Essay on Lessons Learned from the American Experience in Vietnam

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Lessons Learned from the American Experience in Vietnam
DeVry University
HUMN415: Vietnam and the 20th Century Experience
Spring A 2010

Lessons Learned from the American Experience in Vietnam
The Vietnam War was a war that seems to have thought the American Military and Government officials a lot about diplomatic negotiations, presidential leadership, and cultural/social contexts. Each American involved most likely has a different story to tell about the War from the ground soldiers all the way up to the President. Each American most likely has varied options about the lessons learned from the Vietnam War. I will discuss what I feel we Americans have learned. Including the good, the bad, and they ugly related to diplomatic …show more content…
This would be the first time in the Vietnam War a president agreed to a settlement with the North Vietnam. Peace talks finally began in Paris on May 13th 1968 but immediately deadlocked without any results.
President Nixon was elected in 1969 with the Americans believing he would end the war in Vietnam as the decision had already been made by President Johnson. Nixon did implement a plan for “Vietnamization” of North Vietnam and the ARVN. However, he was slow to actually follow through with removing US troops from Vietnam. When the American Media got involved however, it appears that he started to move a little faster.
I believe that cultural and social contexts played into the Vietnam War immensely. It appears to me that at first American people had little opinion about the conflict. However, with the assistance of the media and the televised coverage this changed. Starting with the Buddhist revolt in 1963( Moss 2010 p. 105). The culture of the Vietnamese people too played into the results and affects of the Vietnam war. The US expected to "Americanize" Vietnam without the Vietnamese peoples consent. There was support for an independent nation in South Vietnam but due to the fact that these Vietnamese people had been pushed around so many times their support for an independent nation lacked.
In conclusion I feel that I have gained a much better understanding of the events that lead up to
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