World History Blog: The Fog of War (Vietnam)

The Vietnam war was called the longest and most controversial war ever. This was mostly because of the deaths of the soldiers was so high that one in ten of every man send over, came back wounded or killed. The war started on November 1st, 1955, and ended on April 30th, 1975. That means the war lasted 19 years, 5 months, 4 weeks, and 1 day. The total minimum of people killed from this war was one million, seventy nine thousand, eight hundred forty six.

President Johnson was a firm believer, and main starter of the Vietnam war. He believed that if they stopped fighting in Vietnam, the communist would march over and they would be fighting in Hawaii, then San Francisco. Nearing the end of the war, Johnson saw how many lives were lost for nothing, and refused to be re-elected even if the people wanted him. Johnson wanted the war to end, but Nixon had some of his advisers go over to south Vietnam and encourage them to keep fighting and told them they would get a better deal with him. I think we entered the Vietnam war because we still were holding on to the fear of the Cold War, about communism taking over.

The Chinese and Vietnamese had always been fighting, and it was like their thing. They didn't want the US to come join the war. In the end all the fighting and death was pretty much for nothing, today there is no South and North Vietnam. They are the combined country of Vietnam under a communistic government.

The Vietnam war also had a impact on pop culture. After the war, the "Crazy Vietnam Veteran" who suffered from PTSD, also know as post traumatic stress disorder, became a common stock character seen in everything from movies to video games. There were also many movies featuring the Vietnam war like: The Deer Hunt, We Were Soldiers, Rescue Dawn, The Green Berets, and many more. The Vietnam war even influenced music, one of the most popular was: I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die Rag, also know as, The Fish Cheer.

One of my favorite songs came from this era. It's called: Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round Ol' Oak Tree. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjqBhZj_37U . It's a song about a soldier coming home from the war, and he's not sure if he'll be welcomed home because of how hated the war was. He writes his girlfriend and tells her If she wants him to tie a ribbon around the oak tree.

The most surprising part of this assignment was my parents input. Both were surprised the Vietnam was one country. I feel like the war is a very bitter topic for our parents, and grandparents generation. My mom was talking about how weird it was when my generation started saying "The bomb." I feel like my generation and younger are so oblivious to any war or attack, unless it goes national. I didn't even know if we were in a war or not until this year. We need to make sure to teach our kids and learn from History's mistakes so we don't do them again.