why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial?

It was a whirlwind of events, and the press coverage was unbelievable. News footage showed the fighting in Saigon and Hue. 18. General Westmoreland had been promoted to Army Chief of Staff and replaced in Vietnam by Gen. Creighton Abrams. On that January day, There was a big explosion, Scruggs recalled. Usually it refers to the period when the United States and other members of the SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) joined the forces with the Republic of South Vietnam to contest communist forces, comprised of South Vietnamese guerrillas and regular-force units, generally known as Viet Cong (VC), and . The 15,000 in uniforms and civvies, walked among floats, bands and baton twirlers. In the nine months since he'd been in-country, Scruggs had already seen a lot of action and had been wounded in a battle near Xuan Loc. And if they themselves didnt know how to help, they knew someone who did. In large part, this was accomplished through a series of conflicts waged at the level of culture. South Vietnam The mission of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) is to honor and preserve the legacy of service and educate all generations about the impact of the Vietnam War. We do not seek to make any statement about the correctness of the war, Scruggs said. For this reason, in Vietnam today it is known as the American War. The war became the central rallying point of a burgeoning youth counterculture, and the coming years would see many such demonstrations, dividing generations and families.. On Christmas Eve, in Saigon, a VC set off an explosive at the American officers billet in the old Brink Hotel, killing two Americans and 51 South Vietnamese. Every day, park rangers collect and tag the items, noting which wall panel each item was left beneath. Black walls, the universal color of shame and sorrow and degradation.. The whole week was extremely emotional, Becky Scruggs remembered. Additionally, the emergence of Park51the proposed Muslim community and cultural center to be located a few blocks from the former World Trade Center siteas a major point of public interest and debate, which peaked during the 2010 congressional elections, confirms the continued political potency and cultural power of memorials as embodiments of representational practice. In the early 20th century, Vietnamese nationalism began to rise, clashing with the French colonial rulers. PDF Why was the Vietnam War so Controversial? - University of Wisconsin Washington, D.C. Aerial view. Having chosen Libeskinds overarching vision, titled Memory Foundations, in February 2003, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (tasked with coordinating the redevelopment of lower Manhattan and administering the nearly $10 billion in federal funds devoted to supporting that effort) two months later announced the memorial design competition. During the Second World War, Vichy France could do little to protect its colony from Japanese occupation. But can America truly mean that we should feel honored by that black pit?6. You may have been tear-choked as you touched or watched others touch "the Wall" at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the most visited war memorial in our nation's capital. A cadre was drawn from those who went north; they were trained, equipped and sent back to the south to aid in organizing and guiding the insurgency. Lins minimal plan was in sharp contrast to the traditional format for a memorial, which usually included figurative heroic sculpture. The Salute opened with a vigil Wednesday morning at the National Cathedral, where all of the nearly 58,000 names on The Wall were read by volunteers around the clock, day and night, through midnight Friday. Early on in the effort to get the Memorial built, there were traces of controversy. It distributed an instructional booklet communicating its vision to all who registered for the competition. 7. Why the Battle for Hamburger Hill Was So Controversial. By June 1977, Scruggs was attending graduate school at American University in Washington, D.C. and had embarked on a research study exploring the social and psychological consequences of Vietnam military duties. 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. Such images pack tremendous emotional punch but often lack context. In 1973 a third Vietnam war begana continuation, actuallybetween North and South Vietnam but without significant U.S. involvement. Private Funding No government funds were used to build the memorial, only public land. Every 15 minutes, there was a pause for prayer. A Space of Loss: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - JSTOR The names of the eight women who died in Vietnam are included on the list of over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The following February a strategic hamlet program began; it forcibly relocated South Vietnamese peasants to fortified strategic hamlets. Cupp attended many of their meetings on Capitol Hill as they drummed up support. Following a march by thousands of veterans through the streets of Washington, D.C., to the National Mall site, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982. Each juror was required to read Fields of Fire, A Rumor of War, and other current literature about the Vietnam War. They treated the moms the same as they treated the vets. He made an impassioned plea for funding to his guests, members of the defense industry. The families of service members who were missing in action originally wanted their names listed separately. (Some in the North Vietnamese government thought the course of war in the south was unwise, but they were overruled.) to the memorial, as well as the rituals that take place there and what role the memorial may be playing in the construction of a his-tory of the Vietnam War.8 Beyond the academic discourse, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has also in-spired a considerable popular literature. It was World War II and her family lived in Nam Dinh, an industrial city and military target on the north coast of Vietnam. Johnson wanted to focus on instituting Great Society programs at home, but Vietnam was a snake he did not dare let go of. During President Dwight Eisenhowers administration (19531961), financial aid was given to pay South Vietnams military forces and American advisors were sent to help train them. The walls are inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 men and women . 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. 170,000220,000 military 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.. After three-and-a-half years of nonstop effort and work, with all that you have to do to accomplish what we did, it was beautiful. Their military experience meant they had contacts far and wide, at all levels of all professions, within government and the private sector. Based on a program the British had employed successfully against insurgents in Malaya, it didnt work in Vietnam. It claimed,In one day of ferocious fighting we had eliminated from the field of battle a total of 919 American troops, had knocked out 22 enemy vehicles and 13 helicopters, and had captured one M-14 rifle. Marine losses actually were 45 dead, 203 wounded, and a few vehicles damaged. Also known as "America's Longest War," U.S. involvement in Vietnam War did not end until 1973. The purpose of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was to honor all who had served, with a special tribute their names engraved for those who did not return. Doubek approached Scruggs after the meeting and suggested that he form a nonprofit corporation as a vehicle to build a memorial. 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. Four of the eight were themselves veterans of previous wars. The Best Answer To The Question Why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial? 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. The Three Servicemen Statue Vietnam Women's Memorial And Vietnam Im the News & Social Editor at HistoryNet and a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill, Spitfires, and Michigan football. The choice of the lettering style Optima, designed by Hermann Zapf was a font Lin selected after considering a multitude of options.The font Optima seemed to fit that desire to match an almost printed quality with a hand-cut feel. We didnt have any space, but I liked their idea and told them I would volunteer to help with all that I could.. Under those agreements, Cambodia and Laoswhich had been part of the French colonyreceived their independence. This lends a sense of personal intimacy in a public space which helps create a sense of connection to the memorial. To its own surprise, Hanoi found its forces advancing rapidly toward Saigon, realized victory was at hand, and renamed the operation the Ho Chi Minh Offensive. The ceasefire allowed Nixon to declare peace with honor, but no provisions existed for enforcing the terms of the accords. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. Oooo, not any more, not any more. Warner, at the time married to Elizabeth Taylor, had strong connections to both Hollywood and the corporate world. But Lin doesn't like anybody "drawing mustaches" on her design and, with the support of many in the Art world, pressures the Commission of Fine Arts to scuttle the compromise and hatch a new one. They did not like its minimalist design. Which Secretary of the Interior James Watt then threatens to scuttle! We expect them to do the work of history writing, to draw single comprehensible narratives out of a Gorgons nest of individual, often contradictory, experiences. He found that returning veterans were finding it hard to trust people. Yet, this seemingly god-given shrine wears political feet of clay, and behind it lies a fierce controversy that re-opened the wounds of the war the memorial was designed to heal. This 21-Year-Old College Student Designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial The VVMF group liked them all and approved of them with trust and enthusiasm, even selecting three sculptors, making a total of eight jurors. In the end, the quarry in India was selected. Sturken, 322; Anne Swartz, American Art After September 11: A Consideration of the Twin Towers, Symploke 14, nos. Popular dark tourism attractions include Auschwitz, Chernobyl and Ground Zero. 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. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? The jury included: architects Pietro Belluschi and Harry Weese; landscape architects Hideo Sasaki and Garrett Eckbo; sculptors Costantino Nivola, Richard Hunt, and James Rosati; and Grady Clay, a journalist and editor of Landscape Architecture magazine. The Gold Star Mothers is a group of mothers whose sons or daughters have died serving their country. Then, on March 30, 1972, the North Vietnamese attacked across the 17th parallel with 14 divisions and additional individual regiments. Both Scruggss and the VVMFs statements clearly conveyed that the memorial the veterans sought was to be an apolitical tabula rasa that would neither contribute to nor comment upon the unresolved controversies surrounding the war. With the introduction of legislation, the VVMF leaders realized that it was time to transition from a volunteer committee and to open a staffed office. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. The Vietnam War Starts In 1954, following the defeat of the French colonialists at the hands of the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu, the last battle of the First Indochina War, the country of. My background was relatively modest, he said. . Just before Christmas 1979, Warner hosted a fundraising breakfast in his Georgetown home. Although publicly the war in the south was described as a civil war within South Vietnam, it was guided, equipped and reinforced by the communist leadership in Hanoi. The It is a V-shaped polished black granite wall that runs 246 feet long. Yet, to say the media cost America victory in Vietnam is vastly oversimplifying a very complex situation. . His successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, inherited the Vietnam situation. Critics of Lins design proposed that a second work be included on the memorial site, as a solution to the problem of the original memorial design: a figurative bronze statue by Frederick Hart of three soldiers in uniform, which had placed third in the initial competition. Their initial timeline was aggressive, with an ultimate goal of dedicating the Memorial on Veterans Day 1982just a little more than 36 months away. At 21 and still an undergraduate, Linconceived her design as creating a park within a park a quiet protected place unto itself, yet harmonious with the overall plan of Constitution Gardens. Security was improving even as American forces were in the process of withdrawing. The Three Soldiers, 198284. It also offered a way to exorcise lingering bitterness and anxieties that the war had propagated. The task groups proved effective, as described by John Woods, who jointed as a key advisor. It seemed unfair and inappropriate that there should be no recognition.. When I was attending law school, Vietnam veterans were an anomaly among the young single professional set of Washington, so it was something you didnt mention. remembered Doubek. Lin and VVMF eventually selectedthe Cooper-Lecky Partnership as the architect-of-record, with Lin as the projects design consultant. Furthermore, he explicitly framed his interpretation of the memorial in (perceived) opposition to an explicitly artistic perspective. They were either ignored or shouted at and called vicious names. The fact that such nongovernmental entities as the New York Times, CNN, and the Max Protetch Gallery took it upon themselves to solicit designs for both the new World Trade Center buildings and for suitable memorials to the attacks indicates the extent to which the American public writ large was attuned to the sites future. Images of fighting, of dead and wounded soldiers, of POWs held in North Vietnam were beamed into Americas living rooms night after night, as was footage of hundreds, sometimes thousands of antiwar protestors marching through the streets. Jan was a great spokesperson. Scruggs and Doubek realized that Cupp could be instrumental in helping communicate the all-important personal, emotional side of the healing story. I just kept thinking to myself how quiet it was, and yet there was an immense feeling of community. The Three Soldiers. In 1993 the Vietnam Womens Memorial was unveiled a short distance from the wall. The Vietnam Women's Memorial was established to honor the women who risked their lives to serve their country. Instead, the memorial became a dividing line between factions both real and imagined. He, in turn, called the Buddhists VC sympathizers. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Sturken, 322. 14. Sturken notes, "the memorial was seen as a monument to defeat, one that spoke more directly to a nation's guilt than to the honor of the war dead and the veterans." The disagreements over the design revealed anxiety about ownership of the war's representation. I am tired of hearing it called such by you. As soon as the design was chosen,the next step was to consider the all-important details of getting it built. This presented the new MACV commander (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam), General William C. Westmoreland with a thorny challenge: how to show the American people progress was being made. They were the only father-son pair to die in Vietnam.) On July 9, 1964, China had announced it would step in if the U.S. attacked North Vietnam, as China had done in the Korean War. Similar, even larger, atrocities were conducted by VC and NVA unitssuch as an NVA attack on a Buddhist orphanage at An Hoa in September 1970 or the execution of 5,000 people at Hue during the Tet Offensivebut the concept of American soldiers killing civilians in cold blood was more than many Americans could bear. We had to build credibility among the design community, but also build credibility with the veterans, said Woods. On January 21, 1970, Jan Scruggs was having his morning cup of coffee, but he was far from his kitchen table at home. [] Over the past two months, art mullahs of every description have begun a holy war against the addition of [Harts] statue.8. Significant funding cuts to programs that had been instigated in the 1960s under Lyndon Johnsons Great Society domestic agenda followed, in addition to a major attack on union power. Many felt it should be composed primarily of veterans; others felt it should be made up only of professionals; some thought a mix of the two would be best. Thirty years later, it is difficult to think of her memorial as a controversial work of art. Thus, it is unsurprising that the first skirmish of the culture wars of the 1980s can be traced back to the public debate that broke out in reaction to Maya Lins design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. By years end, 23,000 American military personnel would be in South Vietnam. The National Park Service archives most of the nonperishable items left at The Wall. 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. An article by Hugh Sidey in the February 22, 1982, issue ofTIMEmagazine described the session: A few days ago, 40 supporters and critics of the memorial gathered to try to break the impasse that threatened the memorial because of such features as the black color of the stone and its position below ground level. Many who visit leave behind items in memoriam to those that have served. We do not memorialize bus accidents, which by nature are contextless, meaningless. When the veterans began to return home they were greeted not with cheers and shouts of joy that soldiers met when they came home from WW2. The priorities were to launch fund raising and achieve passage of the authorizing legislation. Over 1 million wounded, 50,000 plus civilian 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. The Inspiration. But I was always impressed with the example my parents set.. However, that posed a problem of how tolocate an individual name. The designs were received and processed in a large warehouse east of Washington. Post-war, the French tried to re-establish control but faced organized opposition from the Viet Minh (short for Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, or League for the Independence of Vietnam), led by Ho Chi Minh and Giap. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Wikipedia In previous war, progress and setbacks could be shown on maps; large enemy units could be engaged and destroyed. On the other side, the same thing was occurring, with even more inflated numbersvastly more. End-to-end, the total number of submissions would have stretched one and one third linear miles. We had to constantly find the most effective next step to take and be sure not to get waylaid by tangents. The group started to hold regular planning meetings. The Vietnam War is the commonly used name for the Second Indochina War, 19541975. Mao Zedongs Communist Party had won the Chinese Civil War in 1949, and western governmentsparticularly that of the U.Sfeared communist expansion throughout Southeast Asia. It was decided that VVMF would hold a design competition, open to any American citizen over 18 years of age. Afghanistan and the forever war myth | Philip Collins IAI TV Even white troops were beginning to protest. And if they themselves didnt know how to help, they knew someone who did. It was a direct result of the First Indochina War (1946-1954) between France, which claimed Vietnam as a colony, and the communist forces then known as Viet Minh. He could still picture the faces of his 12 buddies, but the passing years were making it harder and harder to remember their names. The controversy over the planned 9/11 memorial at the former site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, which began nearly a decade ago, harkened back to the debates of the early 1980s and heralds the current resurgence of cultural warfare. He cited the growing coalition was a prime example of its not what you know, its who you know. These people, though a small group, were able to reach out to their networks and their extensive contacts to recruit the type of expertise and support required for such a mammoth initiative. Although thousands of people were there, It was so very quiet, Wheeler recalled. Michael Clark, Remembering Vietnam, Cultural Critique 3 (Spring 1986): 50. While many veterans successfully reintegrated into their families and communities, tucking their experiences in combat away on a mental back shelf, others were unable to cope on their own. When Scruggs went to see the movie in early 1979, it wasnt the graphic war scenes that haunted him. His reasoning was that a complete mess would make it tough to stop construction. 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. Our country needed something symbolic to help heal our wounds.. Social critics and commentators quickly picked up and elaborated on Carharts characterization of the memorial. Over several tense weeks, more debate followed, until the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) gave their approval for a statue and flag in concept, pending suitable placement of those elements. Following its dedication, Lins memorial quickly became the prototype for American war memorials. 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. William Jayne, who had been wounded in Vietnam, volunteered to head up public relations activities. Soldiers wounded, another 72 . I think I even spilled my coffee. But, her presence made a difference. 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. Seven more such immolations occurred that year. The eldest juror, Pietro Belluschi, took a full day, said Spreiregen. They struck at least 30 provincial capitals and the major cities of Saigon and Hue. In March 1979, inspired by the Hollywood film The Deer Hunter, Scruggs launched a personal crusade to raise funds for a memorial that would pay tribute to the soldiers who had lost their lives in the war. Ronald Reagans election in November 1980 ushered in the Reagan Revolution, and the first few years of Reagans presidency saw the largest tax cuts in American history. Ibid. When the 18-year-old Scruggs volunteered to enlist in the Army in 1968, debate surrounding Vietnam was escalating. Rip it apart.. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. It seemed every time they contacted someone, they were greeted with enthusiasm for the idea. Carhart equated artists and their defenders with individuals who engaged in acts of aggression against returned soldiers, and who were thus correlated with the entirety of the anti-war movement. Throughout the judging process, one of the judges, Grady Clay, had taken meticulous notes of the jurys discussions. In fact, throughout the 1970s, there was little political impetus on any front to address these shortcomings. Charles Mac Mathias, a Navy veteran of World War II, had been opposed to the war in Vietnam, but he had always respected those who served in it. The flag-waving crowds even cheered., Over the four days there were also workshops, parties, events, and reunions.

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