Title: How did the Vietnam War affect America? - The Vietnam War
Headings: How did the Vietnam War affect America?
How did the Vietnam War affect America?
Damage the Economy
Spur Policy Changes
The Right to Vote at Age 18
The End of the Draft
An All-Volunteer Force
Mistrust the Government
“Vietnam Syndrome”
No More “Quagmires”
The Continuing Effect
Sharing is Caring
Show us some Love

Content: A chain of unexpected events starting in mid 1960s – such as the way President Johnson obtained the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to send troops to Vietnam, revelations of secret bombings of Cambodia, the My Lai massacre and Kent State tragedy under Nixon administration – put America into a crisis of confidence and faith. On the eyes of American people, government leaders were no longer credible. The abrupt end of Nixon’s presidency with the Watergate scandal only confirmed this sentiment. The Vietnam conflict totally changed the attitudes of a generation. More and more American citizens became suspicious, skeptical and cynical about the government and public institutions in the wake of the Vietnam War. The military, in particular, was discredited for years after the conflict. “Vietnam Syndrome”
More than 58,000 men made the final sacrifices; hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the conflict in an attempt to “contain” Communism, yet the U.S. had failed abjectly. The defeat in Vietnam was a humiliating experience for the U.S. It undermined American confidence in U.S. superiority, both moral and military, and most importantly, U.S. commitment to internationalism. After Vietnam, American leaders became more wary of intruding in another country’s problems.