The Different reactions in the U.S.A. to the countrys involvement in the conflict in vietnam in the 1960's.

Essay by vix1989High School, 10th grade September 2005

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There were such different reactions with the USA involving themselves with Vietnam as there were so many different situations which made each persons view either strengthen or change. Each person also had different backgrounds or history involving them which also made their decision on how they think about the war. One situation that made some views was the Cuban Missile Crisis and when the WW2 veteran's views were expressed when America had stopped the Soviet Union putting nuclear missiles on Cuba which would have meant the eastern part of USA would have been in striking range. This was the closest the world had ever been to nuclear war. There were different reactions as the older generation had fought in the war against Hitler from taking over the world and felt they had to stop communism to stop it happening again. They would also have felt that they fought for there country to protect the younger generation so why couldn't the younger generation of the 60's do the same? and if communism did spread across the world all the WW2 efforts would have been pointless.

However the younger generation felt very differently as they thought as the world had come so close to nuclear but had never done before that something was going wrong and a new approach should have been taken. This made the two generations split due to their different reactions and views.

Draft dodgers were another situation that caused different reactions. Young Americans felt that the war was immoral and that the USA had no right to put across its views to a poorer nation like Vietnam. Scientists also said how all the chemical weapons were causing a disastrous effect on the environment. These views mainly came from the younger generation between the late 60's and early 70's.