Lakshita Paidipati

Mr. Wimmer

Honors American Studies

10/13/2021

The Vietnam War Was A Mistake

The Vietnam War was a devastating conflict that tore America into shreds
due to the division it caused. The Vietnam War was a conflict between the
Communist North Vietnam and Vietcong against South Vietnam and its US allies.
It was considered a terrible mistake due to the lack of justification for its
occurrence, unpopularity, the loss of trust in the government, and the negative
lasting impacts. It was controversial, and rightfully so, as we should never have
taken part in it.
It should be noted that one of the reasons why this was so controversial, is
because of the lack of justification for it. One might say that fighting communism
is a noble objective, and then there was the domino theory. It was said that if one
country fell to communism, then the surrounding countries would subsequently
fall as well. It was worth it to combat communism (Domino Theory History). But
was it? Approximately 60,000 Americans died fighting overseas, and there were
also countless civilian casualties (White). And the government never even issued
a formal declaration of war, and most folks weren’t concerned about the
Vietnamese. As a result, many Americans began to believe that there was no clear
objective and protested against it (Sound Smart Protests History). Many people
just couldn’t see how such a war with such a large amount of casualties, death,
and division could be justified simply with the excuse of fighting communism.
Additionally, Richard Nixon stated in 1969, that the “silent majority” of
America supported the war in Vietnam, but they did not voice their opinions as
much as the vocal minority did (November 3, 1969: Address to the Nation on the
War in Vietnam). However, poll after poll in those days indicated otherwise. The
war wasn’t popular with the American people and it grew so as it went on. It is
true that in the beginning, the forefront of the anti-war movement included
mostly students, as well as artists, religious leaders, civil rights leaders, and
minorities (Sound Smart Protests History). But due to the media coverage of the
war as well as the casualties, the majority of America became strongly opposed to
the war by its end (Kratz). Then in December 1969, the government issued the
first Draft Lottery. At that point, the war was so unpopular, many young men
tried to escape the draft by going to Canada and other countries, or even by
burning their draft papers (Sound Smart Protests History). How can the
government do these things without the consent of the people?
It also destroyed trust in the government. The Tet Offensive was the
turning point of the war. Most support for the war vanished during that battle.
Tet is the Vietnamese new year and the North Vietnamese proposed a truce so
that people could celebrate safely. Then they launched attacks on over a hundred
locations on January 30th, 1968, breaking the truce they made. The fighting went
on for months, and thousands of civilians and soldiers died. However, the White
House would paint a very different picture of what was happening out there in
Vietnam. Many people felt betrayed by their government because it felt like they
were being lied to. This major battle caused President Lyndon. B. Johnson to
drop out of his reelection campaign as his approval was at an all time low
(History Tet Offensive). The My Lai Massacre was also a major catalyst in ending
the support people had for the war. On March 16th of that same year, soldiers in
the United States Army killed over 400 unarmed civilians. They then covered up
the deed, and it wasn’t revealed to the public until a year later (Brittanica My
Lai). You can imagine the outrage it caused.
Also, there was a saying once, “The only good communist is a dead
communist,” (White). Basically, people believed that fighting communism is a
cause worth fighting for whatever the cost. But on the other hand, we had
multiple casualties as well as civilian losses. During the war, the military
swarmed the agricultural areas of Vietnam with chemicals like Agent Orange.
Agent Orange had a chemical called dioxins. Any amount of dioxin is deadly.
Veterans who experienced exposure to this chemical brought home cancer, birth
defects, skin diseases, and many other health problems. The Vietnamese,
however, suffered the brunt of it. An estimated two million people had those
same health problems. In fact, despite efforts to clean it up, Agent Orange still
remains in Vietnamese soil and continues to plague future generations to come
(Britannica Agent Orange). And after the war, veterans were viewed as war
criminals, harassed, and denied government benefits (WW2 vs Vietnam History).
If a war like this has this much damage, then we should likely have never
participated in it.
 In the final analysis, the Vietnam War was a terrible mistake on the part of
the United States government. The reason for this is because it had a lack of
justification for U.S. involvement, caused much harm to America, and had
negative lasting effects. Therefore, the United States should have avoided any
participation in this devastating war.
 Works Cited

Richard Nixon, "Silent Majority" Address, 1969, web.mit.edu/21h.102/www/Primary source

collections/Vietnam/Nixon, Silent Majority.htm.

History.com Editors. “Domino Theory.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009,

www.history.com/topics/cold-war/domino-theory.

“Vietnam: The First Television War.” National Archives and Records Administration, National

Archives and Records Administration,

prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/01/25/vietnam-the-first-television-war/.

History Channel. “How The Tet Offensive Changed The Vietnam War | History.” YouTube,

YouTube, 1 Feb. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPgWqgpgVRc.

History Channel. “How WWII and Vietnam Veterans Were Treated Differently | History.”

YouTube, YouTube, 8 Mar. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xIWHIYVE8I.

History Channel. “Sound Smart: Vietnam War Protests | History.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 Feb.

2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3slnPIh_oU.

White, Ellen Emerson. My Name Is America: the Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty.

Scholastic, 2002.

“Agent Orange.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

www.britannica.com/science/Agent-Orange.

“My Lai Massacre.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

www.britannica.com/event/My-Lai-Massacre.