Mejia, 1

Dario Mejia

Mr. Dayton

Period 2

12/10/21

Vietnam War Essay

The Vietnam War began on November 1st, 1955 and lasted until April 30, 1975. The war

began under President Eisenhower in which the United States were assisting the South

Vietnamese against the North Vietnamese. It was no ordinary war, and a war that many may

remember but not for the same reason. The war impacted American soldiers and people greatly,

making people divided. The war was conflicting, and there were many people against the war.

There were also people that supported the war.

The Vietnam War was surely different and conflicting for a lot of Americans living in this

time period. The war had many Americans despising each other and this war divided the country

spreading hatred. In the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, he describes the war

as having no purpose or unity but beautiful. About only half of the country supported the war,

leaving a great number of people opposing the war. In the Vietnam War documentary and a war

vet hated with a passion a group that were called hippies. Hippies were an anti-war group that

believed in peace and love but they were being hated by some soldiers, politicians, and people

who thought the war was a good idea. The hatred has spread across the country leaving people

divided.

About a third or more of the United States population was against the Vietnam War

because they thought that fighting a deadly war was not the answer to resolve a conflict. The
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Vietnam War was heavily despised by Americans. Many people felt that there was no purpose or

unity in this war, as O'Brien states in The Things They Carried, “I was drafted to a war I hated…I

saw no unity of purpose, no consensus on matters of philosophy or history or law” (40). Many

people despised the war because they would get a glimpse of the battlefield on television,

looking at dead American soldiers and Viet cong soldiers as well as suffering and scared people,

as well as civilians getting caught in crossfire. The war lasted a long 20 years with many

casualties and the people getting anxious with getting no closer to victory and at the end they

never ended with one either. The war divided Americans, the US, in the 1970’s, had a population

of about 210 million, if a third didn’t agree, that would leave approximately 70 million

Americans disagreeing. The war has no unity.

Although a third of people didn’t like the war, half of the population agreed with the war

thinking it was a good thing and some went to go fight for the flag. A Vietnam war veteran

supported the war and thought that the US had all the right reasons to fight and that the president

had made a good choice, also hating the North Vietnamese. He stated “I hated them so much, and

I was so scared of them…... the scarder I got, the more I hated them”. Many soldiers felt it was

their patriotic duty to fight in the war and they owe it to their country. In Tim O'brien's book he

had comrades like the rush of war, and enjoyed being there. Many people thought showing

power was the way the United States should go and thought the Vietnam war was the perfect

way to do that. Half of the country supported the war, about 105 million people at the time.

As explained, the Vietnam war was all, conflicting, opposing, and supported by millions

of Americans. The Vietnam War was divided and had society everywhere. Against each other

and against the North Vietnamese. The war was certainly different, making this war memorable,

was a lost war? Did Americans need to fight this war?

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Sources: The Things They Carried by Tim O’brien, The Vietnam War A film by Ken Burns and

Lynn Novick