Duty, Honor, Country
“I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong… No Viet Cong ever called me nigger” was
popularized by Muhammad Ali when he refused to join the American troops in fighting the Vietnam War.
Critics questioned how he easily said “No.” What does this say about his honor and duty for the country?
Although he had different beliefs from other people, as many as 500,000 American troops were deployed
to aid the South Vietnamese government against the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern
allies, the Viet Cong. The military draft increased and many protested against the war. Despite the amount
of ground troops, the United States failed to prevent a communist takeover in South Vietnam.
The U.S. involvement in the war was not due to the desire of winning the conflict. President John
F. Kennedy feared for that a communist victory would prompt communist movements throughout
Southeast Asia which would alter the Cold War balance of power. This so called “Domino Theory”
described that the fall of North Vietnam to communism would trigger all of Southeast Asia to follow and
react the same way. After Kennedy was assassinated, President Lyndon Johnson gained congressional
support for an unlimited U.S. military deployment. As the war in Vietnam worsened in 1966, the U.S.
drafted troops into the conflict. These men and women who accepted fought with honor as they
accomplished a difficult task that was given to them immediately. “Duty, honor, and country” is the motto
of the U.S. Military Academy and many of the Vietnam veterans exemplify these values.
Duty is defined as a responsibility, a moral or legal obligation. As Americans, we are obligated to
serve our country in the time of need. The U.S. was not...
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...ck it
out until the end. We can apply this lesson to our future soldiers so that they continue to have high morale
and continue to feel comfortable when completing the tasks that they are assigned to do. I am inspired by
the Vietnam generation to venture out and accomplish something that not everyone achieves.
Works Cited
Haugen, David M., and Susan Musser. The Vietnam War. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2011. Print.
"North Vietnam." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
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Spector, Ronald H. "Vietnam War (195475)."
Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia
Britannica, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
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"Vietnam War." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
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Anderson, D. (2002). The Columbia guide to the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press.
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
war, "I never figured out what you guys who got me into all that trouble were saying." In
...ritten about Brown. It was entitled, "John Brown's Body". Union soldiers would chant and sing this song as they marched. After the worst defeats they would use it to cheer themselves up.
The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial issues in American history. It is no secret that the American public was not in favor of this war, which is why the government’s decision to keep the US involved for over ten years created such a disconnect between America’s people and their government. In the third verse the Temptations sing, “People all over the world are shouting 'End the war.'” The Temptations bravely attack the government, addressing their continuation of a war no one wants. Although The Temptations avoid explicitly naming the war, or the government as the guilty party, it is evident that this is a criticism, or at least an acknowledgement of a predicament America found itself in.
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.
The Vietnam War was a very mismanaged war but our involvement was very crucial. Some people believe that the side we were on was wrong, and the author of this completely agrees. Ho Chi Minh was really a quite conservative communist leader. He was fair and he was also was balanced. He treated his people very fairly. The beliefs of the author are that if Truman would have not set the precedent of opposing all communist leaders than the Vietnam War would have been a lot different.
America and the Gulf of Tonkin: Before the US sent combat troops in 1965, they had been supplying thousands upon thousands of military advisors, such as the Green Berets, to help train the South Vietnamese. Speaking of the Green Berets, they are forever immortalized, or vilified by many, in the song The Ballad of the Green Berets. The song, written by a former Green Beret, was received quite differently depending on who was listening. To some it was a patriotic march. To many others it was an over glorification of a death that didn’t have to happen.
... all involved. President Johnson was determined to have a limited involvement in the war without involving the legal approval of Congress or the knowledge of the people of America. McNamara and Taylor regularly lie to conceal actions. McMaster has written a thorough look at the decisions of all these men, which certainly shows a Dereliction of Duty.
Asia. Similar to Korea, Vietnam was in a civil war divided by political ideologies. (2) The Domino Effect is the idea that when one nation falls to communism, other nations around
At the time of the songs release the Vietnam War was in full swing, and became popular to the “silent majority”. The
Duty is a word defined in several ways by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. It is used to denote “a moral or legal obligation; the service required under specified conditions; and obligatory tasks, service, or functions that arise from one’s position”. It is a word used to speak of the performance of obligations to others in some fashion. In the poems, “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden; “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen; and “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, duty to family, to a nation, and to ancestors will be discussed and its effects on the characters in the poems.
American involvement sparked protest in the US, catalyzing a global youth movement. Nationalism in Vietnam not only united the people to fight the Japanese, French and Americans, but also cultivated communist leanings which caused U.S. intervention (Hunt 128). Ho Chi Minh, the leader in Vietnam, was first and foremost a nationalist revolutionary who used communism to rally the people. Harnessing anti-Japanese sentiment, and backed by the allies, he formed the Indochinese Communist Party to drive out the Japanese and implement land reform in the North Vietnam (Hunt 122). Ho Chi Minh used communist ideals to get support from China and the USSR, but was primarily a nationalist domestically. This connection was key to Cold War political tension because the United States got involved in Vietnam to prevent communism, mistaking it for nationalism. Robert McNamara, U.S. secretary of defence during the Vietnam War, reflected in this confusion by writing, “we also totally underestimated the nationalist aspect of Ho Chi Minh 's movement. We saw him first as a Communist and only second as a Vietnamese nationalist” (McNamara). Because of the confusion between nationalism and communism in Vietnam the United States got involved in an extensive conflict that would turn the country against its leadership and begin an anti-war youth movement in the 1960s that became a catalyst for youth movements in France, Mexico and Prague (Hunt 185). Through this succession from nationalism to communism and outside intervention, Vietnamese nationalism shifted global political realities during the cold
The Vietnam War marks a pivotal point in history as being the first war not decidedly won by one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations. It stands as one of the most polarized wars to date as an infamous example of how the will of the United States government and the will of people stood in direct opposition of each other. Although shrouded in a dense propagandist haze, I plan to show that despite the United States’ claims to defend the world against Communism, this war actually weakens and damages civil rights across the board, domestically and on foreign soil.
Vietnam was a struggle which, in all honesty, the United States should never have been involved in. North Vietnam was battling for ownership of South Vietnam, so that they would be a unified communist nation. To prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism, the U.S. held on to the Truman Doctrine and stood behind the South Vietnamese leader, Diem.