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Japanese Surrendered to the Allies
When Japan surrendered to the allies, they needed to give up Indochina, which made Vietnam vulnerable to the French. In order the ensure independence, Ho Chi Minh declared independence, to which the United States supported them. By Japan surrendering, they made an economic and political move that protected the integrity of the people of Japan. They gave up military-obtained territories including Indochina which allowed Vietnam to lose protection from Japan. -
Congress Voted to Enter the Vietnam War
Recent attacks on the Gulf of Tonkin encouraged the United States Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allowed the US military to take whatever actions were necessary to stop North Vietnam from taking over any other parts of Vietnam. This action fully immersed the US into the war which resulted in thousands of men being forced into the war. This choice was militaristic because the US deemed that the military forces used by North Vietnam were too forceful and put danger to the US. -
National Teach-in
The teach-ins were discussions held by colleges, started by the University of Michigan. These discussions were anti-war because these youthful people had the special perspective of being part of the age group in which men were being drafted to what many thought to be an unnecessary war. This move was motivated by politics because college students were actively attempting to stop and protest both the war and the draft. -
Lottery System was Created
A lottery system was created in the draft of the Vietnam War which took a certain age group of men who did not go to college and pulled random birthdays. Every man in that age group with that date of birth (the day and the month) had to be drafted off to Vietnam. This was a political action instilled in efforts to prove that drafting was fully at random and that it was every man's game whether they wanted to be drafted or not. -
26th Amendment was Ratified
The 26th Amendment states that every person who was at the age of 18 and over could vote in any political election. This was a turning point for many of the politics in the United States because the population who had been protesting the war and the population that was forced into fighting the war now had a political say as well. This was a purely political move that benefitted the youth of America at the time. -
War Powers Act
The War Powers Act was an act that Ronald Regan signed that stated that the United States would not do any militaristic action that would potentially escalate the severity of a war or battle. This was both a political and militaristic action that was extremely important when it came to the United States recognizing the fault in engaging and escalating the Vietnam war to the extent that they did. -
End of Vietnam War
The Vietnam war ended. At this point, most military troops had gone back to the United States. Ending the war was done because of a combination of political, economic, and militaristic purposes. Millions of people had died from a combination of guerilla warfare and agent orange. The end of the Vietnam war caused political strife in the United States because many people believe that we should not have joined in the first place, that our reasoning was just too unnecessary. -
Vietnam Veteran Memorial was Created
The Vietnam Veteran Memorial sits in Washington DC where there are extreme lengths of black marble with the 58,220 names of the lives lost engraved in them. So many lives were lost at the expense of the Vietnam war. The use of agent orange not only killed and maimed the North Vietnam soldiers but it killed and maimed American soldiers. With the use of Guerilla Warfare, thousands of lives were killed when a child picked up a machine gun. This was a political move that honored the fallen soldiers.
