Vickys marvellous essay on Vietnam

In 1967 Johnson introduced the Conscription Act. This was unpopular as people started to question why they were being sent hundreds of miles from home to fight a war that was nothing to do with America. Lots of people started to tear up their draft papers, even Bill Clinton destroyed his and refused to become part of the war. Th

The black community made up about 10 percent of the population, but out of the war casualties they made up 25 percent. Their rights were not very good and segregation was still riding high in America. Many black leaders spoke out against the war saying, "They weren't going to fight in a white man's war". They also saw the war as a thing to fight against. They weren't the only civil rights movement group to stand up against the war. Sections of the women's rights movements also dedicated themselves to the withdrawal of American troops in Vietnam.

After 1968 it was clear to any one, even military advisors that the war was not going to be won by the Americans. If they were not going to retreat from Vietnam they would most certainly lose. The guerrilla style fighting was not what the Americans were used to, in fact the whole environment, fighting style and country was completely alien to them. Though they had of coarse fought in Korea, the difference there was that they won. In Vietnam no matter how many thousands of tons of bombs they dropped, the enemy was too elusive. The morale of the American troops was so low that in total, over 800 attempts at fragging (the name given to the action of trying to kill an officer with a hand grenade) unpopular officers were made. This was turning out to be a most unpopular war. Instead of the Americans seeing themselves as the good guys who were out to liberate the South Vietnamese, even the most patriotic were starting to realise that their presence was not wanted nor was helping anyone in Vietnam. The cost of the war was also too harsh to bear, around 28 billion dollars. Vital money that should have been used to renovate America's social ills (such as poverty and racism etc) was being used for the war. Strategic expenditure was also ineffective, the bombs did an approximate 500 million dollars worth of damage to the Vietnamese, but it cost the air force 900 million dollars to replace the planes that were shot down.

Some topics in this essay:
Timothy Leany, South Vietnamese, Luther King, War American, Vietnam War, , Agent Orange, East Domino, Bill Clinton, USSR American, cold war, war america, vietnam war, started question, country war, support war, black leaders, war country, ussr china, war fight,