put a roadblock in front of the United States Government was that their economy suffered major damage due to the fact that America spent 168 billion dollars during the course of this war. America spent this large sum of money mainly on weapons, food, machinery, and bombs. According to author Alan Rohn, in 1969 president Lyndon B. Johnson decided to start an income tax surcharge of 10% to fight the “War on Poverty” even though most economists believed he had put this into action too late. Furthermore, by Johnson introducing this income tax surcharge it also slowed the economy down significantly. Another factor that harmed the government was “Vietnam Syndrome”, which is the United States Government’s fear of intruding in other countries issues because they do not want to become involved in another Vietnam. According to author Alan Rohn, the government was afraid of becoming stuck in a war similar to Vietnam because that would cost American lives and destroy American prestige. The loss of the Vietnam War was also very humiliating to the people of the United States because it took away their confidence of the Government and United States Military. This factor leads right into the next factor that harmed the American Government, which is distrust of the government. During this time period, citizens of the
According to author Robert H. Reid, America did not want to enter the war due to the fact that Americans wanted to believe that the Communist North Vietnamese would simply retreat and not take the risk of starting a war with the world’s strongest military power. They came up with this belief through empathizing with their enemy(Lesson 1). According to McNamara, empathizing with your enemy worked by allowing you to put yourself in your enemy's shoes in order to understand their opinions and thought processes. McNamara’s theory is very similar to American sociologist George Herbert Mead’s concept of Role Taking, or taking the role of others in order to allow individuals to anticipate what to expect from others. However, America’s beliefs failed them because the Communist North Vietnamese did not back down or retreat. After this America had to take a second glance and reexamine their reasoning on how and why they believed that the North Vietnamese were fighting by this rule (Lesson 8). This was one of the first milestones that would eventually lead to America’s entrance into the Vietnam War. Another reason that America decided to get involved is because they wanted to keep the Communist North Vietnamese from spreading communism into Asia. During the Vietnam War America used the Domino Theory, which was first used in the Cold War by Dwight Eisenhower, They wanted to protect South …show more content…
One of the major impacts of the Vietnam War that put a roadblock in front of the United States Government was that their economy suffered major damage due to the fact that America spent 168 billion dollars during the course of this war. America spent this large sum of money mainly on weapons, food, machinery, and bombs. According to author Alan Rohn, in 1969 president Lyndon B. Johnson decided to start an income tax surcharge of 10% to fight the “War on Poverty” even though most economists believed he had put this into action too late. Furthermore, by Johnson introducing this income tax surcharge it also slowed the economy down significantly. Another factor that harmed the government was “Vietnam Syndrome”, which is the United States Government’s fear of intruding in other countries issues because they do not want to become involved in another Vietnam. According to author Alan Rohn, the government was afraid of becoming stuck in a war similar to Vietnam because that would cost American lives and destroy American prestige. The loss of the Vietnam War was also very humiliating to the people of the United States because it took away their confidence of the Government and United States Military. This factor leads right into the next factor that harmed the American Government, which is distrust of the government. During this time period, citizens of the