Vietnam War: 1970-1973 Response 3 - Essay Example

Vietnam War: 1970-1973 -Response 3 Vietnam War is something that has gone deep into the social psyche of the American society. In every war that waswaged by America after the Vietnam War, a public space of protest began to be visible as an integral part of American conscience. This became possible because the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam marked the victory of American people’s ability to stand up for justice, as much as the defeat of America as a world power. What America failed to realize regarding Vietnam Communist movement was that they could motivate the people to lay down their lives for the cause of a new society.

There was no such ground realities present America so as to motivate the American soldiers in equal degrees. In Vietnam, the war was a people’s war while in US, it was the government’s war. This was why the President Truman had to finally admit “he had personally underestimated the ability of the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong to resist” (qtd. in Karnow, 1997, p.23). A majority of American soldiers who waged war in Vietnam were merely young boys in their puberty. It is observed that “Vietnam confused and confounded innocent young Americans” (Karnow, 1997, p.481). They were boys who had just left their colleges and unrealistically looking forward to the adventure that they thought was war.

They were dragged into the war by insensitive moves of the then political leadership of America. But on the contrary, the Vietnamese soldiers were motivated by an ideology and knew what they were fighting for. This reflected a greater aspect of the war- “the difference was between seeing the army as an instrument of the government and seeing it as an instrument of the people” (Summers, 1982, p.5). And this was the crucial difference between the victory of Vietnam and the defeat of America.

It is also about the importance and impact of people’s will and the rulers’ desire. References Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History (Revised Edition). NY: Penguin Books, c. 1997 Summers, Harry G., Jr; On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, c. 1982.