why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial? why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial?

As Sturken notes in her essay, The Aesthetics of Absence: Rebuilding Ground Zero, the impetus to create a memorial at the site of the Twin Towers was almost instantaneousby the next day, even as the names and number of dead remained unknown, there was discussion of a memorial.13 Discussions about what to do with the site addressed two twin concerns: the redevelopment of what had been both a hub of commercial activity and an integral part of a broader residential neighborhoodlower Manhattanand the memorialization of the loss of lives that occurred at the site. The Draft - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Rip it apart.. On the other hand, Congress had never declared war and so the president was limited in what he could do in Southeast Asia. Diem fell from favor with his American patrons, partly over disagreements in how to handle the war against the VC and partly because of his unpopular suppression of religious sects and anyone he feared threatened his regime. Could it heal the chasm within society, promote closure, show gratitude to those who served, comfort those in grief, and remind future generations of the toll wrought by war? Medals, toys, flowers, photographsanything and everything is left at The Wall as family and friends seek to remember their loved ones who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam. Success was measured in body count. It was to be a war of attrition and statistics, a policy that suited Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who distrusted the military and often bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff in issuing directives. Unlike previous wars, where only still images or short movie newsreels were available for conveying images, this was Americas first television war. The eldest juror, Pietro Belluschi, took a full day, said Spreiregen. Lin and VVMF eventually selectedthe Cooper-Lecky Partnership as the architect-of-record, with Lin as the projects design consultant. The Vietnam War was a divisive and politically polemic war. Just before Christmas 1979, Warner hosted a fundraising breakfast in his Georgetown home. What is dark tourism and why is it so popular? Color meant nothing on the battlefields of Korea and Vietnam. Kennedy saw American efforts in Southeast Asia almost as a crusade and believed increasing the military advisor program, coupled with political reform in South Vietnam, would strengthen the south and bring peace. Buddhists, who comprised South Vietnams majority, claimed Diem, a Catholic, favored citizens of his religion in distributing aid. In response to the designs submitted to these various competitions (generated by famed architects, artists, and members of the general public alike), conflicting interpretations once again revolved around notions of elitism versus populismharkening back to the language of the controversy over Lins memorial.14 In a 2002 debate with architect Daniel Libeskind on the matter, New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier commented, There is something a little grotesque in the interpretation of Ground Zero as a lucky break for art. When they returned home from serving their country, there was no national show of gratitude. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Her only son Robert, an Army draftee, was killed by a land mine on his 21st birthday, June 6, 1968. 400,000 1 million military At the time, well-managed open design competitions were common in Europe, but not in the United States. He found that returning veterans were finding it hard to trust people. On January 21, 1970, Jan Scruggs was having his morning cup of coffee, but he was far from his kitchen table at home. The Vietnam Women's Memorial was established to honor the women who risked their lives to serve their country. She was regularly swept up and raced to the bomb shelter with her parents and siblings. All of these items are stored in a museum-quality facility in Landover, Maryland. Military personnel, including nurses, were warned not to wear their uniforms in the States. Some opponents simply did not like the fact that Lin was a young student, a woman, and of Asian descent; how in the world could she possibly know how to honor the service of the Vietnam veteran? PDF Why was the Vietnam War so Controversial? - University of Wisconsin The public wanted to have a hand in helping to build the Memorial and in honoring the warrior, not the war. In July 1959 Major Dale Buis and Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand were off duty when they were killed during an attack at Bien Hoa. Why was the Vietnam memorial so controversial? The ceasefire allowed Nixon to declare peace with honor, but no provisions existed for enforcing the terms of the accords. The memorial itself, was a . Cupp had experienced firsthand the pains caused by the war. Holding a competition is like launching a rocket. Then, on March 30, 1972, the North Vietnamese attacked across the 17th parallel with 14 divisions and additional individual regiments. Warner, at the time married to Elizabeth Taylor, had strong connections to both Hollywood and the corporate world. The shift, however, did not represent a resolved conflict between public art and public memory and memorialization, but merely a temporary relocation of the site of debate. 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. Even white troops were beginning to protest. (Ten times as many Vietnamese had fled the north, where the Communist Party was killing off its rivals, seizing property, and oppressing the large Catholic population.) . Why was the memorial so controversial? 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. In 1972 a poll determined he was the most trusted man in America.. Ruling out an invasion of North Vietnam assured that a purely military victory would not be possible, a fact that was at odds with many Americans expectations for the war. But the fact that the language deployed to critique Arads and Walkers design so closely echoed the criticism launched against Lin in the early 1980s signifies that the debates of that era remain unresolved. Intellectually and emotionally, America could embrace the idea. On September 30, 1964, the first large-scale antiwar demonstration took place in America, on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. By the time of World War II, a number of groups sought Vietnamese independence but as Vo Nguyen Giapwho would build Vietnams postWWII armyexpressed it, the communists were the best organized and most action-oriented of these groups. The Vietnam War is the commonly used name for the Second Indochina War, 19541975. This began a series of destabilizing changes in government leadership. Each contestant sealed his or her name in an envelope and taped it to the back of the submission. Everyone wanted to join the effort. Ho Chi Minh led a communist government in the north (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) with its capital at Hanoi, and a new Republic of South Vietnam was established under President Ngo Dinh Diem, with its capital at Saigon. Tensions between blacks and whites had been intensifying for years as African Americans sought to change centuries-old racial policies. No government funds would be necessary. The French suffered a major defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, leading to negotiations that ended with the Geneva Agreements, July 21, 1954. Sturken, 322. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - U.S. Department of Defense The Vietnam War is the commonly used name for the Second Indochina War, 1954-1975. The Vietnam Wall, as it's commonly known, stands as a tribute to the war's veterans, who consider it a tangible symbol that the American people recognized and honored for their service. 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. In August of 1981, VVMF selected a building company and architecture firm to develop the plans and build Lins design. Adding to Americans disillusionment was the race issue. 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. The Three Soldiers (also known as The Three Servicemen) is a bronze statue by Frederick Hart. Today, The Wall continues to be the most-visited memorial on the National Mall, attracting more than five million people each year. Others questioned the intent of the Memorial. 5/1981 - 3/1982. Lower Manhattan must not be transformed into a vast mausoleum, obviously, but neither must it be transformed into a theme park for advanced architectural taste.15, Such rhetoric spilled over from the initial debates surrounding the redevelopment of the site of the Twin Towers to those regarding the design for the memorial. Civilian deaths during that time period were estimated at 2 million, but the U.S. estimate of civilians killed in the north at 30,000. But the meeting gave Scruggs his first ally: former Air Force intelligence officer and attorney Robert Doubek, who thought a memorial was a good idea. The designs were received and processed in a large warehouse east of Washington. Daniel Abramson, Maya Lin and the 1960s: Monuments, Time Lines, and Minimalism, Critical Inquiry 22, no. Many who visit leave behind items in memoriam to those that have served. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C. Like many veterans, Carhart read Lins design through the lens of his own experience: encountering an America that was at best indifferent and at worst outright hostile towards soldiers returning from Vietnam. The construction process hits a snag when relentless and powerful critics, led by Tom Carhart, find an unsavory political message in the supposedly apolitical winning design -- ultimately forcing a compromise, the addition of a flag and a statue with three soldiers to the Wall. Only a few, such as the St. Louis Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, had been the result of open competitions. Antiwar protests continued across America and in many other countries, but on April 28, 1967, Gen. Westmoreland became the first battlefield commander ever to address a joint session of Congress in wartime, and Time magazine named him Man of the Year. How did people react to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial? Johnson wanted to focus on instituting Great Society programs at home, but Vietnam was a snake he did not dare let go of. The series of events began on Wednesday, November 10, 1982, and culminated with a service at the National Cathedral on Sunday, November14. About Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It also offered a way to exorcise lingering bitterness and anxieties that the war had propagated. In April 1995, Vietnams communist government said 1.1 million combatants had died between 1954 and 1975, and another 600,000 wounded. And none of them discussed their own personal feelings or political views regarding the war. Some of the juror comments included: Mathias also knew the country was ready, Healy recalled. She is still remembered fondly by veterans for the moving Memorial she designed for them. Cambodia Dark tourism, also known as black tourism, thanatourism or grief tourism, is tourism that is associated with death or tragedy. 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. During the 1970s, it . The design Lin envisioned listed the names chronologically by date of casualty. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. 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. It consists of a black granite wall with the names of over 58,000 soldiers who were killed or went missing in action inscribed on it. 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. 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. Casualties for the Republic of South Vietnam will never be adequately resolved. In July 1959, North Vietnams leaders passed an ordinance called for continued socialist revolution in the north and a simultaneous revolution in South Vietnam. 3. The 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. 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. The timing and scale of the offensive caught ARVN, the U.S. and other SEATO troops by surprise, however. The whole week was extremely emotional, Becky Scruggs remembered. This alliance between the veterans and their conservative defenders was a new one, forged as a direct result of the cultural battle over the memorial site. Others: 80,000 plus, 200,000400,000 civilians The Inspiration. They did not like its minimalist design. The controversial Vietnam War was long and drawn out, fought in a humid terrain alien to American soldiers. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. 4 (Summer 1996): 685. History of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. His political party, the Democrats, had been blamed for China falling to communism; withdrawing from Vietnam could hurt them in the 1964 elections. At the time of the memorials design, many veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical weapon used by the U.S. military as an herbicide and defoliant, still suffered ongoing health problems. 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. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built without government funds. North Vietnamese officers, after the war, said the only thing they feared was an American-led invasion of the north, but the U.S. was not going to risk starting World War III, and at the time that seemed to loom as a distinct possibility. Jan was a great spokesperson. It set the tone for the ensuing cultural debates pitting the people against the elites, as found in Tom Wolfes criticism of Lins memorial design. Consequently, by the time of the memorials design and construction, veterans had built up a significant amount of moral outrage and found their outlet in the controversy over the memorial. By endowing memorials with the ability to accomplish these tasks, we bestow them with an extraordinary amount of power and authority. Two nights later, Maddox and the destroyer USS Turner Joy were on patrol in the Gulf and reported they were under attack. Mai also remembers being annoyed when her playtime was interrupted by the air-raid sirens. Out of the nearly fifteen hundred entries in the competition, the eight jurors of the selection committee unanimously chose Maya Lins design on May 6, 1981. 10. After Lins monument was dedicated on November 13, 1982, however, it became a popular and moving tourist attraction. We do not seek to make any statement about the correctness of the war, Scruggs said. On Saturday, a grand parade took place where veterans marched joyously out of sync, some hand-in-hand or with their arms draped around one another, holding banners, flags, and signs. 17. It was such a great cause, and they were bound and determined to make it happen.. On the other side were the veterans and their self-appointed spokesmen, politicians such as Webb and James Watt (Secretary of the Interior under Ronald Reagan), and social conservatives such as Pat Buchanan. Our country needed something symbolic to help heal our wounds.. They set their sights in support of the clear, simple vision Scruggs outlined:to honor the warrior and not the war. Shortly after the dedication of the land for the memorial, the VVMF announced an open competition for designs for the memorial itself. 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. When the 18-year-old Scruggs volunteered to enlist in the Army in 1968, debate surrounding Vietnam was escalating. Memory Foundations (planned design for former site of World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, New York). On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemys intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 198182. The controversy surrounding the memorial instantly vanished from the pages of the press, replaced by celebrations of its interactivity, tranquility, and emotive power. (Some in the North Vietnamese government thought the course of war in the south was unwise, but they were overruled.) And if they themselves didnt know how to help, they knew someone who did. 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. The domino fell but did not take down any of those around it. The Gold Star Mothers is a group of mothers whose sons or daughters have died serving their country. When Lin asked how many Smiths would be on The Wall, the team realized how important the chronological listing was to the design. As Scruggs analyzed the concept of collective psychological states, he realized that, just as veterans needed psychological healing, so too did the nation. Descriptions of the desired qualities for the memorial design included harmonious, contemplative and reflective, and again, conciliatory.2 The booklet concluded with the following passage: Finally, we wish to repeat that the memorial is not to be a political statement, and that its purpose is to honor the service and memory of the wars dead, its missing, and its veteransnot the war itself. More than 150,000 veterans, families, loved ones and friends made plans to attend. "The veterans were asking me, 'What do you think people are going to do when they first come here?'" Lin recalls. He would never forget those friends. Frances military involvement in Vietnam began when it sent warships in 1847, ostensibly to protect Christians from the ruling emperor Gia Long. On one side were the proponents of Lins memorials, defined in the media and the public imagination as Wolfes elitist art mullahs, draft dodgers, the future New Leftists, and, of course, followers of Jane Fonda (infamously dubbed Hanoi Jane after a trip to North Vietnam, during which she made statements condemning the U.S. military). The jury evaluation took place over five days, from April 27 through May 1, 1981. Nonsense. 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. 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. ), For three solid months, Spreiregen, Mosley, Woods, and Doubek planned the competition. For Woods, 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. Video: Many people will not comprehend this design until they experience it. The proposed Vietnam memorial was a . The National Review commented, The mode of listing the names makes them individual deaths, not deaths in a cause; they might as well have been traffic accidents. Similarly, the New Republic opined: It is an unfortunate choice of memorial. As time progressed it caused more and more controversy in the United States. Maya Lins original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. In 1973 a "third" Vietnam war begana continuation, actuallybetween North and South Vietnam but without significant U.S. involvement. 20. The ARVN bent but did not break. The greatest challenge VVMF faced, said Doubek, was to put together a functioning organization with people who didnt know one another, people who were very young and didnt have a lot of experience. I have a Master's degree in military history from King's College, London and my cornucopia of interests include: World War II, World War II, and World War II. To Heal a Nation, a book written by Jan Scruggs and Joel Swerdlow about the creation of the Memorial, provides a vivid sketch of the scene: I have heard your arguments, said General Price. To make his dream a reality, he planned to get support from people as diverse as former anti-war presidential candidate George McGovern and Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam. EIN: 52-1149668, Copyright 2023 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display, History of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The NVA had to take over. 1 (Spring 1987): 10. Its army lacked reserves, while the NVA was growing. 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. As the commentaries of Wolfe, the New Republic, and the National Review demonstrate, the media was happy to add fuel to the fire of the veterans indignation through editorial contributions and obsessive coverage of the debate. As Michael Clark points out in the essay, Remembering Vietnam, by the late 1960s, Hollywood and the mass media seized on this aspect of the veteran experience, creating variations of a fictionalized veteran who threatened at every moment to bring the war home with him in the form of flashbacks that turned firecrackers into artillery and passersby into the enemy.10 In Clarks analysis, these depictions of veterans served, for nonmilitary American citizens, as a way to launder the violence of the war by relegating it to some other place: Southeast Asia, and the [veterans] psychotic unconscious.11 Such representations enabled film viewers to reframe their experiences of the contemporaneous violence occurring at home, on American soil. The number of parties who claimed direct investmentwhether emotional, psychological, or financialin the site and its future form and use only made the issue more complex and difficult to resolve. 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.. Hanoi offered to restart peace talks, yet remained intransigent in its demands. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial stands as a symbol of America's honor and recognition of the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War. Some felt that the money to build a memorial could be better spent delivering the many services veterans needed. The hope is that the creation of the Memorial will begin a healing process, Doubek wrote. VVMF met the prospective jurors and scrutinized their credentials. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located in Washington D.C., is a tribute to the soldiers who served in the Vietnam War. End-to-end, the total number of submissions would have stretched one and one third linear miles. Ibid. 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. I had my ear to the ground, Mathias recalled. Marinesnear Van Truong, from the VC point of view. History of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund General Westmoreland had been promoted to Army Chief of Staff and replaced in Vietnam by Gen. Creighton Abrams. They complained about the walls being black. Ultimately, one of the greatest challenges was how to get that many names on the wall panels in such a short period of time. These mass-media fictions enabled the very real neglect of veterans by the institutions tasked with tending to their needs. 15. Selecting a design that would meet the criteria demanded a jury that could grasp the significance of the Memorials purpose and understand the unique needs of Vietnam veterans, their families, and a country divided. But I was always impressed with the example my parents set.. Veterans frequently found themselves denying their time in Vietnam, never mentioning their service to new friends and acquaintances for fear of the reactions it might elicit. 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. It was the most thoughtful and thorough discussion of design that I have ever heard, and I have heard many, he recalled. It is a V-shaped polished black granite wall that runs 246 feet long. 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 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. Every day, park rangers collect and tag the items, noting which wall panel each item was left beneath. And that message got through to me.. But how and where could all of the submissions be displayed? As Scruggs had always envisioned, the Memorial would feature all of the names of those who had died. Not only was Harts statue included at the memorial site, but a flagpole was added as well. 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. On March 5, 1975, the NVA invaded again. He has written that he was prepared for a 25-year war; he realized he did not have to achieve military victory; he only had to avoid losing. It would have power for individual veterans, but collectively, they would have even greater power to show the enormity of the sacrifices that were made.. In November 2003, the LMDC placed the proposals of the eight finalists on display for public review.16 According to Sturken and art historian Anne Swartz, criticism of the designs, including that of the eventual winner, Peter Walkers and Michael Arads Reflecting Absence, revolved in large part around their perceived minimalist aesthetic, once again drawing on the rhetoric involved in the Tilted Arc debate. 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. A Space of Loss: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - JSTOR One of the lingering legacies of the Vietnam War is the widespread belief in America that the media cost us the war in Vietnam. Images such as the burning monk; South Vietnamese Police Chief Lt. Col. Nguyen Ngoc Loan about to pull the trigger of a pistol pointed at the head of a bound VC prisoner; of a naked young girl running crying down a road after an American napalm strike that left her badly burnedthese images and others became seared into the minds of Americans on the homefront, and in those of civilians in allied nations such as Australia.