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Background of the war:1945-1960- Truman and Eisenhower Years

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Background of the war:1945-1960- Truman and Eisenhower Years

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The conflict in Vietnam took root during an independence movement against French colonial rule and evolved into a Cold War confrontation. During the late fifties, Vietnam was divided into a communist North and anti-communist South. Because of the war anxiety of the time, the general feeling was that, should the North Vietnamese communists win, the remainder of Southeast Asia would also fall to communism. Truman and Eisenhower served back to back as the 33rd and 34th presidents, but despite many similarities, they had their differences, beginning with their political parties. Harry S. Truman was a Democrat, and Dwight D. Eisenhower was a Republican. Both men were strong leaders, equipped to deal with tough decisions.

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1945-1977 Political and Historical Events

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1945-1977 Political and Historical Events

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From the Cold War, JFK being elected president, to the nuclear power accident, many events happened in the timeline from 1945-1977. There were also events outside the United States, like a soviet man becoming the first man in outer space, and Iranian military hold 52 U.S. people hostage.

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The Kennedy administration came into the White House House in 1961. He increased financial aid to Diem's regime. He sent many military advisers to train and prepare South Vietnamese soldiers. Over time Diem caused problems, and it became clear that in order for South Vietnam to be stable, Diem had to be out of the picture. Soon he was assassinated, and a few weeks later Kennedy was too. Before his death, Kennedy announced his want to withdraw the U.S. forces from South Vietnam, he thought it if was taken over by communist it would be destroyed.

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March 16, 1968, a U.S. platoon massacred innocent people in a village called My Lai, South Vietnam. Troops proceeded to shoot 200 Vietnamese, but claim they weren't responsible for the shootings because they were only following orders. This was a very devastating day for many of the villagers.

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The strategic hamlet was considered a way to get the widest response to the governments effort. All were in South Vietnam, and President Eisenhower was responsible for it. Its purpose was to reduce influence of the communists, and put poorer populations into safer and segregated positions.

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Ideas of FMS and SDS went and spread to college campuses. Mostly they focused on issues like dress codes, curfews, and dorm regulations. However once information spread they realized the issue they joined together to protest. In 1960 it was clear many younger people, teens and college students, understood the nation needed a major change.

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The resistance. Equally prevalent in the military during the Vietnam War were acts of disobedience and defiance of authority. One of the most common and significant forms of GI resistance was absence without leave. Absentee and desertion rates during the Vietnam War soared to record levels.

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Opposition to the Vietnam War in the United States

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Counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural shock-wave that started in the United States and United Kingdom in the early 1960s and spread across the Western cultures until the early 1970s consisting of anti-embellishment beliefs and actions. The roots of the hippie subculture can be found in many different European subcultures from as early as the 1900s, some even before. During the movement, Hippies became the largest and most prominent countercultural group in the States.

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During the 60's, Hippies and activists used music as a way for political expressions. Some songs created and used for this were "The Times are A-Changin" by Bob Dylan, and "We Shall Overcome" by Joan Baez and Pete Seeger. That song became known as an anthem for the civil rights movement.

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United States Withdraws and Fall of Saigon 

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United States Withdraws and Fall of Saigon 

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After many years, North Vietnam invaded the South. Thieu asked the United States for help. President Ford gave a speech to show the Nation's  attitude. North Vietnamese soon captured Saigon and the South surrendered.

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The Vietnam War is said to be described as the longest in American history, before involvement in Afghanistan, and the conflict remains especially costly. During the Vietnam War, the US dropped more than 270 million bombs in neighboring Laos. Only one-third of the bombs actually went off though.

Over 2,700,000 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam, and over 58,000 were killed or reported missing. Estimates of Vietnamese deaths range over one million. The impacts of the war are important, and Memorial Day provides a particularly appropriate time for reflection.

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Brutal legacy of the Vietnam War: US bombs are still littering the fields and homes of Laos four decades after the conflict as Obama becomes the first President to visit

During the Vietnam War, the US dropped more than 270 million bombs in neighboring Laos

US planes used the country as a dumping ground for bombs when their original target was unavailable

One-third of the bombs failed to explore and across the country, more than 20,000 have been killed or injured by bombs since the war, many of them children

During his visit to Laos, Barack Obama is expected to announce more funding to help clear leftover bombs

US bombs are still littering the fields of Laos more than 40 years since the end of the Vietnam War and their lethal legacy is a part of daily life in the landlocked nation.

As Barack Obama becomes the first president to visit the country, he is expected to announce more funding to help clear leftover US bombs and conduct Laos' first national survey on unexploded ordnance.

During the Vietnam War, the US dropped more than 270 million bombs in Laos.

The bombings were part of a CIA-run, secret operation aimed at destroying the North Vietnamese supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh trail and wiping out its communist allies.

They also left a trail of devastation in the country, which US planes used as a dumping ground for bombs when their original target was unavailable and planes could not land with explosives.

From 1964 to 1973, US warplanes dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos, equivalent to a planeload of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years.

One-third of the bombs failed to explode and across the country, more than 20,000 people have been killed or injured by bombs since the war, many of them children.

According to Legacies of War, an organisation focused on addressing the impact of bombs dropped on Laos, $25 million a year will need to be spent over the next decade to prevent further casualties.

While overall casualties have come down - in 2008 recorded casualties were just over 300 compared to 42 in 2015 - the percentage of children hurt or killed has gone up.

Balasubramaniam Murali, deputy resident representative to the United Nations Development Programme in Laos, told Reuters: 'Children are curious and tend to play with the bombs or try to prise it open'.

Despite tens of millions of dollars spent, only one per cent of Laos territory has been completely cleared so far.

In Xieng Khouang, the most affected province, bombs are found in forests and school buildings, roads and rice fields.

For survivors of the war, the painful memories are still vivid.

Now 40 years old, Soud was 10 when, out farming with his family, his spade hit a bomb triggering an explosion that blinded and maimed him.

His mother, Thongsy, now 75, remembers the day clearly.

She said: 'I heard an explosion and then I saw my child lying there. The villagers helped carry him to the nearest hospital by foot. They had to cut off his hand. I was crying'.

Pomee Kaewpimpa, 59, was a young boy when he saw bombs dropped on Napia village in Xieng Khouang up to three times a day.

Now a village elder, he wants Washington to take responsibility.

He said: 'Until every bomb is removed from the ground our children will be at risk. I want to know whether those Americans who pierced our land with bombs, are they sorry?'

Yianyang Bounxieng, now 28, remembers playing with bombs while growing up in Xieng Khouang, the area most heavily bombed during the war.

His grandmother resented foreigners because of the bombings.

He said 'When I took tourists to visit her she was angry and would say: 'Why did you bring them here? They destroyed everything''.

The country was dragged into the conflict in 1953 when the Vietnamese-backed communist forces Pathet Lao began fighting for leadership, aiming to oust the Royal Lao Government.

In response, America trained up around 30,000 Laotian tribesmen, mostly from the Hmong tribe, to fight against the communists.

While in Laos, Obama will meet with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders and an East Asia Summit.

Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has warned Obama not to question him about extrajudicial killings, or 'son of a bitch I will swear at you' when they meet in Laos during a regional summit.

Before flying to Laos, Duterte said he is a leader of a sovereign country and answerable only to the Filipino people.

More than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users have been killed since he launched a war on drugs after taking office on June 30.

Asked about that at the G20 summit in China, Obama described Duterte as a 'colorful guy'.

He said he had instructed his aides to assess whether it is still possible for the two leaders to have a constructive meeting in Laos.

He added: 'I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting that it's actually productive, and that we're getting something done.'

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Barack Obama to address lethal legacy of secret war in Laos

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During the Vietnam War, the US dropped more than 270 million bombs in neighboring Laos US planes used the country as a dumping ground for bombs when their original target was unavailable One-third of the bombs failed to explore and across the country, more than 20,000 have been killed or

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The short term impact of the war was that 58,000 Americans were killed and 300,000 were wounded. Also the war had cost America $200 billion. I think that was a lot of money to be wasted on a war. The long term impacts of the war was that the war ruined both North and South Vietnam. -In 1969, around 1,034,300 hectares of forest was destroyed.  Today there are still many children in Vietnam growing up with various diseases and disabilities affected by the harmful chemicals carried out in the war. Which I think isn’t really fair to the people of Vietnam to be livening that way.

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In conclusion when 1990 began it was the cold war has ended. During the war the U.S showed that they had more power than the people in Vietnam. But after the war ended everyone had high hopes that there would be peace in the world and that there was  no point in having wars.