why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial?

He, in turn, called the Buddhists VC sympathizers. Although thousands of people were there, It was so very quiet, Wheeler recalled. Why was the Vietnam War Memorial so controversial? - 2023 ARVN divisions in the north were surrounded and routed. Jack was the visionary, the creative, big-picture guy. Larry Century, a young inventor from Cleveland, Ohio,was selected to serve as a consultant to Binswanger Glass Company in Memphis, Tennessee, which was awarded the contract for inscribing the names. The ARVN bent but did not break. In addition to the accounts of its creation, sev- 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. The memorial consists of three parts: the Three Servicemen Statue, the Vietnam Women's Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Climbing Hamburger Hill 50 years after the Vietnam War's The Battle of Hamburger Hill was fought May 10-20, 1969, during the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The act of dark tourism is somewhat controversial, with some viewing it as an act of respect and others as unethical practice. By the March 31, 1981, deadline, 1,421 design entries were submitted for judging. 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. 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. The domino fell but did not take down any of those around it. Casualties for the Republic of South Vietnam will never be adequately resolved. Thirty years later, it is difficult to think of her memorial as a controversial work of art. These mass-media fictions enabled the very real neglect of veterans by the institutions tasked with tending to their needs. 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.. It was the most thoughtful and thorough discussion of design that I have ever heard, and I have heard many, he recalled. An official groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 26, 1982. Washington, D.C. As memorials are objects of public commemoration, we demand a lot of them. Compounding the pain was that societys ill treatment of the veterans extended to their families. But the war news was hopeful. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On April 30, their tanks entered Saigon. 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. These meanings serve as unifying forces, reinforcing the idea of a shared national identity and healing rifts in the communal experience of nationhood. 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). 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. There were four phases to the design competition spanning almost one year: planning and preparation; the launch; the design phase; the design evaluation and selection; the press conference and public presentation. It was decided that VVMF would hold a design competition, open to any American citizen over 18 years of age. Movies were dealing more realistically with their issues. Vietnam Veterans Memorial | Facts, Designer, & Controversy 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. Though a congressional investigative committee the previous year had warned that America could find itself slipping into in a morass that would require more and more military participation in Vietnam, Johnson began a steady escalation of the war, hoping to bring it to a quick conclusion. In December Doubek became the Executive Director, working on a half-time basis for the first few months, and opened the VVMF office on January 2, 1980. You had to live through that period to really understand it. 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. Jan was a great spokesperson. 20. Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 198182. They were also keenly aware that the legislation made the Memorials design subject to the approval of the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC), and the Secretary of the Interior. Not only was Harts statue included at the memorial site, but a flagpole was added as well. Many who visit leave behind items in memoriam to those that have served. Oooo, not any more, not any more. The battle was suddenly over.. Intellectually and emotionally, America could embrace the idea. "The veterans were asking me, 'What do you think people are going to do when they first come here?'" Lin recalls. Remembering Vietnam | National Archives 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. 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. The Vietnam War was a divisive and politically polemic war. The task groups proved effective, as described by John Woods, who jointed as a key advisor. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. ", 3: The Political Controversy, They did not like the idea that it was below ground level. Its army lacked reserves, while the NVA was growing. In large part, this was accomplished through a series of conflicts waged at the level of culture. Scruggs was raised in a rural Maryland town between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. His mother was a waitress; his father a milkman. The winning designwas the work of Maya Ying Lin of Athens, Ohio, a 21-year-old senior at Yale University. 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. It ended with communist victory in April 1975. 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. It distributed an instructional booklet communicating its vision to all who registered for the competition. The photo was published worldwide under the title The Ultimate Protest, raising (or in some cases reinforcing) doubts about the government that the democratic United States was supporting. 14. 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. I had my ear to the ground, Mathias recalled. The NVA had to take over. 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. South Vietnam Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Wikipedia 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. 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. Its mirror-like surface reflects the images of the surrounding trees, lawns and monuments. Its detractors perceived it as a monument to defeat, one that spoke more directly to a nations guilt than to the honor of the war dead and the veterans, describing it as the black gash of shame, the degrading ditch, and a wailing wall for draft dodgers and New Lefters of the future.4 Responding to its lack of narrative content, Senator James Webb called it nihilistic. Interestingly (given their opposing political positions), both the National Review and the New Republic equated the list of names with a police report on a traffic accident. The Vietnam War: Facts & Info About the Most Controversial - HistoryNet When the 18-year-old Scruggs volunteered to enlist in the Army in 1968, debate surrounding Vietnam was escalating. 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. That would have made any negotiation with Ho politically ticklish. On April 30, 1980, the Senate approved legislation authorizing the Memorial, followed by approval in the House on May 20, 1980. Perhaps thats an appropriate design for those who would spit on us still. Crowd at the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1982. In April 1995, Vietnams communist government said 1.1 million combatants had died between 1954 and 1975, and another 600,000 wounded. 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. Never in the history of the United States had a national memorial been conceived, approved, built and dedicated in that short an amount of time. In retaliation for the invasion, and in hopes of forcing Hanoi to negotiate in good faith, Nixon ordered Haiphong harbor in North Vietnam to be mined and he intensified bombing of North Vietnam. How did people react to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial? Everyone wanted to join the effort. General Westmoreland had been promoted to Army Chief of Staff and replaced in Vietnam by Gen. Creighton Abrams. 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. Tensions between blacks and whites had been intensifying for years as African Americans sought to change centuries-old racial policies. Originally, Vietnam ended at the 17th parallel, but it gradually conquered all the area southward along the coastline of the South China Sea and west to Cambodia. Population in the south was mostly clustered in a few areas along the coast; the north always enjoyed a larger population. No American air strikes came to aid the overstretched South Vietnamese, despite Nixons earlier assurances to Thieu. They were also the most collegial people, who would deliberate intensely but never argue or posture, Spreiregen remembered. But several weeks after the announcement, a handful of people began to protest the design. 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. 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. 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. Guerrilla warfare (asymmetrical warfare) does not permit such clear-cut data. Just before Christmas 1979, Warner hosted a fundraising breakfast in his Georgetown home. Lacking sufficient services to assist their recovery, some of these unassimilated veterans turned to alcohol and other drugs, their addictions only sending them further to the margins of society. This would be a war without a front or a rear; it would involve full-scale combat units and individuals carrying out terrorist activities such as the Brink Hotel bombing. 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. To make matters worse, Diem responded by sending troops to raid pagodas. 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. Scruggs took two weeks off from his job at the Department of Labor to develop the idea further. Inscribed on the black granite walls are the names of more than 58,000 men and women who gave their lives or remain missing. It seemed every time they contacted someone, they were greeted with enthusiasm for the idea. It seemed unfair and inappropriate that there should be no recognition.. North and South Vietnam were combined into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976. On November 11, 1984, the servicemen statue and a U.S. flag were formally added to the memorial, and the combined monument was placed under the control of the National Park Service. 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. Social critics and commentators quickly picked up and elaborated on Carharts characterization of the memorial. The "Black Gash of Shame"Revisiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial One example, cited in Grab Their Belts to Fight Them: The Viet Congs Big-Unit War Against the U.S., 19651966, by Warren Wilkins, is a description of the first major battle between the VC and American ForcesU.S. This message of personal responsibility, in contrast to governance by an elite group on behalf of individuals, became a hallmark of the Reagan administration. On September 30, 1964, the first large-scale antiwar demonstration took place in America, on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. Scruggs and Doubek met with Mathias to outline their plans. The memorial should be conciliatory, transcending the tragedy of the war.3. When VVMF announced the selection of Lins design, the initial public reaction was generally positive. His research had proven that post-traumatic stress was real and had shone a light on the challenges faced by a significant number of military veterans. 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. Why reinforce the bourgeoisies pathetic illusions? The idea for a memorial seemed like a natural extension of his work and his growing desire to find a way to help veterans. Despite the fact that beyond certain superficial qualities, Lins memorial shared little in common with the work of classic Minimalist artists such as Richard Serra or Donald Judd, critics nonetheless conflated it with Serras equally controversial Tilted Arc, labeling it another example of an inscrutable Minimalist public artwork erected at taxpayers expense. 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. 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. In the early 20th century, Vietnamese nationalism began to rise, clashing with the French colonial rulers. 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. 1) it commemorated an unpopular war. The program, which had been poorly managed, was abandoned after about two years, following the coup that deposed Diem. 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. The earliest of these battles was the controversy over Lins design. Scruggs and Doubek realized that Cupp could be instrumental in helping communicate the all-important personal, emotional side of the healing story. Daniel Libeskind. The more people you got to co-sponsor, the more people wanted to join.. 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). The priorities were to launch fund raising and achieve passage of the authorizing legislation. Instead, Lin found John Benson, a master stonecutter, to hand cut the text at the apex the years of the earliest and latest casualties from the Department of Defense list and the brief prologue and epilogue adjacent to the dates. . What is dark tourism and why is it so popular? Support for the war eroded further. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall was dedicated in 1982. That bothered him. They came from all parts of the country and represented every state. On August 2, two North Vietnamese torpedo boats in broad daylight engaged USS Maddox, which was gathering communications intelligence in the Gulf of Tonkin. All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden.12. Their military experience meant they had contacts far and wide, at all levels of all professions, within government and the private sector. South Korea: 50,000 In July 1959, North Vietnams leaders passed an ordinance called for continued socialist revolution in the north and a simultaneous revolution in South Vietnam. And if they were bitter, who could blame them? Swartz, 95. Lins minimal plan was in sharp contrast to the traditional format for a memorial, which usually included figurative heroic sculpture. 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. Then, on March 30, 1972, the North Vietnamese attacked across the 17th parallel with 14 divisions and additional individual regiments. By now, we are so accustomed to its visual rhetoricthe polished black granite, the lists of names, the horizontal positioningthat to think of these components as anything but standard practice takes an act of real imagination. 10. Why was the Vietnam memorial so controversial? United States: 540,000 In previous war, progress and setbacks could be shown on maps; large enemy units could be engaged and destroyed. All of these items are stored in a museum-quality facility in Landover, Maryland. Even white troops were beginning to protest. It just resonated, he explained. Scruggs added: Make this place look like an airstrike was called in, he instructed. 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. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. Ibid. By the time he returned home, three months after the explosion, the country was even further divided. An air war was the most that could be done north of the 17th parallel, because the use of ground troops had been ruled out. Within months after he recovered from his wounds and returned to his unit, the American public was learning the details of the events at My Lai. Such images pack tremendous emotional punch but often lack context. They felt it was a slap in the face to those who had served because it did not contain traditional symbols honoring service, courage, and sacrifice. 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. As noted above, a number of sources warned U.S. leaders against becoming embroiled in Southeast Asia. American helicopters rescued members of its embassy and flew some South Vietnamese to safety, but most were left behind. 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. Republican Richard Nixon won the presidency in the fall elections. In late spring 1969, American and South . By the time the compromise statue is dedicated, a move for the addition of a women's memorial is already underway. 15. Hanoi offered to restart peace talks, yet remained intransigent in its demands. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. On January 30, 1968, during Vietnams celebration of Tet, the lunar new year, VC and NVA units launched a massive attack in every province of South Vietnam. Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. https://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/vietnam/r3/october/, https://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/vietnam/r4/1982/, https://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3407, Extending Beyond Craftsmanship, into Inquiry and Exploration, Horror, Contemporary Art, and Film: In Conversation with Dan Herschlein and Chad Laird. Jan C. Scruggs, a wounded Vietnam War vet, studied what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder upon his return to. Cupp had experienced firsthand the pains caused by the war. It is a V-shaped polished black granite wall that runs 246 feet long. (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.) Lin knew it was critical to maintain the simplicity of the design throughout the design development and construction process. 3 (August 2004): 122. . They were real guys. We do not seek to make any statement about the correctness of the war, Scruggs said. Better armed than ever before, thanks to increased aid from the Soviet Union, they employed tanks for the first time. 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. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. They needed support, friendship and help. Adding to Americans disillusionment was the race issue. The Making of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial - JSTOR Daily The first cut was further reduced to 90 by midday Wednesday. In the fall of 1980, VVMF announced the national design competition open to any U.S. citizen, who was over 18 years old. Early in his efforts Scruggs had called on Emogene Cupp, then the national president of the American Gold Star Mothers. During the 1970s, it . The women soldiers the nurses suffered too. North Vietnam was a prodigy of both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Red China. Afghanistan and the forever war myth | Philip Collins IAI TV Sturken, 322. Early on in the effort to get the Memorial built, there were traces of controversy. Hi, Im Claire. After meeting with the VVMF officers and advisors, Warner volunteered to help the organization raise the seed money needed to launch the fund raising campaign. 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. In this sense, it was a complex ideological battle. 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 (1955-75). 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. However, the years that saw the memorials proposal, design, and construction1980 to 1982coincided with a momentous shift in the topography of American political culture: the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and the ensuing negotiation of a new federal agenda. And her design was nearly as controversial as the war it commemorated. Every 15 minutes, there was a pause for prayer. 9. 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. My background was relatively modest, he said. On that January day, There was a big explosion, Scruggs recalled. That disparity would decline before the war ended, but the racial tensions at home began to insert themselves into the military in Vietnam, damaging unit morale. 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. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - U.S. Department of Defense I remind all of you of Martin Luther King Jr., who fought for justice for all Americans. Vietnam veteran Joseph Zengerle, then an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, volunteered the use of an aircraft hangar at Andrews Air Force Base. They complained about the walls being black. 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. We expect them to do the work of history writing, to draw single comprehensible narratives out of a Gorgon's nest of individual, often contradictory, experiences. For weeks, heated discussions took place around the topic of who should be part of the design jury. When Scruggs went to see the movie in early 1979, it wasnt the graphic war scenes that haunted him. The following February a strategic hamlet program began; it forcibly relocated South Vietnamese peasants to fortified strategic hamlets. 13. By early 1982, VVMF asked Warner to bring together both sides for a closed-door session to hammer out the issues.