APUSH Essay

With the US’s role in the Cold War, which brought economic prosperity with defense jobs, political conflict on whether to increase military spending, the Vietnam War was a military tragedy that had a devastating national, economic, and social effect on the nation. The war diverted national governments' attention away from domestic issues, especially the struggles and hardships of the civil rights movement. It also diverted substantial amounts of funds from the national budget, igniting an intellectual debate sparked by Eisenhower's warning about the dangers of increased military spending on American society. It is nothing new for America to struggle to "contain" communism in Vietnam. Since the defeat of France in 1954, the United States has used misinformation to persuade its citizens that North Vietnam is an evil force poised to unleash the "domino effect" of communism. This never-ending "containment" effort reopened the poverty gap that had been narrowing since the 1950s economic boom due to lack of funding for the Great Society programs under the LBJ administration. The Vietnam War also triggered a national conversation about ethnic tensions. Many black men were drafted to fight for the rights in Vietnam that they did not have in their home country.

Martin Luther King's speech in 1967, in which he claims that in Vietnam, African Americans fought for rights that they lacked in the United States(Document 2). At the time, black people were mostly considered second- or third-class citizens. This resulted in several protests, and some riots, free speech demonstrations, and sit-ins, many of which resulted in the deaths of MLK and others. The Vietnam War was a turning point for great society programs aimed at assisting the needy and even advancing the causes of the civil rights. We can see in Document 3 that it's either foreign policy or the Great Society, indicating that they're heading in opposite directions and can't be aligned. This shows that Johnson’s foreign policy (Vietnam War) is hurting his Great Society. But differences between Hawks and Doves coexisted. In Document 6, Nixon states that “North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States.” and that “Let us also be united against defeat” to show his support for the Vietnam war, and to give the message that any protest against the Vietnam war is unpatriotic and unAmerican. This is a message to Anti-War opposition that intensified in 1968. The War Powers Act, passed in 1973, was an effort by Congress to put an end to the never declared Vietnam War. "The President shall terminate any use of United States Armed Forces with respect to which such report was submitted," according to Document 7, The War Powers Act of 1973. In this act, the use of executive power to wage a long-term war is opposed by Congress and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was repealed(Resolution that was most likely a conspiracy). The war increased the social and political tensions. In Document 1, it is stated that anyone who goes to War will die, and it challenges the US involvement in the war. It also states that the war led to a protestant song movement. This is an example of a social tension amongst the people who supported the war and really believe the government propaganda that Vietnam would spread communism to southeast Asia and the people who just wanted to live a peaceful life here in the US. This idea is balso backed by Document

- Iman Alizahi