Why did so many people opposed the Vietnam war?
I understand that hippies and young America in the 1960s and 70s were very anti-war and that it was all peace love and happiness with them, but what were some actual reasons they didn't see that the u.s involvement in the cold war was necessary? If we needed to make sure communism didn't spread over to America, who would actually stand up and say, “Well since killing is bad, let's just sit and do nothing...” I don't understand... Why would they oppose the Vietnam War? Please help, it's this school project I'm doing, i need help!
Why did people support and oppose the vietnam war?
The idea behind Vietnam was a noble one . A great and powerful democracy ( the U.S. ) coming to the aid of a weak and struggling country ( South Vietnam ) that is about to be over run by an evil communist dictatorship . Who could not admire that . The reality is that the Vietnam war was a civil war . A war to reunify a divided nation . America never understood that and fought for years believing they were stopping communism from spreading . Most Americans became disheartened and disillusioned at a war that never seemed to end .
Why did people oppose the war in Vietnam?
The USA was violating a treaty which ended VietNam's war for independence, which promised national elections, something the USA blocked. TRoops for this war were obtained by a draft, which upset many people, particularly those being drafted. The USA had no real interests in a country that far away. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized the initial USA involvement, was based on a lie or fraud. Some felt that the North Vietnamese were either not really communists, or that even if they were, it did not matter.
Why did so many young people opposed the Vietnam War?
Opposition to the Draft, especially since most of the Draftee's were lower class or minorities. African Americans were twice as likely to be drafted. Anti-violence spread like wildfire through the counter culture. Vietnam did not represent any threat to USA. The "conflict" was started by USA sending one of it's ships into the middle of a battle, and getting attacked. Then blamed attacks on Communists, Gulf of Tonkin was passed which gave President a lot more military power than he should have had. Nixon promised to get out of Vietnam, but instead he invaded Cambodia, and U.S. planes had been dropping bombs over the entire Ho Chi Minh trail which went through Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Was costing the U.S. a lot of money, Deficit spending introduced, and economy was in shambles. a lot of the veterans ended up injured/having health problems for the rest of their life. ----- Woops i forgot about how USA was going against it's entire ideology with this war since it supported French Colonialism in the area. However the French pulled out after a defeat at Dien Bien Phu (sp?) Also the U.S.A forced a corrupt government upon the S. Vietnamese. The USA put a Roman Catholic in power, and he tried to outlaw buddhism in a 99% buddhist state. USA also banned free elections in S. Vietnam because they had information that Ho Chi Minh would get roughly 70% of the votes. Later on, USA removed Diem from power, and turned a blind eye when he was assassinated. the Government was accused of being behind the Assassination but their is no solid evidence. Then the sanctions placed against vietnam caused thousands if not millions of civilians to starve to death. My Lai massacre, U.S. soldiers killed 500-1000 unarmed vietnamese civilians, according to the media the bulk of the killed were women, children, and elderly. People were further angered when only 1 soldier out of the entire troop was court-martialed. The "pentagon papers" were released to the public, where it was written that the U.S. government hadn't been expecting to win Vietnam, and showed that the U.S. government had lied about casualty figures. People pretty much just lost trust in their government.
Why did so many people protest the Vietnam War?
"A Real Monster" has given a good brief answer, and has got a "thumbs up" from me. There are several reasons for people protesting against the Second Indochina War (commonly called the Vietnam War). 1) The War was illegal -- The US violated the "1954 Geneva Agreements on Indochina" even as they were being signed, and continued to violate those agreements until 1975. Many people in the US and Australia initially did not know that, but as the war increased people started to learn about the war and learnt of the violations and therefore started protesting. 2) The Draft -- Young me were being conscripted (drafted) into the military both in Australia (from 1965 onwards) and earlier in the US to fight in Vietnam. Many in the US who were in university attempted to stay at university as long as possible to avoid the draft while others, from rich families, used family influences to not be drafted or to join the National Guard and therefore not be sent overseas. Most of the draftees in the US were high school drop-outs or Afro-Americans (or both) and the highest percentage of soldiers fighting in infantry units in Vietnam were Afro-American. 3) The "anti-nuclear" protest movement and the small anti-war movement of the 1950's started to grow in the 1960's. 4) The Civil Rights movement started off very small in the 1950's but started to grow in the 1960's and with the Vietnam War seeing mostly Afro-Americans fighting and dieing in Vietnam, the two movements (the anti-war movements and the civil rights movements) started to overlap and cooperate. 5) The new technology in transmitting news brought the horrific war images and news into the home more quickly and far more graphically than previously, especially TV. This upset many people and turned then against the war. 6) The media -- The media were pro-US involvement in Vietnam and the management did not start changing until 1967-68 in the US and 1969-70 in Australia. In Vietnam the media were more quick to change their view of the war and most were against the war as early as 1955 and certainly by 1961.
What are 6 reasons Americans opposed the Vietnam war?
1. A draft was imposed that forced men to serve in the military. 2. The type of tactics used by the Vietcong were guerilla tactics, which were difficult to fight against. 3. This was the first time a war was really publicized on TV, so the people actually witnessed the awful conditions. 4. Tons of people were dying each day, but not much progress was apparent. 5. The government would cover things up. They'd issue statements about how great things were going, but then the TV portrayed a very different story of death and suffering. 6. The feeling in society was one of peace (the hippie movement), so people really jumped on the band wagon.
Why did americans oppose the vietnam war?
1. They didn't think America should be involved in it as the country of Vietnam and SE Asia were unimportant to the US. 2. They didn't think the US should be involved because they saw it as a civil war between the Vietnamese themselves and thought the Vietnamese should sort it out. 3. They didn't like that US young people were drafted and forced to fight in Vietnam even though they didn't want to. 4. They didn't like the high casualties...60,000 American dead (putting it behind only WWII and WWI among foreign wars). 5. They didn't like the way the war was being run there...lots of civilians being killed, heavy damage done, lots of corruption, prostitution, drug abuse going on in South Vietnam. 6. The war had been going on a long time without much progress and they didn't think it was winnable. 7. Some important responsible people such a Walter Cronkite, major politicians, some retired Generals thought the war was a mistake 8. The young peoples 1960's 'Counterculture' often thought 'any' war or violence was wrong, that the US was acting as a bully, trying to be a 'colonial' power, and that the philosophy of Communism wasn't that bad and should be left alone.
Why was there so much unpopular support for the Vietnam War in USA?
The soul purpose of USA for entering Vietnam war was to maintain its anti-communism image at global stage . People usually do not give a damn about global politics.For them,soldiers dying in a far away country for people which are not even ‘ours’ is foolishness. As the number of soldiers getting engaged in war increased ,it became unpopular among the people of USA.The second vietnamese war stretched over almost two decades and USA lost more than 58000 lives.
Why did people protest against the Vietnam War?
America did not lose the war, the politicians simply declared our objectives satisfied and pulled out the troops. The criticism of the war in Vietnam started out mainly as a conservative reaction to President Johnson’s policy of fighting for a limited purpose, a negotiated peace, rather than all out victory in Vietnam. Those critics included Senator Barry Goldwater, retired military men, and even some extreme members of the John Birch Society. These people were known as “hawks.” As the President escalated the war effort, and became a hawk himself, his chief critics became known as “doves” and included antiwar protesters, college students and faculty, liberal Democrats, and many other people in various walks of life who felt that the war was immoral, dragging on to no benefit for the US, and was causing increased casualty lists to mount. Many believed the US was fighting a war against the wishes of the majority of the Vietnamese people. These critics felt the war was a civil war in Vietnam between north and south and we had no business interfering. Some supported the communist effort in Vietnam and hoped for a defeat of the “imperialist capitalist” United States. Many Americans felt we were fighting a small, unimportant county, while the real enemy was China and the Soviet Union. There were many demonstrations against the war which took the form of sit ins in college and high school campuses, marches both for and against the war, and editorials written for and against the war. One of the most infamous demonstrations took place at Kent State University, 1970, when National Guard troops fired on Kent State students and protesters and four were killed and eleven were wounded. Nixon had been elected on a promise to Vietnamese the war, meaning more fighting would be turned over to the South Vietnamese army, and to start bringing home American troops. When the President ordered US troops into Cambodia and ordered more bombings, the result was a tremendous uproar at home with more marches and demonstrations. Congress reacted to the antiwar feeling and repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave the President the authority to send troops and fight the war in Vietnam. Our purpose in the war is debated to this day. The site below will have excellent sources dealing with the Vietnam War.
Why did the US invade Vietnam (in the Vietnam War)?
In short: because of a mistake.Throughout the Cold War, there was an idea that the majority of leaders in the United States believed in, it was called the “Doctrine of Containment”.This doctrine was based on a number of assumptions.The first assumption was that the Soviet Union wanted to conquer the entire world. It is true that Lenin believed that it should, but he died before it could conquer very much. After Lenin dies, Stalin took power, and he had no interest in expanding the Soviet Union. He wanted to consolidate and improve the Soviet economy. A man named Leon Trotsky remembered Lenin’s ideas, and keep nagging Stalin about trying to conquer more stuff. Eventually Stalin ordered the execution of Mr. Trotsky and everyone who agreed with him. No one in the U.S. at the time understood any of this, but now we do know.So, the Doctrine of Containment was based on the assumption that the Soviet Union wanted to keep conquering until it controlled the entire world. It was also based on the assumption that such an outcome would be a bad thing. This assumption I think is accurate.The third assumption was that any nation which declared a communist-based ideology would eventually voluntarily become part of the Soviet Union.So, based on those two assumptions, the U.S. wanted to stop the Soviet Union before they even got close to conquering any part of the American continent. The U.S. also wanted to prevent any nations from becoming independent communist nations, because of the third assumption.THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART: the rebels in the north end of Vietnam declared that they were communist rebels. Because of assumptions made by leaders in the U.S., it was believed that if they succeeded in taking over that country that they would chose to become part of the Soviet Union. This would increase Soviet territory, and bring them another step closer to controlling the entire world. Also, Vietnam is a decent place from which to launch an invasion of the west coast of the U.S.So this is why the U.S. decided that they needed to stop the rebels in Vietnam from taking over that country. Two out of the three assumptions which led to the decision were false.