Uses of the Past: Vietnam as a Metaphor

The most vociferous critics of American involvement in Vietnam are, according to this article, profoundly wrong. By cynically accusing America of waging a racist, imperialist, and thoroughly unjust war against a poor and darker-skinned people, they gave comfort to the brutal regime in Hanoi that had massacred thousands of "landlords" and other civilians and abused American POWs. The critics indicted not only three presidents but the American military establishment as well. Some charged that an evil "military-industrial complex" was running the country for its own selfish ends. These criticisms provoked a paralysis of American power more dangerous and immoral than the alleged arrogance of American power, because it encouraged Soviet expansion in Africa and Central America. For some Americans, Vietnam became a part of a larger culture of shame, guilt, and even self-flagellation that erupted in flag burning and ideological attacks on our traditional institutions. Learn more in this article, made available by The World & I Online.