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The impact of the Vietnam War on American society
Analyze the United States policy of Containment in Vietnam
The impact of the Vietnam War on American society
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Question 1: For many Americans, the 1960s began with JFK’s “Age of Camelot,” an era that seemed to exude confidence in American institutions. Yet, by the early 1970s, those expectations and attitudes seemed to be replaced by a sense of bitterness and cynicism. Discuss and analyze the causes and consequences of this profound attitudinal shift.
Question 3: How did official US policy towards Vietnam change between 1950 and 1975? How did American leaders link events in Vietnam to national security interests? How did the American public react to the war in the sixties and early seventies?
Answer: These two questions are so intertwined with one another that combining the two answers is the most efficient way of telling the story. Vietnam was a legacy of Kennedy and a primary reason for the split in American society.
I think one of the biggest reasons for such a change in American’s ideas and confidence comes from a major generational gap. The difference between the WWII era citizens (“the greatest generation”) and their children (“baby boomers”) is dramatic and holds within itself some of the keys to the answer. The answer also lies within sociological and political changes that occurred in and around the 60’s.
During WWII, America had devoted itself almost entirely to the war effort. Countless numbers of able-bodied men were in the service in the Pacific and European theaters. Millions of women went to work in the factories and industries that had converted to full time war production. Food and raw materials such as rubber and oil were rationed and sacrificed. It is an easy conclusion to draw that WWII had affected every American. Like the previous generation, this last war was seen as the war to end wars. It was the bloodiest in all of humanity. Millions upon millions were killed. Entire European nations were wiped out. In America, returning troops and civilians though America had fought and won the “good” fight. In the late forties, and entire generation was born into one of the most prosperous times in American history.
This new generation, which would come of age during the 1960’s, grew up with a different perspective for America. In such a prosperous time, more people went to college than ever before. People had more time and money to begin analyzing social issues with a greater sense of criticism.
Following the victories of the U.S., Britain, Fren...
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...74, congress begins to line up for impeachment. Barry Goldwater, a fellow Republican, tells Nixon that the Republicans in Congress won’t be backing Nixon. Upon Learning of this, Nixon resigns. This coup-de-tat is the last of the blows to the image of the American Government to the citizens.
Throughout the sixties, the social climate of America changed. The decade started out with hope for the future. Kennedy symbolized youth and prosperity in America. His social beliefs and strong stance on communism allowed Americans to have hope for the future and belief in their government. However after Kennedy’s death, Johnson’s strong social programs were no match for the Vietnam Conflict. As the conflict itself changed from one of containment to one of full scale war, Americans were deceived into believing the war was going their way. As social issues of the day worsened, the new generation took to the streets to protest and become involved. When Nixon became president, the country was given even more chaos and scandal with Watergate and belief in the government failed. All of the events of the sixties symbolize the change from hope and belief in the government to the change to distain.
The 1960s were turbulent years. The United States was unpopularly involved in the war in Vietnam, and political unrest ran high at colleges and universities across the country.
With the 1960s and 1970s, came a growing need for change among the American people. A previously dominant liberal government was not taking a hard enough stance on the fight to end communism. All it took, was a final nudge to shift the vote from democratic to republican.
JOHN F. KENNEDY IN VIETNAM There are many critical questions surrounding United States involvement in Vietnam. American entry to Vietnam was a series of many choices made by five successive presidents during the years of 1945-1975. The policies of John F. Kennedy during the years of 1961-1963 were ones of military action, diplomacy, and liberalism. Each of his decisions was on its merits at the time the decision was made. The belief that Vietnam was a test of the Americas ability to defeat communists in Vietnam lay at the center of Kennedys policy.
During the post WWII period in America, the face of the nation changed greatly under the presidency of Truman and Eisenhower. America underwent another era of good feelings as they thought themselves undefeatable and superior over the rest of the world. Communism was the American enemy and American sought to rid the world of it. Because of the extreme paranoia caused by Communism, conformity became an ideal way to distinguish American Culture from the rest. Conformity became a part of every American Life to a large extent. It became evident through the medium of culture, society and politics throughout the era of the 50s.
The Sixties, by Terry H. Anderson, takes the reader on a journey through one of the most turbulent decades in American life. Beginning with the crew-cut conformity of 1950s Cold War culture and ending with the transition into the uneasy '70s, Anderson notes the rise of an idealistic generation of baby boomers, widespread social activism, and revolutionary counterculture. Anderson explores the rapidly shifting mood of the country with the optimism during the Kennedy years, the liberal advances of Johnson's "Great Society," and the growing conflict over Vietnam that nearly tore America apart. The book also navigates through different themes regarding the decade's different currents of social change; including the anti-war movement, the civil rights struggle, and the liberation movements. From the lunch counter sit-in of Greensboro, N.C. in 1960 and the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Black Power movement at the decade's end, Anderson illustrates the brutality involved in the reaction against civil rights, the radicalization of some of the movement's youth, and the eventual triumphs that would change America forever. He also discusses women's liberation and the feminist movement, as well as the students' rights, gay rights, and environmental movements.
In the duration of one year, 1968, the American national mood shifted from general confidence and optimism to chaotic confusion. Certainly the most turbulent twelve months of the post-WWII period and arguably one of the most disturbing episodes the country has endured since the Civil War, 1968 offers the world a glimpse into the tumultuous workings of a revolution. Although the entire epoch of the 1960's remains significant in US history, 1968 stands alone as the pivotal year of the decade; it was the moment when all of the nation's urges toward violence, sublimity, diversity, and disorder peaked to produce a transformation great enough to blanket an entire society. While some may superficially disagree, the evidence found in the Tet Offensive, race relations, and the counterculture's music of the period undeniably affirm 1968 as a turning point in American history.
The 1950s seemed like a perfect decade. The rise of suburbs outside cities led to an expansion of the middle class, thus allowing more Americans to enjoy the luxuries of life. The rise of these suburbs also allowed the middle class to buy houses with land that used to only be owned by more wealthy inhabitants. Towns like Levittown-one of the first suburbs- were divided in such a way that every house looked the same (“Family Structures”). Any imperfections were looked upon as unfavorable to the community as a whole. Due to these values, people today think of the 1950s as a clean cut and model decade. This is a simplistic perception because underneath the surface, events that took place outside the United States actually had a direct effect on our own country’s history. The rise of Communism in Russia struck fear into the hearts of the American people because it seemed to challenge their supposedly superior way of life.
Due to a conglomerate of factors at work in the 1960s there was a growing sense among the American white working class that they would ultimately be completely left out of an ever-evolving, ever-changing America, come the end of the 1970s. Some of the aforementioned factors, namely, are the Civil Rights movements, the economic shifts brought on by political policy changes, and the ever-present controversy surrounding the ongoing Vietnam War. The issue of Civil Rights, and for example, integration, was incredible polarizing in that it caused a great divide and debate among many American demographics. Economically, America was reacting to the effects of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency with the growing impact of policies such as welfare, and
The events before and during the Boston Massacre of 1770 affected Hewes personally. The first of which was when he was cheated in payment from Sergeant Mark Burk. He claimed to be picking up shoes for Captain Thomas Preston and in the process didn’t pay Hewes for the shoes.
The 1960’s and early 1970’s were a time that eternally changed the culture and humanity of America. It was a time widely known for peace and love when in reality; many minorities were struggling to gain a modicum of equality and freedom. It was a time, in which a younger generation rebelled against the conventional norms, questioning power and government, and insisting on more freedoms for minorities. In addition, an enormous movement began rising in opposition to the Vietnam War. It was a time of brutal altercations, with the civil rights movement and the youth culture demanding equality and the war in Vietnam put public loyalty to the test. Countless African-Americans, Native-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, women, and college students became frustrated, angry, and disillusioned by the turmoil around them.
The 1970s can be best understood as a transitional period in America. Starting in the 1950s, the power of the youth was on the rise, through civil rights activism and anti-war protests. This decade’s ideal citizen seemed to be the person helping others. Then the 1980s are more financially centered and individualistic. This decade’s ideal citizen is the one who measured success by how much money they made. The 1970s proved to be a time of bitterness, cynicism, and increased interest in one’s self for most of the people in America. Some of the events that contributed to this were the Kent State Massacre, Roe v. Wade, and the economic stagflation that happened in the latter part of the decade.
Although the sixties were a decade in which the United States became a more open, more tolerant, and a freer country, in some ways it became less of these things. During the sixties, America intervened in other nations and efforts were made to stop the progress of the civil rights movement. Because of America’s foreign policy and Americans fight against the civil rights movement, it is clear that the sixties in America were not purely a decade of openness, tolerance, and freedom in the United States.
“Some damn his [Tolkien’s] fiction for its old-fashioned, misogynistic depiction of women. […] Tolkien presents a society […] in which women have traditionally been seen as decorative but ultimately powerless, as pawns in a man’s world” (Neville, 101). This has been one of the criticisms that are often believed about the women in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Some have said that the reason for it could be the much of Tolkien’s world is based on Germanic culture, in which women have traditional roles. Others have alleged that the women are this way because of the view of a woman’s place in society at the time that Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings. Yet when looking at these women, they seem far from weak powerless pawns of men. Tolkien’s women
The Hippie Movement changed the politics and the culture in America in the 1960s. When the nineteen fifties turned into the nineteen sixties, not much had changed, people were still extremely patriotic, the society of America seemed to work together, and the youth of America did not have much to worry about, except for how fast their car went or what kind of outfit they should wear to the Prom. After 1963, things started to slowly change in how America viewed its politics, culture, and social beliefs, and the group that was in charge of this change seemed to be the youth of America. The Civil Rights Movement, President Kennedy’s death, new music, the birth control pill, the growing illegal drug market, and the Vietnam War seemed to blend together to form a new counterculture in America, the hippie.
“The Lord of the Rings” is a perfect example of a myth about gender-roles. Gender-roles are very much entangled in this trilogy because power and who it is associated with is important. Often times in the movie we hear “take the women and children to safety” followed by men leaving fully geared for battle. This depicts women as people who cannot defend themselves. While at the same time we see a woman break this notion and chose to go to war with the men to die for what she holds dear. Another case of gender-roles is through the hobbits who are depicted as powerless children yet are able to achieve tremendous feats. Through these cases we can see that the cultural truth-value from “The Lord of the Rings” is that of “gender should not dictate what one can or cannot do”.