The Vietnam War
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The Vietnam War was a very controversial war happening back in the 1960s and 1970s. Everyone involved in the war whether in Vietnam or here at home in the United States had differing opinions concerning the war. There were many here in the United States that felt the war was justifiable while on the other hand just as many felt the war was unjust and was a war the United States should not have been involved in. These differing opinions caused much unrest here in the United States as well as in Vietnam.
Many felt the Vietnam War was a just war and one that the United States would win in the end. The people that believe that stood behind the government and backed every move they made fighting this war. Those that opposed the war saw it as unjust and unwinnable. They felt the government was wrong in sending American troops to Vietnam and protested the war every chance they could.
These protest seemed to coincide with what was going on in Vietnam. As the war in Vietnam escalated so did the protest. Many students at campuses around American saw Vietnam and the war as a place where Americans should not be. They felt Americans should not be dying for such an unjust war and protested even more. One such protest took a devastating turn on May 4, 1970. Students at Kent State in Ohio were protesting the war that day and the governor felt the protesters were out of control and ordered 750 National Guards in to stop the protest. When guards ordered the crowd of protestors to leave some did but others chose to start throwing rocks. Guardsmen in return opened fire on the crowd many of them were students not even involved in the protest and when all was said and done three students were dead and nine others wounded( Davidson-Gienapp-Heyrman-Lytle-Stoff 2005 p. 888).
The tragedy of Kent State left many Americans wondering what was the fighting all about. The idea of National Guards opening fire on students protesting the war left many wondering who the real enemy was. That thought was echoed halfway around the world in Vietnam. Soldiers had those same thoughts as they fought to protect the Vietnamese people only in turn have those same people help the people they were being protected from. As the war dragged on and the protest continued many soldiers began to wonder why they were in Vietnam fighting a war that the people of America felt was wrong. Soldiers in Vietnam saw the protest at home as much opposition against them as it was against the war and left many feeling like they were unwelcome in Vietnam as well as at home in America.
The effects of the Vietnam