Although the U.S.

motives to leave the war were achieved thanks to the justifiable usage
of peace with honor, the overwhelming evidence that the war left staggering effects and
influences long after present a much wider range of the repercussions that impact today. Looking
back at the entire ordeal through George Herrings book “Americas Longest War”, its evident now
that we see the peace with honor agreement of 1973 was designed more to get the U.S. out of
Vietnam rather than care or end fighting among the Vietnamese (Herring, 350). With such
planning, the effects that came into place critically contradicted the U.S.’s image to the world
and its motives. Such actions contributed to the overall dramatic fall of South Vietnam and
persecution of its people for times to come. The overall initiatives to which the U.S. initiated the
war were no longer in sight and with it not only did South Vietnam suffer but so did the U.S.
because of defeat.
With the peace accords, nothing peaceful came about in 1973. As herring puts it, the only
peace found was on paper (Herring, 333). Withdrawal completely shattered and crippled South
Vietnam. Under personal analyses, some of the effects were self-inflicted and thus lead to its own

m
downfall. With neglect of South Vietnamese opinions during and on peace negotiations, South

er as
Vietnam found itself forced to compromise, thus resulting in major discontent. With continuing

co
military aid by the U.S. in forms of loop holes to not violate the peace accords, Thieu declares

eH w
his down fall in form of the “Four Nos” (Herring, 339). With such confidence and discontent,

o.
South Vietnam formally announces the start of the Third Indochina War; confident that the
rs e
United Sates still support it (Herring, 339). Throughout the war, it became clear that North
ou urc
Vietnam had not only prepared for this event but seemingly approached it with careful
confidence. The consequence of such arrogance by South Vietnam resulted in dramatic defeat of
once Northern Soldiers smashed through the gates of the presidential palace on April 30th, 1975
o

(Herring, 348).
aC s
vi y re

Confidence and discontent called for another war. South Vietnam continuously looked at
its ally several times to intervene or help but the U.S. was no where in sight (Herring, 343-345).
Abandoned with the world watching, the image of the U.S. became tainted. Two million lives
ed d

were lost for the war of Vietnamese, as compared to 50,000 of the Americans, thus putting the
blood of that 2 million on the hands of the U.S. after abandoning the country it promised to
ar stu

uphold (Duiker, 270). Confidence still drove Vietnam under new leadership and ultimately led to
a fight between two communist nations. China with the support of the United States, intervened
in the mass killing and invading of its neighbor, Cambodia (Duiker, 263). Through all this, the
is

Vietnamese people watched closely as the world watched them. The major result of the war(s) to
Th

the Vietnamese people was massive human suffering for many years to come. Poverty, economic
pitfalls, violence, death, oppression, and forced labor are all some examples of the influence and
repercussions the war left on the Vietnamese people (Herring, 352-357).
sh

In America, the war brought about symptoms of agony due to defeat. The public
underwent huge complications with authority and thus highly distrusted major leaders and forms
of leadership. Because of Nixon and Watergate, congress stepped up its policies and actions in
overall conflicts and minimizing the role executive power in military actions (Herring, 342-345).
Such results of major involvement led to the resignation of Nixon and the complete abandonment

This study source was downloaded by 100000830400276 from CourseHero.com on 10-19-2021 12:20:02 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/103330691/week-7-discussiondocx/
 and blind eye tactic to South Vietnamese people and suffrage. The defeat was so influential to
Americans that it challenged Traditional beliefs about themselves and their superiority (Herring,
360). With the defeat, a cloud of remembering the war will always be a “dark moment” in our
past that left deep residue of frustration, anger, and disillusionment among the American people
(Herring, 360). For the first time there was a betrayal of American ideals and a sign of weakness
(Herring, 360). With staggering affects to the spirit, it is almost as if Americans, in order to cope,
have completely forced themselves to forget the entire war, blocking it and refusing to talk about
it and its consequences (Herring, 361).
With such distrust of the governmental and feelings of betrayal felt all around, the war
influenced and continues to influence conflicts by the U.S. For Example, when facing Guerilla
Conflict in 2008 with Afghanistan, reflection upon the Vietnam war served as how to approach
the conflict and its goals (Longley, 191). Even the Obama administration reflected upon
Vietnams repercussions to influence U.S. withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Overall, we now question if conflicts and wars are for a noble cause or immoral (Herring, 378).

m
The ghost of Vietnam shapes the role of American perspective in conflicts (Longley, 194).

er as
Serving as our first defeat, the Vietnam war plays a huge role in self-reflection for our nation.

co
Through personal evaluation, its as if the nation needed such defeats in order to reassess its own

eH w
personal goals and narratives of the world. We as Americans look back at the war in order to

o.
asses our politics and foreign relations at times but also our nationalistic identity. If it were not
rs e
for such a defeat, who knows where the country would be today in forms of nationalism or
ou urc
unconquered mindsets. Although the effects are monumental, humans grow and move on. Where
we are now is a fruit of our history and the best example of this is how the Vietnamese people
show no hostility to Americans who visit their country today (Duiker, 270). After years of war
o

and violence in their country, they remain persistent and strong, putting the war behind them for
aC s

a better tomorrow (Duiker, 270).

vi y re

Work Cited
ed d
ar stu

Duiker, W. (1995). Sacred War: Nationalism and Revolution in a Divided Vietnam (1st ed., pp.
251-271). Boston [etc]: McGraw Hill.
Herring, G. (2014). America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975 (5th ed.,
is

pp. 333-380). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Th

Longley, K. Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam (1st ed., pp. 191-194). Armonk,
NY: M.E. Sharp Inc.
sh

This study source was downloaded by 100000830400276 from CourseHero.com on 10-19-2021 12:20:02 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/103330691/week-7-discussiondocx/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)