Tuesday, May 29, 2007

How would things have been different if we hadn't gone to Vietnam?

The Vietnam War caused a lot of trouble to America. We lost many lives not only fighting in Vietnam but also in protests back home for example the protest at Kent University. In this war chemicals were used and such as Agent Orange. As a result to exposure to Agent Orange many people came back with health problems. People became suspicious of the government. The government lied to the public about what was happening in Vietnam. News reporters were daily contradicting what the government told American about the war.

If we wouldn’t have entered this war, would we not have had these problems? Since we didn’t achieve or win the war, was it even worth entering in the first place? Would the outcome be any different (Communism taking over the entire country) if the United States hadn’t been there?

Allison

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe that things would have been different if we hadn't gone to Vietnam. There are several reasons for this. First of all, Communism might have continued to spread. On the other hand, the war veterans wouldn't have all the problems that many of them have ended up with. Therefore, the Vietnam War definitely affected the United States as well as the rest of the world.
If we hadn't gone to Vietnam, Communism might have continued to spread. Even though we didn't win the war, the Communists didn't win either. However, we did suceed in a way. The domino effect never happened. There is no real way to know what would have happened if North Vietnam had defeated South Vietnma, but it probably wouldn't have been good.
In addition, if we hadn't gone to Vietnam, the war veterans wouldn't have all the problems that many of them have ended up with. There would be no Vietnam Syndrome. The US soldiers who fought in that war had to put up with a lot of criticism on top of dealing with the horrors they had witnessed and been a part of. The men who fought there were changed forever, and not in a positive way. Therefore, the Vietnam War has had a negative effect on our country.
In conclusion, the war has had a great influence on many people. On one end of the spectrum, it would have been better if we hadn't gone to war. On the other side of the spectrum, doing nothing could have been a big mistake. It is hard to say with any real certainty exactly what would have happened. One thing is for sure, though: things would have been a lot different.

Kaitlyn M.

Anonymous said...

We would have had some of the same problems even if we did not enter the Vietnam War. People will always disagree with the government decision to enter Vietnam. If we did not enter the war, there would still have been deadly protests and angry people. Also, the news would still have fed the people the wrong information about what was happening. Making compromises with the enemies would not have solved the problems we were facing with the communist party. We needed to take action or in the long run America would have suffered. In a way we did win the Vietnam because communism stopped spreading to other countries. It was worth entering into this war. If the United States did not enter the war communism would have spread to many countries. There might have been a whole group, which would have become more powerful with every country that converted to communism. We could not take the risk of letting the communist party become more powerful, than the United States. If they became more powerful they could have over thrown our government and we could have lost every freedom we have in our country. We would have just been another country they could take over. Although thousands upon thousands did not want to enter the war or saw no reason for it, I strongly believe that it was the right thing to do.