Cody Simpson

HIST 332
5 March, 2020
Vietnam Course Final

Why did the war in Vietnam turn out the way it did? This seems to have a multitude of

factors that affect the question. Firstly, the involvement of the American public in this war was

vitle. This was a very public war, where the American public was able to form their own

opinions about the truth and righteousness of the Vietnam War. Another important point is the

desires of the men running the war. In several cases, presidents such as Johnson and Nixon had

somewhat selfish reasons for staying involved. Finally the involvement in the Vietnam War was

entirely for the sake of preserving capitalism and projecting Western ideology on a people that

did not desire that kind of change.

The public view of the Vietnam war was a powerful weapon. One of the primary points

of public resistance to the war is how easy it was for the American public to gain information

about the war in Vietnam. As stated by Robert Elegant, the press was not aware that “the pen and

the camera proved decisively mightier than the bayonet and ultramodern weapons”.1 This lack of

public support can often be seen in regards to veterans. The lack of support that veterans

received on their return from Vietnam is something that had not been seen up to that point, or

afterwards. One instance details a Marine that came home to be barraded by a family in an

airport.2 The soldier was told not to publicly wear his uniform because of the public disdain that

was felt towards soldiers.3 The lack of support for the war can also be seen by what the United

States needed to stay in the war. For instance, events such as the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Young

provides evidence that the event was purely faked in order for the United States to justify the

continued existence of the United States in Vietnam.4 The fact that incidents such as this were

1 Elegant, 538.
2 Fallow et all, 480-481.
3 Fallow et all, 481.
4 Young, 74-77.
Cody Simpson
HIST 332
5 March, 2020
needed in order to raise public morale of the war shows that there was not much support for the

war at the time. Events such as the Gulf of Tonkin allowed the United States to justify in the

public eye why they were involved. This can also be seen with Nixon’s withdrawal of troops,

which was traded out for increased bombing. Nixon’s goal was still to win the war, but he

needed to pull troops out to appease the public. There was not a large amount of public support

for the war and because of this many were afraid to progress the war further.

The selfish reasons for staying involved in the war mostly revolved around reelection.

This means that there are many cases where presidents were not choosing the best course of

action for the nation, but instead for their reelection. This can be seen with Nixon’s withdrawal

of troops from Vietnam in favor of a larger amount of bombing.5 This manipulation of public

interests, by attempting to pull troops out, was all to create a favorable image for Nixon. That

image was based around the “peace with honor” sentiment.6 While America did not want to look

weak, Nixon wanted to look favorable by being the one that made America look strong. The

same can be said about Kennedy, when Kennedy’s secretary was being interviewed in “Hearts

and Minds” the secretary couldn’t really answer why the war had even started.7 It is important to

recognize that this is a war that had started because of the United States’ interests of preserving

democracy in Vietnam. There was no aggression from Vietnam, and the United States was

present out of its own free will. President Johnson was also worried about public image, not

wanting to withdraw troops because of his image.8 However, at the same time Johnson knew the

war was doomed for failure.9 Therefore, the presidents that were in office during the time of the

Vietnam war did not hold the best interests of the war at heart. Their interests were mainly
5 Lawrence, 152.
6 Lawrence, 152.
7 “Hearts and Minds”, 8:32.
8 Young, 71.
9 Young, 72.
Cody Simpson
HIST 332
5 March, 2020
focused on reelection and public image, which allowed for calls to be made that did not hold

America’s best interests.

There is also the important case of difference between the Vietnamese and Americans of

the United States. The cultures between these two countries are extremely different, not only

between North Vietnam and the United States, but also between South Vietnam and the U.S.

This can be seen when Robert Elegant is discussing the knowledge correspondents in the news

had of Vietnamese culture. Elegant states that these correspondents were “isolated from the

Vietnamese”, going on to state that they were ignorant of all parts of Vietnamese society.10 This

was entirely true, and can be seen again in the film “Hearts and Minds”, during a piece when a

soldier is talking to a class and relates to the students that the South Vietnamese were backwards

and generally creating an image of a barbaric human.11 These differences played a large impact

on what the South Vietnamese wanted for themselves and what the United States wanted to

provide. This is especially seen within Young’s work, showing that the North Vietnamese valued

Ho Chi Minh as a charismatic leader.12 On the other hand, Young also conveys the lack of

support that was present with Diem.13 This is very important, because Diem was not well

supported by the South Vietnamese, but even so the United States still supported him and tried to

make him a democratic leader. The most important part of this is that the United States

eventually allowed for a coup to overthrow Diem.14 This shows that the United States were

willing to support any government that would promote their own idea of culture and government.

The point being that the interests of the South Vietnamese were not being pursued. The United

10 Elegant, 536.
11 “Hearts and Minds”, 49:30.
12 Young, 53-54.
13 Young, 55.
14 Young, 64.
Cody Simpson
HIST 332
5 March, 2020
States could not expect full support from South Vietnam when they did not have any idea of

what South Vietnam actually wanted.

It is because there was a lack of support from the American public, the Presidents’ fear of

not being reelected, and a lack of cultural awareness and support of South Vietnamese desires

that the war in Vietnam was lost.

What is the legacy of the Vietnam War? For the United States, McNamara sums up the

legacy of Vietnam fairly well. In Young’s book he states that the goal of upholding American

tradition by participating in the Vietnam war was horribly wrong.15 For the Vietnamese, horrible

crimes had been committed against their people. As Bui Diem states, “the millions of

Vietnamese families that have suffered the most horrible tragedies, people who understood what

was happening only in the vagues”.16 Many more Vietnamese died than American soldiers. Not

only did Vietnamese troops die on both sides, civilians also paid a heavy cost with the constant

bombing. “Hearts and Minds” shows the torment brought upon American soldiers and

Vietnamese Civilians.17

The Vietnam War ended up dividing Americans on the future of foreign policy. As

Lawrence states, there was a split in public opinion.18 Some wanted to stay out of foreign affairs

after the terrible events in Vietnam, and others such as Reagan wanted to keep interfering to

regain the United States former glory.19 Black also makes a similar point, stating that there was a

general fear of United States involvement in foreign affairs after Vietnam.20 This goes on to

show how the power of the president was reigned in a little by not allowing the president to send

15 Young, 151-152.
16 Diem, 420.
17 “Hearts and Minds”, 100:40.
18 Lawrence, 173-175.
19 Lawrence, 173-175.
20 Black, 146.
Cody Simpson
HIST 332
5 March, 2020
troops in without the approval of Congress.21 Also a notable point made by Black, Bush’s

involvement in foreign affairs gave him a feeling that the fear of foreign involvement had

ended.22 This shows how long and to what scale this fear of foreign involvement took. Even up to

the modern day, there is a fear of what happens when the United States involves itself in the

affairs of another country.

For the Vietnamese, aside from moving forward from personal tragedies, there was a

conversion effort in South Vietnam towards the ways of the Communist North. Black states that

there was an effort to convert the South to Communism through reeducation camps.23 Black also

states that the Vietnamese had to remove mines.24 Not only would they have had to defuse mines,

but repair the massive amount of damage to infrastructure and property from the war. Therefore

it seems highly likely that there were decades of rebuilding efforts in Vietnam. This type of

rebuilding can be seen in the repairs of the environment near Ho Chi Minh City.25 The cleanup of

toxic waste in Bien Hoa is just one example of how the Vietnam War still affects the Vietnamese

today. The author states that this project will cost $390 million.26 This shows the impact that the

war took not only on the people and environment, but also on the economy of Vietnam. This

environmental destruction effects so much more than just the environment. It affects the health

of the people living around it, the repair costs affect the economy, the water could even affect

drinking supplies or crop irrigation. The war was so invasive and destructive to the Vietnamese.

The legacy of the Vietnam War for the United States seems to be that it was a lost war.

The main impacts were on the soldiers that went over and fought the war, however the public

21 Black, 146.
22 Black, 146.
23 Black, 146.
24 Black, 146.
25 George Black, Online.
26 George Black, Online.
Cody Simpson
HIST 332
5 March, 2020
mindset of Americans also changed. For once, the United States public could not simply trust the

goals of their government, instead having to question motives for war. The Vietnam War was

also a stain on the image of the United States. McNamara stated that their goal was to uphold

American traditions, and with this loss there was also a destruction of these traditions.27 Even if

the tradition was not destroyed, it had to be reevaluated. On the other side, the Vietnamese likely

felt like they had lost the war as well. Their infrastructure was destroyed, they had extremely

high casualty rates, and they were extremely weakened from the war.

These two questions were very much connected in the sense that the reasons why the war

ended the way it did determined the legacy of the war. To begin with public opinion of the war,

war is even more televised now than it was before. There is always news on and people know

what’s happening around the world more now than ever before. Public opinion seems very

crucial to how foreign affairs are handled. When there was a lack of public support for the War

in Vietnam, one of the lasting legacies of the Vietnam War was that it became difficult to

become involved in foreign affairs because of public opinion. The use of presidential power for

selfish purposes also lead to the legacy of presidential power being reigned in post-war. Finally

the lack of Vietnamese interests could also be seen with how Vietnam was changed after the war.

With the constant bombing and destruction to Vietnam, it does not seem to be in the interest of

the South Vietnamese or Vietnamese people in general to have their country destroyed. While

there was definitely a cultural gap between the United States and South Vietnam during the war,

the post-war world saw a United States with a changed identity and a destroyed Vietnam. It

seems fair to state that the best interests of Vietnam were never considered, and the destruction

of Vietnam is simply proof of that. The Vietnam War was not fought for the right reasons, it was

27 Young, 151-152.
Cody Simpson
HIST 332
5 March, 2020
a war that the United States had no need to involve itself in. In the end, the United States did not

use its power for the people of Vietnam, instead destroying a country under the narrative of

protecting their freedom.

Sources Cited:

Lawrence, Mark. The Vietnam War: A Concise International History. New York: Oxford

University Press, 2008.

Young, Marilyn and Fitzgerald, John and Grunfeld, A. Tom. The Vietnam War: A History in

Documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Black, Jeremy. The Cold War: A Military History. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.

Black, George. “50 years later, a daunting cleanup of the Vietnam War’s toxic legacy continues”.

PBS News Hour: May 29, 2019.

Diem, Bui. “A Viable State”. University of Florida.

Elegant, Robert. “How to Lose a War”. University of Floria.

Cody Simpson
HIST 332
5 March, 2020
“A Veteran Remembers His Bitter Homecoming, 1981”. University of Florida.

Davis, Peter, Bert Schnieder, Lynzee Klingman, Susan Martin, William C. Westmoreland, Clark

M. Clifford, J. William Fulbright, W. W. Rostow, and Daniel Ellsberg. 2002.

Hearts and Minds. Chicago, IL: Home Vision.