why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial?

But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? This grew into the operation known as Rolling Thunder that began on March 2, 1965, and continued to November 2, 1968. Laos, South Vietnam: 850,000 Others questioned the intent of the Memorial. Like the war itself, this memorialization was highly controversial, but the site has become the most frequently visited memorial in Washington, D.C., drawing over 4 million visitors annually. In November 2003, the LMDC placed the proposals of the eight finalists on display for public review.16 According to Sturken and art historian Anne Swartz, criticism of the designs, including that of the eventual winner, Peter Walkers and Michael Arads Reflecting Absence, revolved in large part around their perceived minimalist aesthetic, once again drawing on the rhetoric involved in the Tilted Arc debate. General Westmoreland had been promoted to Army Chief of Staff and replaced in Vietnam by Gen. Creighton Abrams. News footage showed the fighting in Saigon and Hue. Tour Washington D.C.'s Arlington National Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknowns, and Vietnam Veterans Memorial, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vietnam-Veterans-Memorial, How Stuff Works - History - Vietnam Veterans Memorial, National Park Service - Vietnam Veterans Memorial. A flower is laid on the names of fallen troops on "The Wall" of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington on Nov. 12, 2018. . If all of the names could be in one place, these names would have great powera power to heal. The 15,000 in uniforms and civvies, walked among floats, bands and baton twirlers. Vietnam: A History of America's Controversial War Ike may not have seen the message, but at any rate he was focused on establishing NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) as a wall against additional communist advances in Europe and was intent on securing Frances participation in NATO. An author, teacher, and lecturer, Spreiregen had written the authoritative book on design competitions. Heralding the end of one era and the commencement of a new one, Reagan famously proclaimed, Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem, further adding that: From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. The priorities were to launch fund raising and achieve passage of the authorizing legislation. The U.S., which had been gradually exerting influence after the departure of the French government, backed Diem in order to limit the area under communist control. Please leave evidence I will report anything other than this 1 See answer Advertisement lheduardomarques The love and acceptance that the American people gave to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have continued unabated for over 25 years. On November 8, 1979, VVMF held a press conference in which Mathias, Warner, and several others announced the introduction of legislation to grant two acres of land near the Lincoln Memorial for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Draft - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund I am tired of hearing it called such by you. Lins minimal plan was in sharp contrast to the traditional format for a memorial, which usually included figurative heroic sculpture. Mathias and Warner continually stressed that their objective was to provide the country with a symbol for reconciliation. Movies were dealing more realistically with their issues. He has written that he was prepared for a 25-year war; he realized he did not have to achieve military victory; he only had to avoid losing. Ironically, the leadership of North Vietnam came to a similar conclusion: they had to inflict enough casualties on Americans to end support for the war on the U.S. homefront and force a withdrawal before the U.S. could build up sufficient numbers of men and material to defeat them. Vietnam Veterans Memorial | Encyclopedia.com The photo was published worldwide under the title The Ultimate Protest, raising (or in some cases reinforcing) doubts about the government that the democratic United States was supporting. The Selective Service System during the Vietnam war was highly controversial, especially because early in the war draftees came disproportionately from poor, working-class, rural, and minority populations. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also called The Wall, national monument in Washington, D.C., honouring members of the U.S. armed forces who served and died in the Vietnam War (195575). Similarly, casualty totals among the VC and NVA and the number of dead and wounded civilians in North Vietnam cannot be determined exactly. In the nine months since hed been in-country, Scruggs had already seen a lot of action and had been wounded in a battle near Xuan Loc. He found that returning veterans were finding it hard to trust people. Warner, at the time married to Elizabeth Taylor, had strong connections to both Hollywood and the corporate world. Washington, D.C. As memorials are objects of public commemoration, we demand a lot of them. By June they had stalled the invasion, with the help of American airpower. They were either ignored or shouted at and called vicious names. Overview Military conscription, commonly known as "the draft," is one of the most complex topics related to the Vietnam War. It was a whirlwind of events, and the press coverage was unbelievable. Far from being a fait accompli, amassing the public will to support this new agenda took real work. They were also keenly aware that the legislation made the Memorials design subject to the approval of the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), and the Secretary of the Interior. The Veterans Administration hospital system was underfunded and ill-equipped to help Vietnam veterans deal with either their physical ailments or the psychological challenges of post-traumatic stress disorder. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built without government funds. The U.S. suffered over 47,000 killed in action, Kennedy himself was assassinated in Dallas, VC and NVA units launched a massive attack, CBS evening news anchor Walter Cronkite returned to Vietnam, https://www.historynet.com/the-vietnam-war-a-history-of-americas-controversial-war/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. It distributed an instructional booklet communicating its vision to all who registered for the competition. The first cut was further reduced to 90 by midday Wednesday. The military dog tags, flowers, war medals, photographs, and even favorite toys left behind aid the healing process. Among other duties, Healy was the member of Mathias staff who handled memorials and worked as the liaison with the U.S. Department of the Interior. Dana Joy Helwick explains how, and why, she uses contemporary artists as role models in her classroom. Spreiregen, a graduate of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, was a Fulbright Scholar who had served as the director of urban design programs at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) from 1962-66 and as the first director of architecture programs at the National Endowment for the Arts from 1966-70. Because he possessed great knowledge of history, he understood the extensive healing process required after war. Ultimately, the VVMF Board agreed on a jury of the most experienced and prestigious artists and designers that could be found, since it took a mature eye to envision from two-dimensional renderings how a design would look when built. He made an impassioned plea for funding to his guests, members of the defense industry. Veterans needed this, and so did the nation. Their initial timeline was aggressive, with an ultimate goal of dedicating the Memorial on Veterans Day 1982just a little more than 36 months away. The debate over Minimalism, applied to Lins design, provided new terms through which to resurrect Americas internal debate over the validity of the Vietnam War. The Inspiration. Instead they found bitterness and discontent and they were often disliked by the public. Compounding the pain was that societys ill treatment of the veterans extended to their families. As a senior at Yale University, Lin entered a nationwide competition sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and her design was selected from the more than 1,400 submissions that were received. His reasoning was that a complete mess would make it tough to stop construction. Lin and VVMF eventually selectedthe Cooper-Lecky Partnership as the architect-of-record, with Lin as the projects design consultant. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. A Controversial War Gets a Controversial Memorial - ThoughtCo The design aroused a great deal of controversy, reflecting the lack of resolution of the national conflicts over the war as well as the lack of consensus over what constituted an appropriate memorial at the end of the 20th century. On the other side were the veterans and their self-appointed spokesmen, politicians such as Webb and James Watt (Secretary of the Interior under Ronald Reagan), and social conservatives such as Pat Buchanan. Civilian loss of life was also very heavy, with the lowest estimates around 415,000. Earlier, Wild Bill Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II forerunner of the CIA, had also advised that the U.S. had nothing to gain and much to lose by becoming involved in what was then French Indochina. We do not memorialize bus accidents, which by nature are contextless, meaningless. In addition to the accounts of its creation, sev- Lacking sufficient services to assist their recovery, some of these unassimilated veterans turned to alcohol and other drugs, their addictions only sending them further to the margins of society. Wheeler suggested that it should be a landscaped solution: a peaceful, park-like setting that could exist harmoniously with the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. 3 (August 2004): 122. Adding to Americans disillusionment was the race issue. PDF Why was the Vietnam War so Controversial? - University of Wisconsin The peasants resented being forced from their ancestral lands, and consolidating them gave the VC better targets. The truth was, veterans were no more likely to be addicted to drugs than those who did not serve. Free of overt historical reference to either the Egyptian or Greco-Roman traditions of monument designthe main visual touchstones for American memorial-buildingLins design broke with these traditions through its use of black granite, polished to a reflective smoothness (instead of white limestone or marble); its horizontal orientation, submerged into the earth instead of rising vertically; and its lack of any figurative ornamentation or any embellishment at all, save for the chronological listing of names of soldiers killed in the course of the war, etched into the granites mirror-like surface. Once there was no more room for conflictthe memorials form, upon dedication, was no longer negotiablethe front in this culture war moved elsewhere. 15. They treated the moms the same as they treated the vets. No government funds would be necessary. Some felt that the money to build a memorial could be better spent delivering the many services veterans needed. All of these items are stored in a museum-quality facility in Landover, Maryland. The Three Soldiers, 198284. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Four of the eight were themselves veterans of previous wars. He also said there would be a pause in the air attacks on North Vietnam as the first step to de-escalate and promised America would substantially reduce the present level of hostilities.. The jury evaluation took place over five days, from April 27 through May 1, 1981. The NVA suffered some 120,000 casualties. China conquered the northern part of modern Vietnam in 111 BC and retained control until 938 AD; it continued to exert some control over the Vietnamese until 1885. The controversy overshadowed the mission and what we were doing, until the Salute brought it all together. It consists of a black granite wall with the names of over 58,000 soldiers who were killed or went missing in action inscribed on it. In 2009 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the site. Ibid. She greeted each visitor in a regal fashion, wearing a dressing gown, perfect makeup, and beautiful shoes that curled up at the toes. Here's how a controversial work of art healed America after Vietnam They were the only father-son pair to die in Vietnam.) Sturken, 321. Kennedy saw American efforts in Southeast Asia almost as a crusade and believed increasing the military advisor program, coupled with political reform in South Vietnam, would strengthen the south and bring peace. Our country needed something symbolic to help heal our wounds.. Bronze. The Three Soldiers - Wikipedia But the veterans had real problems. In 1972 a poll determined he was the most trusted man in America.. The names are inscribed in the chronological order of their dates of casualty, showing the war as a series of individual human sacrifices and giving each name a special place in history. It was World War II and her family lived in Nam Dinh, an industrial city and military target on the north coast of Vietnam. A memorial made perfect sense to him. Such images pack tremendous emotional punch but often lack context. We had been friends for a long time, Mathias said. 13. On January 30, 1968, during Vietnams celebration of Tet, the lunar new year, VC and NVA units launched a massive attack in every province of South Vietnam. For weeks, heated discussions took place around the topic of who should be part of the design jury. Ho Chi Minh led a communist government in the north (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) with its capital at Hanoi, and a new Republic of South Vietnam was established under President Ngo Dinh Diem, with its capital at Saigon. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) advised that was not the caseAmerica had a strong military presence in the Pacific that would serve as a deterrent. His research had proven that post-traumatic stress was real and had shone a light on the challenges faced by a significant number of military veterans. Republican Richard Nixon won the presidency in the fall elections. Updates? On February 7, 1965, the U.S. Air Force began bombing selected sites in North Vietnam. Paul Haagas spouse, Heather Sturt Haaga, soon came forward to lend her experience in fund raising. They stressed that all funds for the Memorial would be raised from private donations. For weeks, he obsessed about the idea of building a memorial. I am always incredibly moved and heartened, especially when a veteran tells me that The Wall has helped them in some wayit could not mean more to me. In an article in the Washington Post, writer Tom Wolfe defined the debate over the inclusion of Harts figurative memorial as a story of art experts and the Vietnam veteransand of how the veterans asked for a war memorial and wound up with an enormous pit they now refer to as a tribute to Jane Fonda. This alliance between the veterans and their conservative defenders was a new one, forged as a direct result of the cultural battle over the memorial site. The communist takeover of China and subsequent war in Korea (1950-53) against North Korean and Chinese troops had focused a great deal of attention on Southeast Asia as a place to take a strong stand against the spread of communism. Im sure I looked like a deer in the headlights, I was so nervous, Scruggs recalled. 7. Only a few, such as the St. Louis Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, had been the result of open competitions. Maya Lins original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was very hurtful, Cupp recalled. Holding a competition is like launching a rocket. A s memorials are objects of public commemoration, we demand a lot of them. Both sides were fighting a war of attrition, so communist commanders sent Hanoi battle reports that often were pure fantasy. I had calculated that it was possible to see all of them in a minimum of 3 1/2 hours. The memorial itself, was a . 1. American involvement began to escalate under President John F. Kennedys administration (January 1961November 1963). Why were people angry about the Vietnam War memorial? To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. ", 3: The Political Controversy, Nonsense. In December Doubek became the Executive Director, working on a half-time basis for the first few months, and opened the VVMF office on January 2, 1980. Some 80,000 Vietnamese from the south had moved to the north after the Geneva Agreements were signed. The more people you got to co-sponsor, the more people wanted to join.. It was designed by American architect Maya Lin. With the winning design in hand, Spreiregen had less than 24 hours to craft an explanation of the decisionand the designthat would be suitable for presentation to VVMF. By 1979, the country was beginning to have more positive feelings toward Vietnam veterans. ARVN divisions in the north were surrounded and routed. Every 15 minutes, there was a pause for prayer. The pilot of an F-8E Crusader did not see any ships in the area where the enemy was reported, and years later crew members said they never saw attacking craft. In the Shadow of the Washington Monument. Color should mean nothing now., Sideys piece continued: At the end of five hours and much shouting, General Mike Davison, retired, who led the Cambodian incursion in 1970, proposed a compromise: add the figure of a soldier in front of the long granite walls that will bear the 57,709 names of those who died or are missing and the tribute to all who served. On November 11, 1984, the servicemen statue and a U.S. flag were formally added to the memorial, and the combined monument was placed under the control of the National Park Service. Why was the Vietnam Memorial so controversial? - Yoforia.com Every major engagement between U.S. forces and VC or NVA was an American victory, and the casualty (body count) ratio always showed significantly larger casualties for the communist forces than for the Americans. Early in his efforts Scruggs had called on Emogene Cupp, then the national president of the American Gold Star Mothers. Not only was Harts statue included at the memorial site, but a flagpole was added as well. As soon as the design was chosen,the next step was to consider the all-important details of getting it built. Frances military involvement in Vietnam began when it sent warships in 1847, ostensibly to protect Christians from the ruling emperor Gia Long. The earliest of these battles was the controversy over Lins design. Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They . Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Traumatic memoriessuch as those of police officers brutally beating anti-war protesters at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago and members of the National Guard opening fire on students protesting the war at Kent State University in Ohiowere removed, like a tumor, from the body of the nation and assigned to another geographical location: Vietnam. North Vietnam spent two years rebuilding its military; South Vietnam was hamstrung in its responses by a fear the U.S. Congress would cut off all aid if it took military action against communist buildup. Daniel Abramson, Maya Lin and the 1960s: Monuments, Time Lines, and Minimalism, Critical Inquiry 22, no. The three of them had different strengths, Healy explained. Earlier, in March 1968, the Americal Division had been involved in what became known as the My Lai Massacre, in which over 100 men, women and children were killed. Because the U.S. failed to achieve a military victory and the Republic of South Vietnam was ultimately taken over by North Vietnam, the Vietnam experience became known as the only war America ever lost. It remains a very controversial topic that continues to affect political and military decisions today. North Vietnam Frustrated, Nixon ordered the big bombersB-52sto strike Hanoi, beginning December 16 (Operation LINEBACKER). Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. History of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Casualties for the Republic of South Vietnam will never be adequately resolved.

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