Long term effects of the Vietnam War on the Culture?
World War II was still fresh in people's mind and that war had been well viewed by Americans. Most Americans supported that war effort. That passion followed in Vietnam, but as the war progressed, the purpose and morality of the war began to be questioned. Why were Americans fighting and dying in Vietnam? Because of Communists? So what, they said. To this day, World War II remains "the last good war" meaning most Americans favoured it. Other long term effects has to be the music of the era. 70's Rock has had a major influenced on modern one. I would not classify rock and rock n'roll in different category. Just say music since there was more than just Rock and Rock n'roll. And the music and the hippies was connected. Artists tended to be doves, they also took drugs, had sex. But lets be careful, a hippie is not solely someone who does not believe in war. Being a hippie was a way of life. It was living in a commune in the woods, trying to avoid being materialistic.That was the idea. Wearing tye dye shirts, taking drugs, saying peace on earth was not what the Hippie movement was originally about. It might have been portrayed that way, but the real purpose was, anti-war, anti-materialistic, being closer to the planet
What were the long term effects of the Vietnam war?
For a horrible cost in lives lost in Vietnam, Laos , and Cambodia , other countries in south east Asia were given a decade to develop economically and politically in peace.Taiwan , Korea, Thailand, Malaysia . Nobody planned it that way.2 million dead Vietnamese so that individuals in South Korea are relatively rich and live in a democracy ? No idea how one does the accounting
What was/has been the effect of the Vietnam war on the United States of America?
It created divisions that are still there if you scratch the surface just a bit. In seven months, my high school class will hold its 50th reunion. At every previous reunion we have acknowledged the 5 members of the 1965 class of International Falls High School who died in Vietnam, certainly the most from any single class in Minnesota. While five died and scores were damaged -- many of them have also died prematurely --many of us made it through the draft years unscathed. I was one of them. Nevertheless, here are the lasting impacts for me:I have a hard time singing the national anthem at sporting events. During the Vietnam era patriotism became a weapon of reproach. "Love it or leave it."I have been to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington twice and traced the names of the five classmates each time. I was always shocked how close they were on the black wall. I knew each of the five and have specific memories of parties, of conversations. These were friends. When the Minnesota War Memorial in Minnesota was dedicated, I was there as my wife had created some of the artwork including the flagpole. The mother of a classmate, Woody Ewald, read aloud his final letter from Vietnam, which was filled with plans for when he got back home.I still own a singed draft card and am so glad that the draft disappeared after this war. That the difference between my going and not going was a lottery is just absurd. I am thankful that my son was never put under that pressure.I resent the division of Americans into two camps, hawks or doves, and see the gun crisis that is still raging in the country as an extension of this bifurcation. The hawks came back in George Bush's regime and drove us into another regretful war in Iraq.I have never trusted the average politician. I generally vote for people whom I feel are not going to lie to us on major issues. Paul Wellstone was a truth-telling politician. So was Bob Dole. Bill Clinton was not. After Lyndon Johnson and Richard M. Nixon, I disaffiliated myself from party loyalty. I hate liars because they have the tendency to tell lies.I feel that my whole generation was cheated. Whereas the generation of my parents was called the Greatest Generation, we were forced by men who were essentially members of that generation into a leaderless quagmire, following frauds like Robert McNamara. I feel that Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" is the Catcher in the Rye of the generation I live in.
What was the long term and short term causes of the Vietnam war?
In the long term the Vietnam War was a battlefield in the Cold War. It was where the USSR was trying to expand after being blocked in Europe in the 40s, and Northeast Asia (Korea) in the 50s. It was where the US was confronting and containing Communism in the 60s. Within the context of the Cold War the Vietnam War is easy to understand and defend as entirely justifiable on the part of the USA. The ONLY reason the US was involved in SEA in the late 50s through the early 70s was the Truman Doctrine of containment. There were NO short term causes for the Vietnam War. Attempts by critics to assign short term causes are attempts to make it seem like the American effort was unjustified and superficial.