...Women’s Role in Vietnam War: An Annotated Bibliography Thesis: Women played a very significant role during the Vietnam War in the 1950’s and 60’s. Their active voluntary involvement which included mainly nursing was a big help for the United States soldiers as they aided South Vietnam during the war. Source 1: Elshtain, Bethke, Jean. Women and War. New York; Basic Books, Inc., Publishers. 1987. Women who were voluntary nurses during the Vietnam War cared for the soldiers physically but also mentally. Often some soldiers late at night would come to the nurses and talk to them about their families at home or their significant other. These talks would help get the soldiers mind off the war and help them relax as they were stressing over the battles in Vietnam. Sometimes soldiers would ask nurses to even marry them so that they could die as marry men. This relationship between nurses and the soldiers was not perceived well by other people at the time. Many nurses were called “sluts” because of their late night visits with the soldiers. After the war nurses were viewed negatively by the public. It wasn’t until years later where women where seen as heroes during the Vietnam War. In this source of information it tells you more about the personal relationships the nurses had with the soldiers and how they helped the men cope mentally. This is also a pretty reliable source because it states real life situations and relationships that actually happened during the Vietnam War. This...
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...The Vietnam War was an extremely controversial and divided time in American History. From the government lying to the public, media favoring an anti-war viewpoint, to the graphic images and stories of what was occurring an ocean away, many people were affected by the war and lives were changed from it. Many are still alive today to tell their stories. Two different people were interviewed, one who experienced the war from the eyes of an teenager at home, and the other an Air Force veteran that served in the war. Their stories and the thousands of others from the time will help us to learn more of the mistakes, triumphs, and the effects on the people from the Vietnam War. The first person that was interviewed was my grandfather, Roy Lenza. Roy...
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...The role of the media in the Vietnam War Media brought the horrors of the Vietnam War into everyone’s house. It showed people the sensational news that were going on in Vietnam during the war. This caused people to have a wrong opinion about the war, soldiers, and what their country was fighting for. For example, Richard M. Nixon said “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now”. Even though, the media was broadcasting some parts of the war instead of the whole picture, it was better than it used to be. During fifties, people were able to get visual information about the war only in theaters; therefore, it was mostly based on propaganda and not truth. In early sixties, 90 percent of the United States population had TV in their house and they were able to get information about the war. This caused people to create some effective anti- war movements that helped to bring this horrifying war to an end. Television coverage of the war was not balanced and objective. It was not showing the big picture of the war and the truth about it. Television was broadcasting only some sensational news about the war and that influenced American citizens in a bad way. Media almost never mentioned what communism was; therefore, people did not know what their country was fighting for and why so many innocent people were dying. Moreover, American people did not know what should...
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...communist forces in Vietnam in the years 1963-1968? Some people may believe that the growing opposition in the US was the main factor towards Johnsons failure to beat communism due to reasons such as the failure of US tactics and US morale hitting rock bottom. However there are a variety of other factors which may also have had an input, these include the extreme amount of media coverage and youth/civil rights protests. Firstly, it is obvious that the failure of US tactics, leading to opposition within the us, played a vital role towards Johnsons failure at beating the communists. This is after the US public realised that various tactics such as Operation Rolling Thunder, Search And Destroy Missions and Chemical Warfare often harmed innocent people, causing am outrage at the way the war was being fought. This is then further displayed by how between the years 63-68, 3895 US soldiers were killed in Vietnam, ending in many calls for Johnson to pull out of Vietnam, a war which many believed the USA had no place to be involved in. Johnson knew the public opinion was extremely important due to the fast approaching election, and so couldn’t push the army to its full potential due to fear of losing his place as president, thus showing how the growing opposition in the USA was responsible for Johnsons failure to defends communist forces in the years 1963-68. On the other hand, I can easily be argued that the extensive amount of media coverage the US was getting in Vietnam could have been...
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...Peloponnesian War vs. Vietnam War -Both were initiated because of the difference and collapse of conventional values. In the Peloponnesian War (metaphorical/symbolic) and Clouds aspect (physical) -Main message that if you stray away from traditional values or challenge the authority of old values, it will lead to consequences -Importance of key alliances – those with more power always won (Sparta and South Vietnam won) -There is the parallel of Pericle’s death in the Peloponnesian War and John F. Kennedy’s assassination in the Vietnam War – both were respected and held as important political leaders -In Clouds, Pheidippedes is forced to attend the Thoughtery by his father Strepsiades in order to win a debate against creditors. However, instead of acting exactly as his father wanted, Pheidippedes turns against his father and argues that he should be able to hit his father and mother like how his father hits him. On the other hand, North Vietnam was creating havoc by trying to unify Vietnam under communist belief but failed causing a huge number of fatalities. These two are similar in that in both situations two parties who didn’t want to be involved were forced against their will and it caused a bigger conflict than before. -In both Lysistrata and Hair, it talks about individuals who don’t want to partake in the war. In Lysistrata it talks about women who want their husbands and sons to be withdrawn from the war while in Hair it’s about individuals themselves who want...
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...Canadian Involvement in the Vietnam War; Playing Both Sides. Although Canada “officially non-belligerent” in the war against Vietnam they were active and played a huge role for and against the war. It is a common belief that Canada’s position during the Vietnam War was strictly neutral but the government was more involved than many Canadians realize. The Canadian government aided the U.S by sending Medical equipment, providing technical assistance as well as diplomatic aid. In 1981, it was discovered that Canada had been secretly involved in testing U.S chemical warfare agents for Vietnam. The Canadian government also welcomed about 30,000 American war resisters and draft-dodgers who did not support the war across the Canadian borders; at the same time about 30,000 Canadians crossed the border to volunteer to help the U.S soldiers fight in Vietnam. Scholars like Jessica Squires spoke on The Canadian Anti-Draft Movement, which “was a network of groups in Canadian cities that actively supported the immigration of War resisters”. This Network was active from 1966-1973 and its activities were seen as a sort of resistance to the American War on Vietnam. At this time in the early 1970s there had been protests and demonstrations in Canada and various parts of the world, which denounced the war on Vietnam and the actions if the U.S Government and this Anti-Draft Movement was one of the ways Canadians were able to influence or oppose the Vietnam War. In 1966, Hans Sinn...
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...The Vietnam war was an eleven-year conflict between the US and the divided country of Vietnam. The North Vietnamese sought out to reunify the country of Vietnam, while the Americans wanted to controlled the communist expansion by providing aid and soldier to the South Vietnamese. The pentagon spent 77.8 billion in the duration of this war(Bell). In 1961 the south vietnam signed a military economic aid treaty with US. In 1965 the us began air raids on the north vietnamese. By the late 1972 the US had neither the military capability nor political supports to continue the war. The true belief of the mission and goal in the conflict was never entirely clear. The Americans justification of helping the South Vietnamese was never fully understood...
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...Anyone know about the symbolism in ‘A Quiet American’ by Graham Greene? | Pyle represents the idealistic New Age America, thirsty for heroism. Phuong represents pre-war Vietnam, passive, innocent. What exactly does Fowler represent? Is it the wisdom and world-weariness of Old Europe or Britain’s involvement in the war simply for personal gain? | The symbolism of the individual characters has to be placed within the context of colonialism, since that was the relationship between the nations they each represented. Pyle's motives are far from heroic. An idealism that is motivated by interventionism in a Third World country's affairs can be dangerous and destructive, not only in the way Graham Greene saw it in the early fifties, but as history proved it by the events that unfolded years later, leading to the US war in Viet Nam. Or for what is happening now in Iraq, if you will. Fowler had the "old colonialist" wisdom that questioned Pyle's justification for violence. He had already learned that "democracy" is something many countries neither understand nor want, and any foreign attempt to impose it is doomed to failure. I don't know that this helps, but I can't see the novel any other way. | | Outline of characters | Thomas Fowler is a British journalist in his fifties who has been covering the French war in Viet Nam for over two years. He meets a young American idealist named Alden Pyle, who is a student of York Harding. Harding's theory is that neither Communism nor...
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...The anti-Vietnam war movement in the late 1900’s played an incredibly important role in American history due to the powerful combination of young students with drive, radical leaders, and the way the movement aimed to involve the whole country. The Kent State Shooting was a major catalyst for the anti-Vietnam war efforts and could be considered a symbol for the movement because it exemplified the incredible ambition of the movement’s supporters but also the tension and violence which arose as a result of it. The Vietnam War was the most unpopular war in United States (US) history. This was due to many factors: its length, arguably unnecessary amount of death and destruction (in the US and Vietnam), and the establishment of aggressive media coverage for anti-war protests. It was essentially a proxy war between the United States and Soviet Union. Following a policy of containment designed to keep Communism from spreading, the United States provided military and financial support for the anti-Communists in South Vietnam. Opposing them was North Vietnam, which at the time was primarily controlled by the Vietcong, Communist-led guerrilla fighters. By 1963, the US had...
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...The Vietnam War between USA with South Vietnam and North Vietnam with Viet Cong had lasted about 10 years and had many significant consequences. Therefore, it’s one of the most important wars in the recent years and has possessed many resonances so far. It is an unforgettable war for the USA because it has unexpectedly lost the war. The USA has lost the war against a fragile,undeveloped country which is North Vietnam. USA has lost the war against a fragile,undeveloped country which is North Vietnam. There has been a lot of controversies about this war so far. These controversies are concentrated on the moral dimension of the war. In other words, the experts and the analysts are concerned about whether this war is just or not. The Vietnam War can’t be considered as just war when we evaluate it with the aid of the Jus Ad Bellum critters. It doesn’t meet the 6 critters such as just cause, comparative justice, legitimate authority, right intention, probability of success and last resort. First of all, the USA doesn’t have a just cause to declare a war against North Vietnam and Viet Cong. In this war, USA struggles against communism and wants to terminate the so-called dangerous activities of the North Vietnam and Viet Cong founded by Ho Min Cinh in South Vietnam. USA doesn’t correct a suffered wrong here although it regards communism as great public evil. Western countries which adopt liberalism disapprove communism and they think that communism have to be removed. In this war, USA...
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... The Vietnam War left many scars on the people of the United States and had an even greater effect on the country. The reputation of our country changed as people began to have different views on the government, people’s constitutional rights, and the proper role of the media. The changing of perspectives of the people led to the country being split and angry. The Vietnam War was a fight over the government’s power, the war itself, and the draft for the war. The Truman doctrine was created to make sure the South Vietnamese did not become communist. America began to send in massive amounts of money to Vietnam in hopes that it would not become communist. Vietnam was previously property of the French empire. During World War II the Japanese seized control of Vietnam. The communism of the Vietnamese was meant to be an opposition to the Japanese. France then later tried to take Vietnam back but failed. The United States had sent in money to France but when the Japanese defeated France the United States was forced to send money and military advisors to South Vietnam. By 1960, America sent in troops to Vietnam to fight in a war that eventually led to fifty-eight thousand Americans losing their lives. The subsequent loss on the Vietnamese side was even greater than that. The long standing war ended up costing $150 billion dollars. American intervention began in 1955 when the first military advisors came into power. Many of the government’s agencies became involved in the war at home...
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...Chapter 4 Rapprochement and Normalization United States during the 1960’s • Vietnam war- US involvement in the War took place from 1965-1975 with over 536,100 troops stationed overseas. The Results of this war was withdrawal of American forces from Indochina and a Communist takeover of South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. • Tet Offensive- Attacks that began on Vietnamese New Year 1968 that targeted military and civilians throughout South Vietnam. This was the turning point of the war and lead public opinion of the war in the US as unfavorable. • US draft- During the was 25% of United States Armed forces were draftees, with about 30% being combat deaths. • Many questioned US commitment to Vietnam with the cost of casualties, supplies, and...
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...Assignment 2.2: Policeman of the World Final Paper Professor: Reagan Smith HIS105 – Contemporary U.S. History 3/15/14 Since gaining independence from the British in 1776, the United States foreign policy over the years has gone from expansionist to isolationism to defending democracy. With the responsibility of defending democratic rights for those who cannot defend themselves, the United States in my opinion has taken on the role of “policeman of the world.” This role became more evident with the use of U.S. military force in international incidents like U.S. intervention in the 2011 Libyan Civil War to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and U.S. involvement in the 2011 Yemeni Civil War protesting the leadership of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Despite the United States being hailed as a defender of democracy by some, their actions are usually not selfless. In both situations protecting United States interests was a major factor. Both Libya and Yemen are hot beds for terrorist activity by radical groups like al-Qaeda. The United States keeps tabs on the activities of these groups in an effort to intercept information to thwart acts of terrorism, particularly against Americans. Leadership in these vulnerable countries is of great interest to the United States because some regimes are sympathetic to these militant groups. A lack of clear leadership in these countries also poses a threat to U.S. interests because a lapse in leadership can lead to militant...
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...Policemen of the World Assignment 2.2: Final Paper Erika Wood Contemporary U.S. History September 9, 2014 Since gaining independence from the British in 1776, the United States foreign policy over the years has gone from expansionist to isolationism to defending democracy. With the responsibility of defending democratic rights for those who cannot defend themselves, the United States in my opinion has taken on the role of “policeman of the world.” This role became more evident with the use of U.S. military force in international incidents like U.S. intervention in the 2011 Libyan Civil War to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and U.S. involvement in the 2011 Yemeni Civil War protesting the leadership of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Regardless of the United States being hailed as a defender of democracy by some, their actions are usually not selfless. In both situations protecting United States interests was a major factor. Both Libya and Yemen are hot beds for terrorist activity by radical groups like al-Qaeda. The United States keeps tabs on the activities of these groups in an effort to intercept information to thwart acts of terrorism, particularly against Americans. Leadership in these vulnerable countries is of great interest to the United States because some regimes are sympathetic to these militant groups. A lack of clear leadership in these countries also poses a threat to U.S. interests because a lapse in leadership can lead to militant groups...
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...The Causes of the Vietnam War The Vietnam War is now considered as one of the most distressing moments during the 20th Century. The Vietnam War was caused by many factors that contributed to the war in Vietnam during the years of 1959 to April 30, 1975. This war just prolonged the struggles between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam. Most of the factors that contribute to the war were the beliefs by a lot of people who wanted to prevent Vietnam of becoming an Independent Country. There are many people who suffered a lot due to this war going on and still due to this day people still picturing how they fought the war. What were the causes of the Vietnam War? Why did the United States become involved in this war? Why did the Vietnam War have such a huge impact both on the Vietnam and the United States? What was the impact that Ho Chi Minh had during the War? One of the most important features when describing the Vietnam War was why the United States became involved in the war, and their reasons for conflict amongst the Vietnamese in the North of the 17th Parallel. It is known that the US was involved for many reasons, particularly their belief in the Domino theory where if one country fell to Communism, the rest of South-East Asia would fall along with it. There are many other reasons why the United States became involved in this war. There are many reasons why the United States became involved was them being concerned with Vietnam and that would lead...
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