why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial

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 North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The truth was, veterans were no more likely to be addicted to drugs than those who did not serve. Scruggs and Doubek realized that Cupp could be instrumental in helping communicate the all-important personal, emotional side of the healing story. And none of them discussed their own personal feelings or political views regarding the war. Their initial timeline was aggressive, with an ultimate goal of dedicating the Memorial on Veterans Day 1982just a little more than 36 months away. Analyzes how the In accordance with the strict competition guidelines, anonymity of all designs was carefully observed. The added component of military security made the location even more attractive, since it would ensure no interference with the designs or the judging. ARVN divisions in the north were surrounded and routed. The women soldiers the nurses suffered too. North and South Vietnam were combined into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976. Expert Answer Answer The memorial is a black granite V-shaped wall near the western end of the Mall etched with the names of the nearly 58,000 men and women who we View the full answer Previous question Next question The bronze sculpture, depicting three women caring for an injured soldier, recognized the work of the more than 10,000 women who served in Vietnam. The U.S., which had been gradually exerting influence after the departure of the French government, backed Diem in order to limit the area under communist control. Because he possessed great knowledge of history, he understood the extensive healing process required after war. What they did need, however, was an acceptable location for the Memorial and enough support to push the idea through various governmental committees and agencies. The hope is that the creation of the Memorial will begin a healing process, Doubek wrote. 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. Which Secretary of the Interior James Watt then threatens to scuttle! However, that posed a problem of how tolocate an individual name. But instead of enthusiasm, he received skepticism. 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. Or, people would tell me, Well why did you let him go? Of course, what choice do you have?. Although thousands of people were there, It was so very quiet, Wheeler recalled. Associated Press correspondent Malcolm Mal Browne photographed him sitting quietly in the lotus position as the flames consumed him. They treated the moms the same as they treated the vets. Jan was a great spokesperson. He also found that those veterans whose units experienced high casualty rates were experiencing higher divorce rates and a greater frequency of combat-related dreams. On April 30, 1980, the Senate approved legislation authorizing the Memorial, followed by approval in the House on May 20, 1980. Compare Augustus of Prima Porta and Self-Portrait with Jewish Identity Card. Every day, park rangers collect and tag the items, noting which wall panel each item was left beneath. Author Tom Wolfe called it a tribute to [anti-war activist] Jane Fonda. Vietnam veteran Jim Webb, a future U.S. The South Vietnamese Army was showing improvement, winning 37 of their last 45 major engagements. Why is the Vietnam Memorial black instead of white? . On that January day, There was a big explosion, Scruggs recalled. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Yet, to say the media cost America victory in Vietnam is vastly oversimplifying a very complex situation. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Vietnam Veterans Memorial (U.S. Just before Christmas 1979, Warner hosted a fundraising breakfast in his Georgetown home. Prior war memorials had depicted brave soldiers riding horses, shooting guns, or at some other moment of triumphfor example, the massive Marine Corps War Memorial with its enormous bronze figures raising the American flag over Iwo Jima. It was decided that VVMF would hold a design competition, open to any American citizen over 18 years of age. I heard there was a group of serious veterans, not just people getting together to have a beer in the evening, but a group that was serious about getting together to address the problems of the veterans.. Some items include letters written to fallen soldiers, or notes explaining the significance of the item. Lin ultimately schooled her professor, who also entered the national design competition for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and lost to his student. Oooo, not any more, not any more. They are a treasure of design insight and included many prescient thoughts as to how the Memorial would likely be experienced, Spreiregen wrote of Clays notes. What are the five major reasons humans create art? Their motto is: Honor the dead by serving the living. Volunteering to assist VVMF was an ideal opportunity for Cupp to do just that. The Vietnam Womens Memorial was established to honor the women who risked their lives to serve their country. They needed support, friendship and help. The emotional response from the public was overwhelming as veterans, friends, and families turned out to pay their respects to those who sacrificed their lives during the Vietnam War. Scruggs, a veteran himself, is credited with getting the memorial built. CHECK OUT: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Infographic. Although she designed an apolitical monument, the politics of the Vietnam War could not be avoided. The design team and VVMF searched for a way for the names to be sandblasted rather than hand-carved. WebWhy was the Vietnam Way Memorial so controversial? More than 150,000 veterans, families, loved ones and friends made plans to attend. The vision of VVMF is to ensure a society in which all who have served and sacrificed in our nation's Armed Forces are properly honored and receive the recognition they justly deserve. To created credibility for the fledgling effort, they formed the National Sponsoring Committee, which included then-first lady Rosalynn Carter, former President Gerald Ford, Bob Hope, future first lady Nancy Reagan, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, USA, Vietnam veteran author James Webb, and Adm. James J. Stockdale, USN. His political party, the Democrats, had been blamed for China falling to communism; withdrawing from Vietnam could hurt them in the 1964 elections. But if the challenges seemed insurmountable, no one expressed any fears. %%EOF Scruggs, Wheeler, and Doubek then scouted the Mall sometimes by bicycle to identify the ideal spot: a stretch of parkland known as Constitution Gardens, located on the National Mall adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial. Vietnam Courtesy of the JFK Library. It became a sacred place of healing and reverence as she intended. Initially the (Senators) staff was split, recalled Monica Healy, a long-time Mathias aide, on whether Mathias should take the lead and support the efforts to build the Memorial. The wars length and the growing number of casualties were fueling tensions. North Vietnam Vietnam Veterans Memorial Prominent Americans who had previously supported the idea of erecting a Vietnam memorial backed out of the project. It was designed by American architect Maya Lin. That would have made any negotiation with Ho politically ticklish. To keep the building from overshadowing the Vietnam Wall or other nearby memorials, it will be built underground. %PDF-1.5 % In less than two weeks, these strategic bombers had shattered the norths defenses. 16 The Vietnam War had divided the American nation. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also called The Wall, national monument in Washington, D.C., honouring members of the U.S. armed forces who served and died in the Vietnam War (195575). 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. With the jury selected, the next task was to announce and promote the competition. Movies were dealing more realistically with their issues. The names were similarly read out loud in 1982, 1992, 2002 and 2007. All Rights Reserved. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 Her only son Robert, an Army draftee, was killed by a land mine on his 21st birthday, June 6, 1968. During the Second World War, Vichy France could do little to protect its colony from Japanese occupation. Unlike previous wars, where only still images or short movie newsreels were available for conveying images, this was Americas first television war. The National Park Service archives most of the nonperishable items left at The Wall. The peasants resented being forced from their ancestral lands, and consolidating them gave the VC better targets. Together, we can make sure our heroes will get the reverence they deserve and the stories and sacrifices of our heroes will never be forgotten. One day in October 1969, fifteen members of the Americal Division wore black armbands while they were on patrol, the symbol antiwar protestors wore in the states. Ms Lin arrived at a design solution to note those that were MIA with a symbol()that could be altered if the service member was found. In 2009 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the site. The names of soldiers who were dead had a diamond symbol by their name and those missing in action had a plus symbol. 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. Maya Lin was called as a witness to defend her design in front of Congress, and as a compromise measure an American flag and a more conventional bronze statue, The Three Soldiers (sometimes called The Three Servicemen) were added to the Memorial site. They came from all parts of the country and represented every state. Frustrated, Nixon ordered the big bombersB-52sto strike Hanoi, beginning December 16 (Operation LINEBACKER). CBS evening news anchor Walter Cronkite returned to Vietnam to see for himself what was happening. 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It was like a Woodstock atmosphere in Washington for those who had served in Vietnam, recalled Scruggs. But how and where could all of the submissions be displayed? Better armed than ever before, thanks to increased aid from the Soviet Union, they employed tanks for the first time. Those memories were fresh in the mind of the daughter of Chinese immigrants senior year when, as part of an assignment in her funereal architecture seminar, she designed a walled monument to veterans of the Vietnam War that was etched with the names of those who gave their lives. "I wanted to mark the collective loss but also the individual loss that one by one by one created this tally.". They were the only father-son pair to die in Vietnam.) Throughout her freshman and sophomore years, she watched as stonecutters added to the honor roll by etching the names of those killed in the Vietnam War. The original design proposal called for all of the names to be individually hand-chiseled in the stone, but it was soon realized the time and money it would take to do that were impractical. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could. The text size is less than half an inch, which is unusual for monument design, but was selected to make the memorial read more like a book. One of Mathias early key suggestions was that the memorial should be on the Mall, especially because the anti-war demonstrations had taken place there. 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. In November 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated before a crowd of thousands of people. Their military experience meant they had contacts far and wide, at all levels of all professions, within government and the private sector. Scruggs added: Make this place look like an airstrike was called in, he instructed. American intelligence knew an attack was coming, though the Army had downplayed a New York Times report of large communist troop movements heading south. 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.. The war was extremely divisive in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. Maya Lin was practically a kid when her design was selected to become the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The design Lin envisioned listed the names chronologically by date of casualty. 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. hb````f{a`CC Partially, this happened because the subject of the Vietnam War itself was sensitive and painful for the public. 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. 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. I mean, we won: The Century-Long Battle Over This Confederate Flag. Many people were shocked that of the 1,421 designs submitted by number in a blind competition, the final design had turned out to be the idea of a 21-year-old undergraduate student named Maya Linan Asian-American woman. By the end of the first afternoon, one of the jurors, Harry Weese, returned to our impromptu conference lounge and told me, Paul, there are two designs out there that could do it.. Not only was Lin not a trained architect, she didnt even have a bachelors degree in architecture at the time. Over Lins objection, the federal Commission of Fine Arts bowed to political pressure and approved the addition to the memorial of a 50-foot-high flagpole on which to fly the Stars and Stripes and an eight-foot-high statue of three soldiers sculpted by Frederick Hart, who called Lins design nihilistic. The commission, however, mandated that they not be placed directly adjacent to the wall in order to preserve Lins design intent as much as possible. In a February 27, 1968, broadcast he summed up what he had found during his return trip to the war zone. I had a general idea that I wanted to describe a journeya journey that would make you experience death and where youd have to be an observer, where you could never really fully be with the dead. Warner, at the time married to Elizabeth Taylor, had strong connections to both Hollywood and the corporate world. Courtesy of the JFK Library. People began to leave personal items, offerings at the wall. Webdoing so it will become clear why the VVM not only raised discussions, but moreover can be considered to be a turning point in memorial culture. The following February a strategic hamlet program began; it forcibly relocated South Vietnamese peasants to fortified strategic hamlets. It's also influenced later designs like the World Trade Center Memorial, which also features the names of the dead etched into black stone. so controversial As Scruggs had always envisioned, the Memorial would feature all of the names of those who had died. The first American fatality was Air Force Technical Sergeant Richard B. Fitzgibbon, Jr., killed June 8, 1956. Mathias also knew the country was ready, Healy recalled. Then, on March 30, 1972, the North Vietnamese attacked across the 17th parallel with 14 divisions and additional individual regiments. It just resonated, he explained. Operation Huey Even white troops were beginning to protest. The veterans even faced controversy over their own memorial. The reputation of the jurors was important to attract the best designers and to minimize second guessing by the Federal approval bodies. By June they had stalled the invasion, with the help of American airpower. WebIt was built to honor those soldiers who died or were declared missing during ---- Vietnam War (1959-1975) for 16 years The memorial was designed by a --- student of architecture, ----- 21 year old, Maya Ying Lin The memorial shaped liked a V, and it is made of ---- black granite The walls are inscribed with over ---- names of soldiers 58,000 And that message got through to me.. A different feeling prevailed among many within the U.S. government. All of these items are stored in a museum-quality facility in Landover, Maryland. ", 3: The Political Controversy, They stressed that all funds for the Memorial would be raised from private donations. He was an excellent partner and fundraiser. Mathias knew the legislative process. They were real guys. The VVMF group liked them all and approved of them with trust and enthusiasm, even selecting three sculptors, making a total of eight jurors. He closed by saying: To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. Though that facility is not open to the public, certain memorial artifacts are put on view as part of traveling exhibits. 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. (A statue dedicated to the women who served in the Vietnam War was also added to the site in 1993. Watt followed on March 11, 1982, by granting permission for the construction permits. Direct mail was proving to be a highly effective fundraising tool. After listening for a while, Brigadier General George Price, a retired veteran of Korea and Vietnam, stood in quiet rage and said, I am sick and tired of calling black a color of shame. General Price, one of Americas highest-ranking black officers lived with and advised the 1st Vietnamese Infantry Division. Low estimates calculate 110,000 combat KIA and a half-million wounded. Among other duties, Healy was the member of Mathias staff who handled memorials and worked as the liaison with the U.S. Department of the Interior. One person even left behind a motorcycle. Casualties for the Republic of South Vietnam will never be adequately resolved. They responded quickly, recapturing lost ground and decimating an enemy who had finally come out to fight in the open. Communist losses were extremely heavy. He had spent three months recovering in a hospital before being sent back to fight with rocket-propelled grenade fragments permanently embedded in his body. Ultimately, the VVMF Board agreed on a jury of the most experienced and prestigious artists and designers that could be found, since it took a mature eye to envision from two-dimensional renderings how a design would look when built. 400,000 1 million military The information provided here does not represent the views of Cheaper Than Dirt! Tensions between blacks and whites had been intensifying for years as African Americans sought to change centuries-old racial policies. Vietnam Memorial Experience the evolution of the Vietnam Wall controversy by reading through a chronological list of documents divided into five rounds: Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs initiates a hard-fought battle to build a Vietnam War Memorial, finally convincing Congress to appropriate land for a memorial that would be built with public funds. Why was the Vietnam War Memorial so controversial Lins wall design turned out to be more intelligent than many armchair critics had realized. But, say those opposed, the men represent the women, the men represent all soldiers . Could a memorial accomplish such an enormous and daunting task? Why was the Vietnam One film that came out early that year,The Deer Hunter,explored the effects of war on three friends, their families and a tight-knit community. In 1973 a third Vietnam war begana continuation, actuallybetween North and South Vietnam but without significant U.S. involvement. Yet soon after it was unveiled, employees of the U.S. National Park Service, which administers the National Mall, noticed that visitors had begun leaving an extraordinary variety of objects there. It was the most thoughtful and thorough discussion of design that I have ever heard, and I have heard many, he recalled. Vietnam The controversy about the wall reflected Americas feelings at that time regarding our involvement in Vietnam. In the early 20th century, Vietnamese nationalism began to rise, clashing with the French colonial rulers. The division was supposed to be temporary: elections were to be held in both sections in 1956 to determine the countrys future. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The color black was chosen, not as a symbol of defeat, but to symbolically represent the earth. For this reason, in Vietnam today it is known as the American War. We had to build credibility among the design community, but also build credibility with the veterans, said Woods. WebWhen the men returned home from war, they were not greeted with pride but with uneasiness. Some critics even resorted to racially insulting Lin, the daughter of Chinese immigrants. The battle was suddenly over.. It seemed every time they contacted someone, they were greeted with enthusiasm for the idea. China conquered the northern part of modern Vietnam in 111 BC and retained control until 938 AD; it continued to exert some control over the Vietnamese until 1885. It seemed unconscionable that heor anyone elseshould be allowed to forget. Others questioned the intent of the Memorial. Why was Maya Lins Vietnam War Memorial initially controversial? Spreiregen wrote, I saw this as a needed opportunity to honor the service and lives of the soldiers we had lost and do so by running a model competition., Arthur Mosley headed the site selection task group and was assisted by John Woods, a structural engineer, who had been permanently disabled in a helicopter crash in Vietnam. 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. It was a direct result of the First Indochina War (19461954) between France, which claimed Vietnam as a colony, and the communist forces then known as Viet Minh. The program, which had been poorly managed, was abandoned after about two years, following the coup that deposed Diem. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. The Vietnam Wall Controversy - About - Overview Laos, South Vietnam: 850,000 Photo by William Bill Lecky. Before he spoke, however, all eyes had turned toward the kitchen door, from which has emerged his then-wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor. Contents1 What are three facts about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial?2 What is the [] The designs were received and processed in a large warehouse east of Washington.

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