LEGACY OF THE VIETNAM WAR

Legacy of the Vietnam War

Legacy of the Vietnam War

Introduction

The Vietnam War was perhaps the most important and influential event in American history in the last half of the 20th century. That war, which claimed the lives of more than 58,000 American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese, was certainly not, in human terms, the costliest conflict in American history; the American Civil War and World War II each claimed far more American lives. The Vietnam War was, however, a conflict that divided the nation more deeply than any since the Civil War. Military involvement in Vietnam ignited and exacerbated the profound social and political upheavals of the 1960s and early 1970s, eroded Americans' trust in their political and military leaders, sapped American military and economic strength, and damaged the credibility and prestige of the United States in international affairs.

Vietnam War (1964-75)

Total U.S. Service members (Worldwide): 9,200,000

U.S. Population (millions): 204.9

Deployed to Southeast Asia: 3,403,000

Battle Deaths: 47,415

Other Deaths (In Theater): 10,785

Other Deaths in Service (Non-Theater): 32,000

Non-mortal Wounding: 153,303

Cost (in $ current billions): 111.00

Background to the War

The roots of America's painful experience in Vietnam can be traced back to the political and economic policies that the United States adopted in an effort to contain the spread of communism after World War II. In the wake of that war, the United States sought to help the Japanese and European economies recover from the devastation of the war and to create politically friendly, militarily strong, and economically prosperous regimes capable of containing and resisting the internal and external threats posed by communists. Vietnam became an important source of raw materials and foodstuffs for these recovering economies, and the United States obtained French cooperation in European affairs by acquiescing to French demands to reassert control of their former colonies in Southeast Asia.

Deepening U.S. Involvement

In early 1961, Pres. John F. Kennedy inherited a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. Kennedy, young and inexperienced, was determined to stand up to Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev's advocacy of wars of national liberation. Embarrassed by the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion and facing dangerous challenges from the Soviets in Berlin, Cuba, and Laos, Kennedy believed the United States had to demonstrate its resolve to thwart communism in Vietnam. Mindful of the domestic political fallout following Mao Zedong's victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, Kennedy also feared that a communist victory in Vietnam ...