Instead, the memorial became a dividing line between factions both real and imagined. The battle was suddenly over.. 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. A few of the most vocal opponents, including James Webb and H. Ross Perot, had previously been strong supporters of a memorial. The We do not seek to make any statement about the correctness of the war, Scruggs said. Just before Christmas 1979, Warner hosted a fundraising breakfast in his Georgetown home. 1. When VVMF announced the selection of Lins design, the initial public reaction was generally positive. 4 (Summer 1996): 685. Lin vociferously objected to the inclusion of Harts piece, arguing that it violated the integrity of [her] design and created the sensation of being watched, as if one were on a golf green. As Sturken points out, this did little to evoke veterans sympathy: Lin stuck to her position as an outsider . The National Park Service archives most of the nonperishable items left at The Wall. 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. Despite the stated wishes of the VVMF, Lins design proved instantaneously divisive. About Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Its mirror-like surface reflects the images of the surrounding trees, lawns and monuments. Most importantly, they needed to navigate the channels of government authorizations and approvals. The list of tasks to achieve such a goal seemed endless. Under those agreements, Cambodia and Laoswhich had been part of the French colonyreceived their independence. The women soldiers the nurses suffered too. Scruggs would never forget the awful scene. The communist takeover of China and subsequent war in Korea (1950-53) against North Korean and Chinese troops had focused a great deal of attention on Southeast Asia as a place to take a strong stand against the spread of communism. As soon as ground was broken for The Wall in March 1982, planning for its dedication ceremonies began. Veterans needed this, and so did the nation. We are all equal in combat. The task groups proved effective, as described by John Woods, who jointed as a key advisor. By 1979, the country was beginning to have more positive feelings toward Vietnam veterans. 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. Every day, park rangers collect and tag the items, noting which wall panel each item was left beneath. The memorial, located near the western end of the Mall, is a black granite V-shaped wall inscribed with the names of the approximately 58,000 men and women who were killed or missing in action. 400,000 1 million military VVMF met the prospective jurors and scrutinized their credentials. An ad hoc group of veterans had scheduled a meeting to try to use Vietnam Veterans Week to generate publicity for veterans need, and Scruggs thought that would be a good time to announce his plans. 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. 12 (2006): 95. Both sides were fighting a war of attrition, so communist commanders sent Hanoi battle reports that often were pure fantasy. Corrections? 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. Bronze. All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden.12. Or, people would tell me, Well why did you let him go? Of course, what choice do you have?. North Vietnam In the nine months since hed been in-country, Scruggs had already seen a lot of action and had been wounded in a battle near Xuan Loc. Although differences in the two bills required a Conference Committee to meet, on July 1, at a White House Rose Garden ceremony, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation providing two acres for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall. Unlike previous wars, where only still images or short movie newsreels were available for conveying images, this was Americas first television war. Direct mail was proving to be a highly effective fundraising tool. To treat the Vietnam dead like the victims of some monstrous traffic accident is more than a disservice to history; it is a disservice to the memory of the 57,000.5. He would never forget those friends. Ho attempted to contact Eisenhower to discuss Vietnam but received no answer. When the time came, however, Diem resisted the elections; the more populous north would certainly win. 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. Another article in the same issue of the Post echoed Wolfes definition of the terms of the debate, commenting that: There is a discordance between the sophisticated wall and the unsophisticated statue. By the time the compromise statue is dedicated, a move for the addition of a women's memorial is already underway. His successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, inherited the Vietnam situation. I think I even spilled my coffee. But, her presence made a difference. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. By the March 31, 1981, deadline, 1,421 design entries were submitted for judging. Scruggs added: Make this place look like an airstrike was called in, he instructed. (Woods continues to serve on VVMFs Board of Directors to this day. Because Warner was from Virginia and Mathias from Maryland, the two had worked together on many regional issues. It was the most thoughtful and thorough discussion of design that I have ever heard, and I have heard many, he recalled. In the Rose Garden of the White House, immediately following President Jimmy Carters signing of the bill, Scruggs explained to the press the vision of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), the non-profit organization that collected and administered the funds for the memorial. I had calculated that it was possible to see all of them in a minimum of 3 1/2 hours. We expect them to do the work of history writing, to draw single comprehensible narratives out of a Gorgons nest of individual, often contradictory, experiences. Financial costs had risen to $30 billion a year. The French suffered a major defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, leading to negotiations that ended with the Geneva Agreements, July 21, 1954. The first cut was further reduced to 90 by midday Wednesday. 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. Lin and VVMF eventually selectedthe Cooper-Lecky Partnership as the architect-of-record, with Lin as the projects design consultant. As Scruggs had always envisioned, the Memorial would feature all of the names of those who had died. 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. Holding a competition is like launching a rocket. 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. Tour Washington D.C.'s Arlington National Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknowns, and Vietnam Veterans Memorial, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vietnam-Veterans-Memorial, How Stuff Works - History - Vietnam Veterans Memorial, National Park Service - Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Only a few, such as the St. Louis Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, had been the result of open competitions. They were the only father-son pair to die in Vietnam.) Initially, however, homefront support for the war effort grew, but by March Americans, perceiving no change in strategy that would bring the war to a conclusion, became increasingly disillusioned. In previous war, progress and setbacks could be shown on maps; large enemy units could be engaged and destroyed. Everyone wanted to join the effort. Color meant nothing on the battlefields of Korea and Vietnam. He was in Vietnam, serving in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. 18. Four of the eight were themselves veterans of previous wars. Thus, it is unsurprising that the first skirmish of the culture wars of the 1980s can be traced back to the public debate that broke out in reaction to Maya Lins design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Why the Battle for Hamburger Hill Was So Controversial. On the other side, the same thing was occurring, with even more inflated numbersvastly more. The controversial Vietnam War was long and drawn out, fought in a humid terrain alien to American soldiers. 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. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? The body count policy fell into disfavor and was not employed in future American wars; in Vietnam it led officers to inflate enemy casualties. 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. Its primary goal was to demoralize the North Vietnamese and diminish their manufacturing and transportation abilities. During President Dwight Eisenhowers administration (19531961), financial aid was given to pay South Vietnams military forces and American advisors were sent to help train them. 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. United States: 540,000 New York Close Up artist Dan Herschlein, and professor, Chad Laird, discuss the intersection of contemporary art, film and horror. Johnson wanted to focus on instituting Great Society programs at home, but Vietnam was a snake he did not dare let go of. These meanings serve as unifying forces, reinforcing the idea of a shared national identity and healing rifts in the communal experience of nationhood. As VVMF focused on fundraising, Sens. 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 . But Lin doesn't like anybody "drawing mustaches" on her design and, with the support of many in the Art world, pressures the Commission of Fine Arts to scuttle the compromise and hatch a new one. The names are inscribed in the chronological order of their dates of casualty, showing the war as a series of individual human sacrifices and giving each name a special place in history. 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. Warner, who had served as Secretary of the Navy during the war, was himself a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. North and South Vietnam were combined into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976. The VC was effectively finished; it would not field more than 25,00040,000 troops at any time for the remainder of the war. Hi, Im Claire. It ended with communist victory in April 1975. It was designed by American architect Maya Lin. 2. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. End-to-end, the total number of submissions would have stretched one and one third linear miles. The Selective Service System during the Vietnam war was highly controversial, especially because early in the war draftees came disproportionately from poor, working-class, rural, and minority populations. For weeks, heated discussions took place around the topic of who should be part of the design jury. 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. Buddhists, who comprised South Vietnams majority, claimed Diem, a Catholic, favored citizens of his religion in distributing aid. The design competition also needed to be able to attract design competitors.. Confused times need simple forms., According to the description of the design concept: The jury chose a design which will stimulate thought rather than contain it.. The peasants resented being forced from their ancestral lands, and consolidating them gave the VC better targets. I remind all of you of Martin Luther King Jr., who fought for justice for all Americans. On September 30, 1964, the first large-scale antiwar demonstration took place in America, on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley. For the first time, MACV worked with South Vietnams government to create annual plans. (An American medic treated him during World War II, probably saving his life.) When Scruggs went to see the movie in early 1979, it wasnt the graphic war scenes that haunted him. Although the United States won the war in a numerical sense, having far less casualties than North Vietnam, the U.S. did not accomplish what they had set out to do. After three-and-a-half years of nonstop effort and work, with all that you have to do to accomplish what we did, it was beautiful. And if they were bitter, who could blame them? Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. After Lins monument was dedicated on November 13, 1982, however, it became a popular and moving tourist attraction. Im the News & Social Editor at HistoryNet and a World War II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill, Spitfires, and Michigan football. Each contestant sealed his or her name in an envelope and taped it to the back of the submission. 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. In addition to the accounts of its creation, sev- Everyone wanted to join the effort. 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. Similarly, casualty totals among the VC and NVA and the number of dead and wounded civilians in North Vietnam cannot be determined exactly. She greeted each visitor in a regal fashion, wearing a dressing gown, perfect makeup, and beautiful shoes that curled up at the toes. In the fall of 1980, VVMF announced the national design competition open to any U.S. citizen, who was over 18 years old. They complained about the walls being black. 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. Charles Mac Mathias, a Navy veteran of World War II, had been opposed to the war in Vietnam, but he had always respected those who served in it. Ironically, the leadership of North Vietnam came to a similar conclusion: they had to inflict enough casualties on Americans to end support for the war on the U.S. homefront and force a withdrawal before the U.S. could build up sufficient numbers of men and material to defeat them. 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. That afternoon, the winning design was selected, said Spreiregen. Before he spoke, however, all eyes had turned toward the kitchen door, from which has emerged his then-wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor. 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. 1. Ibid. He, in turn, called the Buddhists VC sympathizers. 4) It defied spatial perception. Jan came to our headquarters to see if we had any room to help them get started, Cupp remembered. By Thursday morning, it was down to 39. 20. The insurgency was called the National Liberation Front (PLF); however, its soldiers and operatives became more commonly known by their opponents as the Viet Cong (VC), short for Vietnamese Communists. Woods remembered, I was like the kid at FAO Schwartz. On March 5, 1975, the NVA invaded again. Photo by William Bill Lecky. The VC were often supplemented by units of the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN), more often called simply the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) by those fighting against it. The designs were received and processed in a large warehouse east of Washington. This development was shaped by the theories of economic neoliberals on the one hand and by the values of their socially conservative allies on the other. Why were people angry about the Vietnam War memorial? The Vietnam Women's Memorial was established to honor the women who risked their lives to serve their country. Its mere existence would be societal recognition that their sacrifices were honorable rather than dishonorable. Jan Scruggss and VVMF members desire for a memorial that would heal the social rifts wrought by the war was wishful thinking. Marita Sturken, The Aesthetics of Absence: Rebuilding Ground Zero, American Ethnologist 31, no. The first phase encompassed the detail planning and preparations for holding the competition, said Spreiregen. . The design Lin envisioned listed the names chronologically by date of casualty. Some 80,000 Vietnamese from the south had moved to the north after the Geneva Agreements were signed. Video: 2) It applauded feminist efforts. 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. 15. 1. Watt followed on March 11, 1982, by granting permission for the construction permits. You had to live through that period to really understand it. Following the Tet Offensive of 1968, the NVA had to assume the major combat role because the VC was decimated during the offensive. The Civil Rights Movement had produced significant victories, but many blacks had come to describe Vietnam as a white mans war, a black mans fight. Between 1961 and 1966, black males accounted for about 13 percent of the U.S. population and less than 10 percent of military personnel but almost 20 percent of all combat-related deaths. Ho Chi Minh had been educated in Paris. 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. ' Continuing, Wolfe sarcastically asked: Shouldnt public sculpture delight the public or inspire the public or at least remind the public of cherished traditions? 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. His reasoning was that a complete mess would make it tough to stop construction. 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. Marinesnear Van Truong, from the VC point of view. The effects of U.S. involvement, the impact of an individual's participation, political decisions and the politics of decision-making are still felt. Scruggs and Doubek realized that Cupp could be instrumental in helping communicate the all-important personal, emotional side of the healing story. 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. The wall is the centerpiece of the memorial and is made up of two black granite walls, each 246 feet in length and 10 feet in height. Mathias had grown increasingly concerned about how veterans had been treated on their return. The pilot of an F-8E Crusader did not see any ships in the area where the enemy was reported, and years later crew members said they never saw attacking craft. Daniel Abramson, Maya Lin and the 1960s: Monuments, Time Lines, and Minimalism, Critical Inquiry 22, no. At 21 and still an undergraduate, Linconceived her design as creating a park within a park a quiet protected place unto itself, yet harmonious with the overall plan of Constitution Gardens. But the memorial might not exist in the form we see today if it weren't for the support of architects who defended the young architect's controversial design. 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.
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