The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers and American Society
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The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers and American Society
This research paper explores the effects of the Vietnam war on American soldiers and
American society. The Vietnam war and the resulting consequences were one of the most
significant occurrences in 20th-century America. Over two decades of the violent conflict caused
a devastating toll on the US soldiers and the Vietnamese, with both warring sides suffering
staggering injuries as well as death tolls. The American soldiers returned home having suffered
trauma and injuries, while others went unaccounted for after the war. The soldiers suffered from
long-lasting psychological or mental health issues including PTSD and many experienced
difficulties integrating back into the society. As the war continued and became prolonged, many
Americans became critical of the conflict after the actual happenings in Vietnam became more
public and denounced the government's deceit about the actual outcomes and expectations. Due
to the devastating impact of the war on soldiers, the Vietnamese population, and the cost
involved, and the lies told by the government, the public trust and confidence in the government
declined. The war had great political implications relating to voting rights, the credibility of the
government, and the perception of the nation's foreign policy. The Vietnam war greatly affected
the American soldiers' mental well-being as shown by persistent PTSD and changed the
American society's trust in the government and political perceptions.
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The Vietnam war affected the veterans in various ways. The majority of combat soldiers
encountered and experienced violence as well as loss of friends to the horrors of the conflict. In
the Vietnam War memorial, the decision of additional eight names of the veterans on 28 May
2001 made the total number of deaths 58,226, which was expected to continue rising as
categorized fatalities of the undercover continue to appear. Some soldiers bore physical as well
as emotional injuries that they would continue to carry for the remaining part of their lives (Hall
23). During this war, nearly 27 million American men were drafted and 11 percent of the number
served in the same ways. Due to college deferments, the majority of the US soldiers who served
in Vietnam were gotten from minority groups as well as working-class backgrounds. In this war,
the average age of the soldiers – 19- was 3 years lower compared to soldiers in Korea and World
War II (Frey-Wouters and Robert 67). Unlike World War II, the soldiers in Vietnam had to serve
personalized duty tours instead of remaining attached to their assigned united in the entire war.
At times, these personalized duties resulted in difficulties in adjusting to normal life after
returning home. A small number of the soldiers in the war also turned to drug abuse and become
addicts as they carried on with their self-medication due to the difficulties of switching to a
peacetime existence, the easy accessibility of drugs in the US, as well as the absence of federal
programs to assist the veterans to handle the post-war life (Frey-Wouters and Robert 67).
Mental or Psychological impact
A 1983 study instructed by Congress led to alarming findings on the psychological or
mental impact of the Vietnam war on veterans. During the study, among the veterans, around 9
percent of women and 15 percent of men were found to presently suffer from PTSD. The results
obtained nearly ten years after the end of the war showed that for a lot of veterans, their PTSD
had developed into a chronic illness. Another study found that nearly 30 years after the war,
The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers and American Society
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many veterans continued to have problems with the condition. At the first interview, almost 12
percent suffered from PSTD, and one and half decades later, the incidence of the condition had
reduced only slightly to almost 11 percent. Individuals who had undergone high intensities of
exposure to combat may have had PTSD during the two interviews. Due to their experiences and
resulting PTSD, these individuals recorded lower contentment in sex life, marriage, as well as
overall life. Also, they experienced more parenting challenges, increased cases of divorce, lower
happiness, as well as complaints of physical health issues including fatigue, colds, and aches
(Knox and Price). This implies that the Vietnam war affected the soldiers mentally as well as
physically.
Another way that researchers have in the past looked at the effects of the Vietnam war on
American soldiers was by examining what the veterans still handling PTSD in the 1990s. This
examination showed that 28 percent of the former soldiers with high degrees of combat exposure
continue to suffer from PSTD, in comparison to only 1 percent of individuals with the least
exposure. Attempts to point out how much trauma the soldiers brought back home with them, as
well as still living with, have not been an easy matter. In 1988, a report by the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention established that almost 15 percent of the male former soldiers
had experienced PTSD, while only about 2 percent of the total number of veterans were still
troubled by this condition. However, this is a significant percentage considering that the war was
terminated in 1975 (Cromie). While Congress had initially considered the number not high
enough to continue with mental health services including counseling, second thoughts made the
house adopt another into this matter. Another report by the Nation Vietnam Veterans
Readjustment released in 1990 hit hard (Cromie). The findings put the number of individuals that
were mentally injured at a massive 30.9 percent, individuals initially wounded at 22.5 percent,
The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers and American Society
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and individuals still suffering at 15.2 percent. Opponents of the way the government handled the
issue argued that only approximately 15 percent of individuals who were drafted into the war
saw combat, however, over 3 times this number had brought home with them a full-scale or
partial PTSD condition. Other critics took issue with the approach used adopted to determine
whether or not individuals actually suffered from combat –trauma (Cromie). Yet these reports,
despite their contradictory nature, show that the mental trauma of the war that the soldiers were
great enough to warrant a response from the government in regard to providing mental health
services.
The mental and psychological effects of the Vietnam war on soldiers became a long-term
health issue. Laufer et al. embarked on the examination of the impact of abusive violence since
they had grounds to believe, in Vietnam, at least, this facet of war trauma is key to understanding
the long-term impacts of war. The focus on the abusive violence was because of the emphasis on
this aspect found in the researchers' transcript material. Experience of abusive violence against
the prisoners of war as well as the civilians were deeply disillusioning. Veterans recorded reexperiencing such events in the form of dreams, daydreams, as well as nightmares, and in form
of conscious reflections on the way, the war had impacted their individual lives. Also, exposure
to as well as taking part in abusive viciousness was associated with attitudes toward Unites
States' participation in Vietnam, perceptions of the South Vietnamese, and perceptions of the
impacts of war on the general Vietnamese society (Laufer et al 74). Other related studies
confirmed that PTSD became a long-term impact of the war. Research on the incidence of PTSD
in aging Vietnam-era war veterans published in 2016 showed that over 35 years after the end of
the war, the rate of lifelong PTSD, as well as the continued symptom burden, was significant in
the soldiers who were drafted in the operations theater. The condition was specifically noted
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among the veterans with a combat exposure history. Among the non-theater veterans, individuals
below 60 years of age experienced a higher prevalence of PTSD in comparison with veterans
older than or equal to 60 years (Goldberg, Jack, et al, 189). The implication is that the war in
Vietnam had long-term mental health impacts on the soldiers, which was indicated by the
continued cases of PTSD as latest as the last decade.
The psychological impact of the war was not limited to PTSD symptoms and this
condition led to other health effects. The war veterans continued to cope with numerous
conditions that may be closely associated with the symptoms of PTSD. These conditions entail
substance abuse, pain, depression, as well as heart disease. Since it is perceived that substance
abuse arises in almost a third of all individuals, especially men, suffering from PTSD, it is
possible that self-medicating may have triggered some of the inclination to be drug as well as
alcohol abuse. In regard to pain, whether associated with injuries from this war or the various
illnesses that develop with age, the majority of Vietnam veterans experienced chronic pain, and
this pain is linked closely to PTSD (Goldberg, Jack, et al 186). This brutal cycle may proceed
further as the signs of PTSD include muscle tension heightening pain, and this, in turn, worsens
the PTSD symptoms. Besides, PTSD may have increased the susceptibility to depression as well
as substance disorders, which in turn, leads to increased levels of pain. Many veterans, after
attaining the age when heart conditions become common, may have suffered from heart diseases.
Also, individuals with PTSD show a higher rate of diabetes, and this condition, as is known, is a
substantial risk factor for heart illness (Goldberg, Jack, et al 187). Hence, the implication is that
the psychological effect of the war on American soldiers did not end with the PTSD but
continued to manifest in other conditions including those associated with PTSD,
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The Vietnam combat was specifically vulnerable to various stress symptoms due to the
length of the war, the deployment patterns used, guerilla tactics, the apparent lack of common
purpose, as well as the heightening unpopularity of this conflict, frequently leading to veterans
being viewed or treated with disdain. "untreated trauma from war can leave individuals as
voiceless as victims of the persistent political torture" (Gartner and Segura 136). Most soldiers
spoke often of the eerie luck as well as the whims of combat, yet they often perceived those who
met death on the battlefield as the lucky ones. This shows the aspect of luck in the world of the
soldier. Most likely, their perception of luck replicates the extent of suffering for individuals who
survived the war only to have to deal with serious cases of PTSD.
The earliest research also showed that Vietnam-theater soldiers showed higher degrees of
socio-psychological condition compared to Vietnam-era or non-veterans. The conclusion from
the research was that, for a Vietnam impact, the results implied that even non-combat service
during the war had harmful impacts on individuals' later life. The Vietnam theater soldiers had
not acquired the educational levels or even employment status of their civilian or Vietnam-era
colleagues and even had higher incidences of substance abuse, challenges with law, disease, as
well as stress-associated signs. Stress responses seemed to be worsened by the low education
levels, minority status, and unemployment, and social support from families (wives) or friends
alleviated such reactions. Only a small percentage – 5-10 percent – were well-adjusted soldiers,
who included individuals that had effectively worked through mental issues. This shows that the
experiences of the soldiers also depended on their socioeconomic status.
Experiences of the Vietnam Minorities from Racial Minority Groups and Low
Socioeconomic Status
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The interracial conflict and the Vietnam war are part of the major conflicts of the modern
US, and this was shown by the experiences of the returning black veterans. One of the major
problems involves the reaction of the war-trained African American veterans to an undeniably
racist society as well as to the possibly volatile black communities. In fact, with about 400,000 to
500000 black veterans of the Vietnam war taking up civilian status, and with a supposedly
decline in the first-term re- recruitment incidences for black people, the veterans certainly started
to impact the future of white-black racial relations in America (Bernard). The veteran going
back to the African-American community encountered an intensifying black consciousness that
most likely appeared as separatism as well as increased demand for an instant as well as radical
social changes. While the social change process was slow, the soldiers had the potential to make
more vivid institutional change in regard to integration compared to other American society's
large-scale institutions (Bernard). The implication is that the returning black veterans faced a
different society from the one they had left behind, and this difference affected their integration
back into their communities.
Race appears to have moderated how individual soldiers reacted to or experienced the
Vietnam war. A major debate relates to how, regarding the US wars, many imply that casualties
of the Vietnam war were disproportionately experienced by veterans from minority populations
as well as soldiers from lower socioeconomic status backgrounds. The Black Americans as well
as Latinos suffered the most and paid a higher human price for this war in comparison with the
non-Hispanic white soldiers, leading to the saying that the Vietnam war was every so often a
"white man's war, a black man's fight" (Gartner and Segura, 116). Evidence suggests this
contention is true since, in 1965, African Americans were 24 percent of all the combat deaths in
the deployed US army. The disproportionality of the causalities and death by socioeconomic
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status and race had implications for various social as well as political processes. Part of the
suggestion is that the war's duration was, partially, a function of the total cost that was paid by
individuals least politically empowered to have a say in the change of policy in the country. The
disproportionate impact of the war on soldiers from the minority groups is seen by the fact that,
initially, black Americans' support for the war was equal to or exceeded that of the white
American's support. However, as the war proceeded, the support of the war among the Black
Americans as well as Latinos reduced, which implies that racial characteristics played a key role
in the war, and how individuals were affected by it (Gartner and Segura, 116). For instance,
while Martin Luther King Jr, arrived at the position of open criticism of the Vietnam war mostly
as a result of his overall principle of opposition to the war, he at least partly opposed the war due
to his perception that there was inequity in casualties.
The impacts of the war on African Americans, other minority groups, and the low
socioeconomic class became more pronounced after the failure of the government's G.I. Bill
failed to serve as a readjustment tool that veterans hoped for and in most cases needed to attain
their educational goals after the war (Boulton 57). Nearly 90 percent of the Black American
veterans of the Vietnam war came from underprivileged families or working class, with a
considerably lower family median income compared to those of white counterparts during the
entire period of the war and later. Since many "peacetime" war veterans were now eligible for
Bill's benefits, fiscally conservative political leaders focused on keeping these benefits low
(Craddock 73). Their decision was based on the notion that most veterans that would benefit
from this Bill had not encountered great hardship, hence, were not worthy of substantial
compensation. The Vietnam war veterans were not given legislation that considered their
specific needs as well as sacrifices. The consequences of the insufficient benefits for the minority
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and lower-income Vietnam war veterans quickly became a prominent issue to the public since
the level of benefits was quite low to the point that participation was largely limited for lowerclass families' veterans, who did not have the extra resources from which they could draw
additional support (Boulton 57). There were no way veterans could go to college on the G.I Bill
then, unless they had some money on their own. The unequal majority of disadvantaged and
deprived individuals, who included both black as well as white soldiers, came back home to
stingy handouts. Also, due to their overall lower socioeconomic status, Black American
returning soldiers experienced great suffering from the federal government's drifts (Boulton 58).
Besides, even though most veterans were granted decent discharges, an unequal proportion of
Black Americans were not accorded the same treatment due to racism in the military. A
disgraceful discharge excluded a soldier from obtaining any benefits, and Black veterans
accounted for merely 18.7 of other-than-honorable releases, despite making up about 10 percent
of the American army in Vietnam (Boulton 59) The implication is that very few were able to
benefit from the G.I Bill benefits. Given that many of these veterans had forgone college to serve
in the military, they deserved generous benefits. Considering that these veterans experienced
trauma, depression, and PTSD after returning from the way, the lack of opportunities that they
looked forward to amplified their struggles.
Even though many black veterans formed long-lasting interracial friendships during the
overseas war, obvious racist treatment and inequities strained their experiences and reactions
during as well as after this conflict. In the combat zones, they were unequally sent to the
frontlines, disciplined or jailed at higher incidence, and promoted less frequently. Once the
soldier returned home, they were given manual jobs opportunities and even received little to no
empathy from the black communities. The implication of this experience is that the black
The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers and American Society
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veterans have been filled with trauma as well as resentment decades later. They have had to look
for a body of a brother-in-arms and reckon with individual responsibility and involvement in a
war that was perceived as "immoral and not ours" by their community (Boulton). The negative
impact of the war on their mental health was complicated by the problem of fighting racism
while seeking opportunities at home.
The Effects of the War on American Society
Public perception
Regardless of the soldiers' perception of their service – whether they were proud or notor they sustained injuries, they received a lukewarm reception at welcome at home for their
sacrifice. A vocal part of the public voiced its disappointment with racism, the government, and
the war on these returning soldiers. While the majority of the Americans perceived World War II
as a good war, most of the public perceived the Vietnam conflict as a total disaster, and just
prisoners of war caused postwar empathy for the misery they suffered (Bell and Veith).
The United States did not just lose the Vietnam war plus 58,000 lives of young people, it
transformed it as a country and society in a lot of ways, but for the worse. The war made the
American citizens cynical as well as distrustful of the country's institutions, particularly the
government, and for most individuals, it eroded the perception, that was once almost collective,
that being an American Citizen meant serving their country. Despite the positive outcomes of the
war for the US and the Western partners, the Vietnam war was the wrong and unnecessary war,
and the sacrifices that the so many soldiers and their families had to pay must have been the
reason why most the Americans' perception of the war changed after its end as compared to the
beginning (Koscielski 67). The US obligation to overstate its significance since what occurred on
the ground that the nation could not change the basic form of the tactical competition between
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the Soviet Union and the US. The latter came to be largely seen as a distraction that led to the
waste of every kind of resources and the idea that the war essentially impact American interests
in any part of the world showed that it was mistaken. Also, the US misread the present threat at
the time, and the leadership was slow to note the growing divide between USSR and Vietnam.
While communism was never monolithic, Vietnam's patriotism counted for more since the both
South as well as North Communists were nationalists compared to being Soviet instruments. The
US became so involved in the war because of domestic politics, as well as John F. Kennedy's and
Lyndon Johnson's concern – to even a great degree – that the public would be unforgiving to the
political leaders or their party that lost to the Soviet Union.
The Department of Defense had lied to the public that the communists in Vietnam had
suffered many casualties but the exposure of these reports changed how Americans viewed the
war and their confidence in the government. Roberts McNamara announced on a television news
conference that, in the past four and one-half years the Vietcong, the Communists, have lost
89,000 men … you can see the heavy drain" (Baker). However, some portions of Pentagon
papers, confidential reports, were eventually leaked, and the reports stated, in cold and
bureaucratic language, how the US got stuck in a long and costly war in Vietnam, a small
Southeast Asian nation of doubtful strategic significance. The original mistake was the decision
to provide support for the French rules in this country as the nationalist under Chi Minh, a
communist, were winning their battle for independence. US field intelligence officers reported
that there was no evidence that the Soviets were expanding in the region or plotting to take over
Southeast Asia or Vietnam (Baker). The exposure of the lies as well as the miscalculation of the
US government in the War led to a lot of domestic demonstrations against the war. There was a
modest link between these demonstrations and the public opinion regarding the government. The
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Tet Offensive campaign, which started a few years into the War ended up being splashed on
various TV sets across the United States and impacted how the Americans viewed this war. The
Viet Cong as well as the North Vietnamese Army's attacks on various cities, in then South
Vietnam, became a military loss for the communists (Mosettig). However, the political
implication of the battle reached Washington as it enabled the bringing down of President
Lyndon Johnson's administration, which had committed over half a million YS troops in defense
of the South Vietnamese administration. Particularly the coverage of the attack on the US
Embassy Compound in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnamese had devastating effects after the
television film recordings of the assault reached Asian cities and thereafter, transmitted to New
York headquarters by satellite (Mosettig). These pictures were viewed by the American public,
which changed the political scene during the period of campaign for the presidential campaign.
As the war wore on and more reports of the conflict brutalities increased, the anti-war
movement that had grown earlier increased in strength making many Americans air their voice
against the war. Mostly, in 1970, college students took to the streets to demonstrate against the
war, and after the Kent State shootings incident against the student protesters by the National
Guard, the demonstration spread across the country as hundreds of high schools and colleges
across the country held strikes and declined to attend classes (Corbett et al.). During the mid1970, black American college students in Mississippi protested against the US invasion of
Cambodia, and the police who arrived to disperse the protestors opened fire shortly after
midnight causing injuries and deaths of young people. The extension of the war into Cambodia
and campus violence due to ongoing protests greatly disillusioned the American public regarding
the role they played in the Vietnam war (Corbett et al.). The American public was horrified after
hearing of the atrocities that the US soldiers committed in Vietnam as the war raged on.
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Examples of such reports included the horrifying massacre of My Lai villages in 1968. The then
Nixon Administration had sought to bring the war to an end by escalating the bombing of Hanoi,
in Vietnam as well as invading Cambodia, and these actions provoked massive antiwar protests
across the United States that frequently ended in bloodshed and violence including tragic
shootings weaponless student protestors (Corbett et al.).
For many Americans, the 1970s seemed like an expansion of the 1960s' as the people
held vigorous as well as polarizing debates on how the Vietnam war could be ended, but this
debate had great impacts on the social and political aspects of the society. By the close of that
decade, the public was attempting to regain its position, and ideals, and recover from the
confidence crisis after the conclusion of the prolonged and traumatic conflict (Belcher 423). The
war shaped society in a lot of ways, small and large. It marked the close of the draft to the war.
The public had become disenchanted with the Vietnam war, and sensing this perception, the
Nixon Richard administration stopped the draft as well as refocused on the all-volunteer force
prior to the 1972 election. This generation of the all-volunteer force later became the present,
highly capable US military that is currently in action (Baumgartner and Peter 16). To some
extent, the end of this draft was a great milestone in the nation's relationship with the military
since it gained instant favor with parents, particularly mothers of the draft age sons, as well as on
the University campuses. Also, the war had great effects on the country's politics, especially
regarding voting rights. The cliché that 18-year-olds individuals could be deployed in war but
were not allowed to engage in voting in presidential elections resulted in a rapid reaction from
the Senate as well as the House. The attempts to lower individuals voting age had started during
WWII, but the Vietnam War led to the catchphrase "Old enough to fight, old enough to vote"
(Baumgartner and Peter 16). The slogan mobilized around this slogan to oppose the drafting into
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the military. Various testimonies presented to the Judiciary Committee during this period
indicate that senators were startled by the violence and demonstrations on college campuses
across the country and perceived that reducing the voting age was likely to make dissent against
the war mainstream and eventually diffuse them. Also, it seems that President Nixon's validation
of this measure was equally a constructed, calculated, as well as co-opting reaction to the antiwar protest movement, but he had no heartfelt or principled commitment to the young electorates
as such (Seery, 63). The disillusionment of the American public by the cost and long period of
the Vietnam war made the movement to reduce the voting age get widespread support as the
aforementioned slogan made its way back to the public awareness in form of protest chants as
well as posters. Various politicians continue to put pressure on the Senate to lower the voting age
to 18 years a push that comprised enacting an amendment to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that
determined the voting age in local, state, as well as federal elections. On July 1, 1971, the
Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the US constitution was ratified. Congress had lowered the age of
voting as part of the 1970s Voting Act. Also, the Supreme Court endorsed this amendment in a 5
to 4 decision in applying lowered age to the country's federal elections (Baumgartner and Peter
17). The implication was that the drafting of young men into the Vietnam war had a great
political impact in America as many people in the public, especially those opposed to the
conflict, contended that the if individuals were old enough to be drafted into the military and
deployed in the war, they were capable of making political decisions in form of voting for their
preferred political candidates.
After the end of the war, the was a concerted effort to band together military families.
The various families and relatives of American prisoners of war as well as Mission inaction
came together to flex their political strength and to ensure that the society did not forget the
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individual soldiers who were unaccounted for in the Vietnam war. This union of families walked
through the halls of the pentagon as well as the Congress chanting "you are not forgotten", with
an aim of ensuring that the US armed service members would always be appreciated for the
services they rendered to the country, even as other discussed the policies that send those
individuals to war (Hall 37). Various families of the servicemen who did not return came
together to demand from the government an account of their loved ones (Davidson College).
This unity changed the perception of some of the American public on the Vietnamese people,
particularly those who migrated to the US. To this day, around 1600 American male soldiers
who were drafted and fought in the war are still unaccounted for, but their grandkids continue to
come together in their names. These experiences taught the American society, especially the
family and relatives of the loved ones to acknowledge that the Soldiers who fight for they have
earned and deserve the enduring honor of their country, even though policies, as well as strategy,
may be controversial. Besides, the Vietnam war served as a key lesson for the national security
agencies and policymakers thereafter to the present moment. Mainly, in regard to this war's
lesson, policymakers and politicians have learned to be cautious about getting out of wars, which
is usually a more complex issue than getting into conflicts, particularly for a democracy such as
the United States. During the President Reagan administration, the Pentagon established a
doctrine regarding military engagement, which required setting concise policy objectives,
gaining adequate public support before being involved as well as a pre-planned exit strategy
(Lock-Pullan 107). Later, President George H.W. Bush's administration played by these
requirements during the Persian Gulf War of 1991 by ending military activities and then exiting
after the core military aims of redeeming Kuwait were achieved. However, after a decade, these
painful Vietnam War lessons surfaced again as the American military invaded Iraq as well as
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found themselves engaged in a ground conflict that did not have a concise diplomatic as well as
diplomatic solution (Lock-Pullan 107). Owing to the lessons the American society has learned
since the Vietnam war, many members of the public came out to challenge and oppose the
invasion of Iraq even though this war had gained large support from the majority of the public
and politicians. The implication is that there are still individuals, young and old, who learned the
impact of Wars from the Vietnam conflict and took a position of advocating for a diplomatic
solution rather than armed conflict.
The Vietnam War changed how American society viewed politics and their trust in the
federal government on foreign policies. During and after this war, Americans became
accustomed to their political leaders lying about this war including about the fictitious Gulf of
Tonkin occurrence, the various pacified regions, as well as the exaggerated body counts of their
enemies. When the public spoke of President Johnson's "integrity gap", they were politely saying
the administration was lying to them, and such an integrity gap was perceived to be rare and bad.
The gap was still viewed as bad by the end of this war, but, by then, it had become usual so much
so that when political leaders later lied, fact-checkers would point out the lies, but the public
learned to move on (McGrath 46). The public moved from gullibility to pessimism, which started
alienating people from the government, which currently denotes a bureaucratic predicament.
Such a situation appears to destroy the country's democracy since it put an end to the people's
power to even seek change or efforts to change. Also, the previous accomplishments of the
American society in the 1960s included the building of the biggest highway systems, public
schools numbers as well as universities, fighting major wars such as WWII, and even landing on
the moon with this kind of public mistrust and cynicism about politicians and the government
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(McGrath 46). The distrust in the government was contrary to the early 19th century when the
public had a more optimistic perception of the government. Vietnam war had resulted in grave
doubts regarding national purpose, how the system in the US worked, as well as the reliability
and wisdom of the leaders. Despite the local turmoil defined by an unprecedented wave of
domestic agendas of civil rights, advocacy against poverty, fight for environmental protection as
well as other efforts designed to facilitate the overall wellbeing and almost equal society the
Vietnam war placed a lot of unbearable pressure on resources and the American society's fabric.
Fear instead of confidence in the coming days turned Americans to more concerns for an
individual share of resources (the pie), away from issues of common or national interests, and
people were inclined to amplify rather than to come together to dispel suspicion and trust
(McGrath 47).
Since the 1970s, American society has become more distrustful and polarized, which has
been reflected in various opinion polls. The proportion of trust is shown by the perception in
polls that have moved up and down, and have never really recovered from the long waning after
the Vietnam war. Taking a keen look at the research findings indicates that some alarming
partisan differences arise. Even though members of the two main parties viewed the federal
government in overall low regard, Republicans showed more likelihood than Democrats of
saying they distrusted and were angry at the federal government, while the Republicans who
viewed themselves as active politically showed more likelihood of getting angry than members
who did not perceive themselves as active (McGrath 48). Over time, research has shown that
American continue to lose faith in the government and one another. The generally low trust
numbers starting from 2007, are likely to be more related to the increasing polarization regarding
powerful institutions as well as the government (McGrath 49). The implication is that the
The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers and American Society
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Vietnam war opens a continuous floodgate of public mistrust of the government and polarization
of politics, which continues to the present times.
The Vietnam war affected elite policymakers differently so many have divergent views of
the use of the United states power overseas. The individuals who served in the war showed more
support for the cause during its closing years. Individuals from the Vietnam generation who did
not take part or serve in the war tend to have turned against the war by the time it stopped, unlike
their older compatriots. Varying attitudes towards this war, resulting from the different
experiences indicate divergent attitudes towards American use of force in foreign countries
(DiCicco and Benjamin 142). Hence, among the elites, the war had a different impact on their
perception of the US foreign policy, especially regarding the use of government force or invasion
of other countries with an aim of protecting the US interests around the world.
In conclusion, the Vietnam war greatly affected the American soldiers mentally and made
most Americans' trust and confidence in the federal government decline. The trauma of the
violent conflict manifested in veterans as PTSD and other psychological issues that affected
individuals' relations with families. The members of the American society became more cynical
of the government and institutions as the death toll, suffering, and cost of the prolonged war
became more public. The war opened a floodgate of continued public distrust after the media
revealed the actual happenings in Vietnam, and this American political perception continued to
be informed by increased polarization. Among the elite policymakers, the war had varying
impacts on their views of the US government's foreign strategies.
The Effects of the Vietnam War on American Soldiers and American Society
19
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