Values and Beliefs
Before the war most of the American people were for the war and supported President Eisenhower's decisions towards the war. As the war progressed many Americans started to oppose of the actions of Eisenhower, which led to protests and violence across of America. After the war people started to lose faith in their government leaders on making decisions regarding war and violence.
War Tactics
American War Tactics: The US war tactics were to invade Vietnam and overpower them with their large army as well as use many new and rarely used tactics that were not used much at all prior to the war. However the US did not account for the support that the communists provided for Vietnam.
Vietnam War Tactics: Vietnam used its familiar environment and used a tactic called guerrilla warfare against the United States to help them win the war. Guerrilla warfare is a tactic where a small group ambushes a group by surprise catching them off guard for an easy victory.
Homefront
People in America were not very supportive of the Vietnam war. Americans were starting to calm down after WWII. People in America were also not supportive of the draft. The draft made it so that any male over the age of 18 could be selected to go to war without given the choice to opt out.
Music
Americans used music as a way to protest and inform the public of all the bad things that the government was doing during this time around the Vietnam war. Music was also used as a way to cheer people up in this dark time of American history. Music was a non-violent way to protest the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam war.
Propaganda
The United States used propaganda in Vietnam to join the war in the 1960's. The United States predicted that southern Vietnam was going to be taken over by the communist region in the north. The United States used this as a reason to join into the war. The theory that was that if south Vietnam was taken over by communism most of the areas in the Middle East would be taken over as well.
Protests
The protests for the war started out small and peaceful. The protests started with small peace activists and scaled quickly from there. Most of the protests during the war was related to the war and the bombings of the United States on Vietnam. These bombings made the American people upset and they started to question the governments assertion.
Media
The media was a big influence for the American people during the Vietnam war. Radio broadcasts and television broadcasts had a negative influence around the war and some television broadcasts showed uncensored footage of the war taking place. This negative influence and uncensored footage helped to further the protests and the movement to help stop the war in Vietnam.
Economics
The economy was hurt in numerous ways due to the Vietnam war. As the war continued debt and consumption of goods increased however the amount of jobs decreased. The United States cannot afford the costs of war so it must either use debt or increase taxation to pay for the war. The Vietnam war was in no way beneficial to the economy of the United States.
Government/Foreign Policy
Concluding the Vietnam war many government policies changed. One of the biggest changes was the limiting of the military draft system and the switch to an all volunteer army. This change limited the government to not be able to send as many troops when they want without congress approval. After the war people were more cautious about getting involved in foreign affairs as well as the American people did not trust the government as much.
The Draft
The draft was a way of selecting men from the age of 18-25 to serve their country without a choice. At the age of 18 men were required to apply for the draft. Each male of this draft age was given a draft number and if their number was selected they had to report to their local draft board. The draft board community members had the power to decide who would go to war and who would stay. People were terrified of getting drafted so many of them ran away to Canada to avoid having to serve in the war.
Reintegration into Society
Soldiers returning from the war had a difficult time when they came home from the war. Most of them had injuries and some of them developed mental disorders such as PTSD from being at war for such a long period of time. When the veterans returned from Vietnam they were not respected as much as they should have been. The veterans were treated poorly almost as though they were being discriminated against.
Purpose
The Vietnam war started over the Northern part of Vietnam want to unify with the southern part. The problem with this is that the North was supported by The Soviets and other communist allies such as China. The South was supported by the United States and Australia. These different systems of government led to a conflict between the two regions where the Allies of both parts attempted to help the North or South part of Vietnam win the war. If the North won the war they would have been able to take over countries surrounding the area expanding the allies of the Soviets and the Communists.
Race and Inequaility
In the Vietnam war most of the African Americans that served in the war were a part of the infantry. The African Americans were the main soldiers on the ground that participated in battles because they were not as valuable and worth as much compared to the white soldiers. The African Americans could serve their country, however they were most likely to be put on the front lines and into the face of battle.
Sources
http://www.shrine.org.au/Shrine/Files/dc/dc8b4c54-ca76-488d-9ffe-4c11ec2852fc.pdf
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/vietnam/thewarinvietnamrev2.shtml
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/sixties/essays/protest-music-1960s
http://thevietnamwar.info/u-s-propaganda-vietnam-war/
http://thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-protests/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Vietnam-War-and-the-media-2051426
http://www.historycentral.com/sixty/Economics/Vietnam.html
http://thevietnamwar.info/how-vietnam-war-affect-america/
http://thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-draft/
http://www.psc.isr.umich.edu/pubs/pdf/rr04-559.pdf
http://www.americanforeignrelations.com/O-W/The-Vietnam-War-and-Its-Impact-American-veterans.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/stevens/africanamer.htm
Credits:
Created with images by manhhai - "1972 USS Newport News Fires North Vietnam" • Hoshi_sae - "Eisenhower"