American Responses to War, Essay Example

The 1950s and the 1960s marked a significant place in time in United States history, particularly with the event of the Vietnam War and the United States’ involvement in it. The standing U.S. military presence in Vietnam was ordered to increase by President Lyndon Johnson. Furthermore, the increasing United States involvement in the Vietnam War made for increasing division among the American people. There were likely just as many people against the war as there were people for the war, which resulted in a range of responses from the American people to the war.

One thing that resulted in so many responses was the fact that the Vietnam War lasted the longest in American history. The war was precipitated by United States intervention in South Vietnam in an effort to keep communist forces out of the country. However, the president of the United States at the time, Lyndon B. Johnson, was authorized by Congress to increase military presence in Vietnam and to attack in retaliation for the bombing of a U.S. ship in international waters (U.S. History, n.d.).

The Vietnam War was the cause of much debate and controversy, as people protested American’s involvement because of the widespread American casualties and fatalities of the war. Many families were devastated by the news of their soldier family members being killed in the war. The Vietnam War claimed almost 60,000 American lives and costs billions of dollars and the United States did not even achieve what it had set out to achieve, which was protect the Vietnamese from the communist regime (U.S. History, n.d.).

The above events are what caused the divide among the American people. There was little public support for the war. The American public became impatient and distraught at the visions of seeing scores and scores of American soldiers brought home in body bags, most of them only around the age of 19. The response to this was some people saying that the government was evil, and many people in America just wanted the country to pull out of the war (U.S. History, n.d.).

Negative responses toward the war resulted in an anti-war movement in the United States, which coincided with the Civil Rights Movement in the country in the 1960s. Additionally, the anti-war movement was mostly made up of college campuses, labor unions, middle-class suburbs, and people from some government institutions. Most Americans opposed the U.S. involvement in the war at Vietnam because they believed the economic and human costs were too high. Other responses included protests in the streets, both peaceful and some not so peaceful (Barringer, 1999). For example, in 1971, more than 500,000 people marched on Washington, protesting against the war. In addition, Vietnam veterans were an integral part of the anti-war movement and often staged protests and demonstrations in response to the war. It is interesting to note that 12,000 people were arrested during the anti-war march on Washington in 1971 (Barringer, 1999).

As far as domestic politics and how it shaped the country’s responses to the war are concerned, history shows that many people were against President Lyndon Johnson and his decision to enter the war. They felt that he was sending their loved ones in to die. The public had less faith in the government and its leaders (Barringer, 1999), because they were made promises that the U.S. would accomplish the task in Vietnam and the war would end (U.S. History, n.d.).

References

Barringer, M. (1999). The Anti-War Movement in the United States. Retrieved from Modern American Poetry: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/antiwar.html

U.S. History. (n.d.). The Vietnam War. Retrieved from U.S. History: http://www.ushistory.org/us/55.asp