Views on the Vietnam War - Essay Example

Vietnam War Introduction The United s of America for the first time from 1964 to 1972 made an all-out military effort in the fight as it took sides in the conflict in Vietnam. With all the technological and human capabilities, America was favored to win that war. The Government of America was very determined to end that war in the shortest possible period that never came to be. So, what really transpired in the Vietnam War? Did America emerge the “obvious winner? Many questions about the Vietnam War lay unanswered to date. This paper discusses and compares the views of different authors about the war in Vietnam. Evidently, the issue has been viewed differently as the books that will be discussed highlight. Some authors attribute the American to poor decision-making, and lack of support from the congress. Notably, several factors fuelled the failure, as this paper will indicate. Howard Zinn views Howard Zinn bases his argument on the origin, the course, and the end of the Vietnam War. Zinn sees the Vietnamese as an experienced side that had waged successful wars against the French and the Japanese. In his book “A People’s History of the United States,” Howard Zinn clearly manifests that even though Americans had the best technology and military artillery during the Vietnam War, America was destined for failure. Before their involvement in the Vietnam War, the U.S government did not seek the opinions of the people whom they represented (Zinn 440). As a result of lack of cooperation between the U.S government with her citizens in the middle of the war with a determined and organized opponent led to the inevitable defeat to America. The American citizens played a central role in the Vietnam War. It is during the war in Vietnam that America saw the greatest antiwar movements. The work of Howard Zinn, Zinn views the war in Vietnam in terms of failure and success. On one hand, Howard Zinn asserts that the American government failed and it was a victory both to the nationalists in Vietnam as well as the American Citizens who were opposed to the involvement of the government of the United States in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was supposed to end in the victory of America, and the spread of American Policy and supremacy. It never came to be. The U.S government, instead, settled for peaceful dissolution of the war (443). By residing in peace to end the Vietnam War, Howard Zinn further argues that the U.S government was sugarcoating defeat by the revolutionary nationalists in Vietnam. Paul Johnson views An additional author who has sought to discuss the same issue concerning the Vietnam War is Paul Johnson, in his work “A History of the America people”. In this book, he views the failure in the Vietnam War as a diplomatic failure, coupled with unhelpful constitutional amendments. It was during the reign of President Ford that various constitutional amendments limiting the powers of the president were enacted. Prior to 1973, the American government gave military support to the South Vietnam. With a huge support from other capitalist nations, America had a better strategy of defeating the defiant North Vietnam (Johnson 594). It was only possible for President Ford to demonstrate his support for the South Vietnamese citizens if he had the assistance of the congress. At one point, the president urged Congress to reconsider their decisions on assisting American allies. Unfortunately, the congress, with the majority in the opposition, enacted the infamous War Powers Act, which massively deprived the president of his powers. At some point, the War Powers Act even threatened to deprive presidency the authority to be the commander-in-chief (601). According to Paul Johnson then, Americans lost the war in Vietnam because of constant misunderstanding of the American international policy in diplomacy coupled with supremacy wars between the presidency, the congress and the American citizens. To congress, however, there was no turning back. With the congress further threatening to give the powers of military withdrawal to the Supreme Court, Ford had no other option but to retrieve his government’s military support to South Vietnam (630). Therefore, Johnson attributes the defeat that resulted in this issue. George Tindall and David Shi views America always prospered in conquering and placing their policies on other nations, but not when it came to an encounter with Vietnam. “A Narrative History, volume two,” describes how poor decision making, cost America the war in Vietnam. Henry Kissinger, security advisor, described the involvement in war with Vietnam as a “nightmare.” Many Americans believed that they stood no chance of defeating communism in Vietnam; the government, however, did not give an ear to the calls of withdrawal before it was late (Tindall, & Shi 659). When President Nixon took office, he was well aware of the situation of the Vietnam War. At one point, Nixon is quoted as saying, “there’s no way to win the war. But we can’t say that, of course.” Why did Nixon then keep on with the fight in Vietnam? ‘’The Unending War’’ as described by most Americans at the time, the Vietnam War clearly gave an image of a government that was not ready to listen to the voices of its people. Further, the government proceeded to make unhelpful, uncalled for decisions whose destinies were well known to every citizen; failure. The decision to keep the fight against communism was seen by many as a manifestation of poor decision-making skills by the administration, and so was destined for failure (Tindall, & Shi 670). Conclusion The involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War had massive economic and social consequences to the citizens of America. According to the opinions of varying writers herein, poor decision making, lack of proper co-operation and national coordination together with poor diplomatic interests all led to the war and the eventual failure by the U.S government. The writers herein clearly indicate that a crisis can be viewed from different perspectives. The most important thing is to stand by a belief that can move a nation steps. References Tindall, George B, and David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History. New York: W.W. Norton & Co, 2013. Print. Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. Pymble, NSW: HarperCollins e-books, 2009. Internet resource. Zinn, Howard. A Peoples History of the United States. New York: Harper Perennial, 2010. Print. Read More