Essays on Vietnam War

The Vietnam War greatly changed America forever. It was the second longest war in American History, lasting about 10 years. Not only was the Vietnam war a long war, but it was quite possibly one of the most violent wars fought in history,, which of course nobody really wanted to be a part of, especially when they didn’t know what they were fighting for. This is shown in the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien , whom shares his memories of the Vietnam war through this novel. The ...

The United States has always been a country of the exceptional. We have been willing to partake in the deadliest and most decisive wars in the world's history to preserve freedom and justice abroad. We choose to remember the “Great Wars” such as the clear-cut WW2 which saw the triumph over fascism and full might of Americas industrial capacity. When the second great war ended, America emerged as a world power both monetarily and militarily with the largest and most well-equipped troops. A ...

United States’s sense of nationalism eventually began to grow again after the dispiriting loss of the Vietnam War. The reverberations of this loss also eventually contributed to major foreign policy issues. David Farber, author of Taken Hostage: The Iran Hostage Crisis and America’s First Encounter With Radical Islam, and other historians have argued that through a sort of domino effect the Vietnam War and “Vietnam syndrome” greatly influenced the formation of the Iranian hostage crisis in ...

The Vietnam War was a time in history where many different opinions caused opportunity for Americans to disagree with the government and each other. Individuals either chose to support the war or not and the largest impact was made by the people that decided to disagree. Unorganized demonstrations were formed to illustrate the hatred felt towards the Vietnam War. The different perspectives of the war from individual to individual varied so much that there was not just one reason to disagree ...

Originally, this paper was going to be about the extreme use, abuse, and effects of heroin within Vietnam war veterans post war. It was not just going to be about the statistics of the men with this affliction or even their use while in Vietnam but specifically the effects of the usage after war events, and the effects of the addiction on these soldiers’ lives and those around them. Upon doing some research, however, it was discovered that heroin addiction among these soldiers post war was ...

War impacts all, families, communities, countries and individuals most of all. The book A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo captures the ugliness of war in Vietnam and the arduous journeys the author had to face. In this paper, I will discuss Caputo’s trials and tribulations he had to face in the Vietnam war and how those experiences shaped his outlook and ideals 10 years after the war. Caputo’s vivid and captivating writing style immerses the reader into the hellish world experienced through ...

By the spring of 1965, a substantial number of U.S. combat troops had committed to the war. Upon this happening, The Vietnam War became a subject of large-scale news coverage in the United States. Prior to that time, only a small number of Americans reporters (fewer than two dozen even as late as 1964) were stationed in Indochina. At the height of the war in 1968, the number of reporters and journalist grew tremendously. “There were about 600 accredited journalists of all nationalities in ...

May 4th, 1970 played host to monstrous societal anarchy. Following demonstrations and revolting in resistance to the Vietnam War, the Ohio National Guard was sent to Kent State University to preserve peace. However, on this day, the National Guard stationed at Kent State open fired into a swarm of students. These fatal shots wounded nine, killed four and left a nation torn. American lives had been destroyed on American soil by American citizens and the consequences would have immense effects ...

In the 1980’s, the HIV/AIDS Epidemic began, which would lead to the death of “6 Million” by 1996 and would affect millions more. The film, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, follows the activist group in their mission to procure national recognition- by creating their own media outlet, and protesting-, and to ultimately obtain a fully functional and effective cure. In the groups attempts, one of the members, Ann Northrop, had come to the realization that the culture surrounding the ...

Forrest Gump, directed by Robert Zemeckis and the titular character played by Tom Hanks, tells of a lovable idiot who experiences great achievements throughout the later half of the 20th century. It utilizes historical fiction to capture the essence of the age and mood of the events it covers. Forrest, born right before the end of World War II in 1944, lives throughout the movie in the Cold War era. It occurs during a time of domestic tumult in America, with the Civil Rights Movement starting ...

In 1961 John F. Kennedy was elected as US president and focused on suppresing the insurgency in South Vietnam and warned Russians against aiding the guerillas. Some scholars argue that Kennedy entered the war very reluctantly. He chose to perpetuate a stalemate, as he feared the political consequences of withdrawal or massive escalation. Kennedy thought that a combination of American warnings, counter-insurgency advice and larger South Vietnamese forces would overcome National Liberation Front ...

The representation of the Vietnam War in video games is not always accurate, since video games emphasize particular historical narratives and restrict others. While a video game s historical boundary structure is shaped by what consumers consider to be ‘fun’ when playing. Games which are based on the Vietnam War attempt to re-script the war, replacing a period of self-doubt, uncertainty and rapture with the certainty of moral righteousness which is at the heart of a missionary form of American ...

Why did Nixon scuttle Johnsons' plan to end the War in Vietnam and who profited from that decision? Nixon feared that ending the war would hurt his chances for presidency, according to notes found by H.R. Haldeman. In Haldeman's notes he states that Nixon asked him to "monkey wrench" the Vietnam peace talks in 1968. This benefited Nixon the most because it made the public turn to the Republicans to end the war. Nixon later gave instruction's to Haldeman that an intermediary should keep ...