The American mindset during Vietnam rested on the notion of America as a rolemodel for the rest of the world and the notion of the "City Upon a Hill." What other American conflicts throughout history reflect the situation at Vietnam, and how? How about wars we currently are fighting in (Iraq, Afghanistan)?
In Obama’s speech this past Tuesday about sending 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, he addressed the criticism of this war being “another Vietnam” by giving light to the fact that forty-three other nations recognize the legitimacy of the war. Additionally, as the American people were attacked on September 11th, 2001, the population obviously experienced a direct impact. We went into Vietnam, on the other hand, without being directly attacked. The war we are currently fighting has the highly specific objective to bring down Al-Qaeda as opposed to the vague purpose of American presence in Vietnam; we are not initiating massive bombings on civilians in Afghanistan as was done in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteThe two wars are similar as they are both ideologically based: Vietnam was meant to defeat communism, and the war in Afghanistan fights terrorism. However, the concrete actions that concern the war in Afghanistan demonstrate the disparity from Vietnam. In his speech, Obama also emphasized the morality of American politics by stating his vision is one which does not simply consist of “values written in parchment.” He ended his speech by calling for unity and the necessity of leaving behind the past of bipartisanship. His references to morality and unity hardly took precedence in the politics of the sixties. Nixon’s suppression of the anti-war movement and massive bombings which killed civilians in North Vietnam were very far from being moral.
Both the Korean conflict and the Cold War reflected America's goal of stopping the spread of communism throughout the world. In all three conflicts (including Vietnam), the U.S. was pitted against its ideological enemy, the Soviet Union, who supported North Korea in the Korean conflict and North Vietnam in the Vietnam war. During the Cold War, both superpowers attempted to show that their political system was superior to the others by continuously building newer, bigger, and more deadly weapons. Additionally, both superpowers attempted to win the race into outer space. The Soviet Union was the first to launch a rocket into space, but the U.S. was the first to put a man on the moon.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, is the current war on "terror" or the war in Afghanistan really the same kind of "City Upon a Hill" ideal? The way you describe it, you talk about how it's less of an ideological fight, and more of a fight to take down a threat to national interests. As I see it, Afghanistan is not another Vietnam, according to Obama, because it aims to prevent the degradation of Afghanistan which would directly influence the power of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the region, and hence, would psoe a threat to America. That seems distinctly different from what seems to be a purely anti-communist struggle in Vietnam. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lauren on those two conflicts, but it's important to note that those are both examples of Cold War conflicts. Do you have anything before that period? After it?