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How Did The Vietnam War Changed American Society

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The Vietnam War drastically changed how Americans viewed their country. The US emerged from World War II as a world superpower and as a country where patriotism meant serving one’s country and following authority’s orders. However, in the 1960s, the discontent of many minority groups who believed that the “American Dream” was only obtainable by a select few, led to many social changes in the US. This discontent also fueled the many individuals who questioned what the US was doing fighting communism on the other side of the world. The Vietnam War divided American society at home on their views on national pride, police protection and justice, and trust in the US government, and also changed Americans view of their countries nobility. During
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The United States was directly involved in the Vietnam War from 1964 through 1974. A major event in this war was the Tet Offensive, which profoundly affected American history by impacting our politics, economy, military, and society. The Tet Offensive affected politics by influencing the presidential elections of 1968. It affected the American economy, boosting personal prosperity with new jobs but greatly increasing the national debt, due mainly to the vast amounts of money spent on the war effort after the Tet Offensive. The military was affected by the offensive because of America’s increased involvement in South Vietnam, and the fact that many people in the military realized that this was a war we could not win.

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In A Viet Cong Memoir, we receive excellent first hands accounts of events that unfolded in Vietnam during the Vietnam War from the author of this autobiography: Truong Nhu Tang. Truong was Vietnamese at heart, growing up in Saigon, but he studied in Paris for a time where he met and learned from the future leader Ho Chi Minh. Truong was able to learn from Ho Chi Minh’s revolutionary ideas and gain a great political perspective of the conflicts arising in Vietnam during the war. His autobiography shows the readers the perspective of the average Vietnamese citizen (especially those involved with the NLF) and the attitudes towards war with the United States. In the book, Truong exclaims that although many people may say the Americans never lost on the battlefield in Vietnam — it is irrelevant.

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The American culture began to change after World War II. Everyone wanted to settle down after the war, who wouldn't want to start a family after surviving a world war? “They wanted to settle down and start something of their own” says Bill Smith, a baby boomer and Vietnam veteran. This change of culture consisted of many men who had just gotten out of the war to move to suburban areas and have children. The veterans were seeking happiness.

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After World War II, American society changed dramatically. One change was the GI Bill. This bill provided for veterans after the war. The benefits to this bill was low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business, cash payments for college, and one year of unemployment compensation. Another change was the population shift.

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“American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and our National Identity” is a book that takes us through 20 years of the War in Vietnam from about 1955 to 1975. The Vietnam War is the second longest war in US history encompassing 5 presidents which include Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. Appy’s book gives a unique American perspective on incredible, horrifying, and inspiring stories in Vietnam as well as American. Through Apps book readers learn about different communism containment methods that America used. Readers also learn about different methods of attack on Vietnam from an American standpoint and how the different failures of the US army and US politicians turned many heads into hard truths about the war.

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In World War 1 a lot changed for the United States. One things that changed was their foreign policy. We know it changed because they went from a period of isolationism to being involved in world affairs. We are going to look at how the war changed American society, why they entered the war, and the foreign policy change. During World War 1 a lot changed about American society.

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The big failure America in the Vietnam War is the shameful history of tragic scene for arrogant American, whose pain is still difficult to ease. The crucial event also had a profound impact on today 's international situation. It is believed that the failure included political, economic, military and cultural background and other aspects, which are that common. When it comes to the controversial subject, I hope to put forward some fresh views from where I stand. 1.

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It is quite difficult to compare two wars that happened 180 years apart from each other, the Vietnam war 1955 to 1975, and the American Revolutionary war 1775 to 1783. Yes, both wars are all that different from each other, in fact I would say that they were the two least similar wars in American history. These wars are very similar because they both used guerilla warfare, a form of irregular warfare that uses tactics such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, and mobility to fight a larger less mobile military force. However a major difference in the wars was that the Revolutionary war was fought to gain independence, while the Vietnam war was fought to maintain independence. Another difference is that the U.S. were ‘Victors’ in the Revolutionary war, and were not so in the Vietnam war.

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The American Revolution was a war fought by American colonies to gain independence from the British control. The American Revolution was caused by a series of events. It all started with the French and Indian War in 1754. At the end of the war, King George III issued the proclamation of 1763 which prohibited colonists to settle beyond the Appalachian Mountains, many colonists took great offense at this order.  The war between Britain and France caused Britain to be deeply in debt and demanded tax from the colonies.

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The rise of many technological advancements such as television had the advantage of visual images and its ability to reach many Americans around the United States, which did not exist in previous wars. The fact that violence was viewed in large scale in the homes of many Americans made the antiwar protests and the Vietnam War extremely personal and surreal. This affected many Americans in their views of the war. American press and Journalists in the Vietnam war had heavily influenced the outcome of the war. Where before the US media had given the Americans back home the impression that the war would soon end, Journalists had not experienced war at first hand to such a scale and were shocked by what they were seeing and the ferocity of the

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1101 Words | 5 Pages

“I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it” - George McGovern. There are numerous controversial topics dispersed among the subject of American history due to the amount of unethical decisions that have been made in order to improve the lives of the people or keep America out of the clutches of war. Throughout American history, historians have debated the ethical impact that the Vietnam war had on the United States. Although some people may believe that the Vietnam War achieved the goal of avoiding communism and protecting the people, the overarching idea is that it was an unjust war because of the countless lives that were lost from the participating countries, the

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The war in Vietnam to do this day has gone down as one of the influential and controversial wars in United States history. The war lasted from 1955 to 1975.The nation as a whole began to uproar over the war and the major consequences of the war. There were many reasons why so many Americans were against the war. Public opinion steadily turned against the war following 1967 and by 1970 only a third of Americans believed that the U.S. had not made a mistake by sending troops to fight in Vietnam (Wikipedia). Not to mention, many young people protested because they were the ones being drafted while others were against the war because the anti-war movement grew increasingly popular among the counterculture and drug culture in American society and

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When many soldiers returned to America, they were accepted back by their friends and family, even if it was difficult for them to adjust to civilian life. While explaining what soldiers experienced when they returned, the article, “Design and Methods of the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study” describes, “In the decade following the May 17, 1975 proclamation by President Gerald R. Ford that the “Vietnam Era” was over, controversy arose concerning the well-being of the men and women who served in the war and returned to civilian life. One faction believed that Vietnam veterans had answered the Nation’s call, served honorably, and returned successfully to civilian life; another believed that for an important minority of Vietnam veterans ‘the war was not yet over’” (Schlenger). While some people were supportive of the veterans when they returned, others who had been against the war saw them as a large problem in America.

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Martin Luther King Jr, in the speech “Beyond Vietnam - A time to Break Silence,” uses personal experiences and vivid language to argue that the US made wrong decisions in handling the communism issue involving the US, North and South Vietnam. King beings his argument by using personal

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765 Words | 4 Pages

The Vietnam War was a war the United States should have never been involved in. The “Domino Theory” was a direct cause of the war. The war resulted in much death; innocent civilians and young Americans were killed. The Vietnam war also resulted in rioting, distrust for the United States government, and the loss of many lives. 58,000 Americans were killed and 300,000 were wounded.

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