“All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” — The first lines of the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence, issued on September 2, 1945, quoting the American Declaration of Independence.

The Vietnam war was a strange point in American history. Whether it be the hippie movement’s counterculture statement of “make love, not war,” or, conversely, millions of Americans doubling down on patriotism and choosing to believe in our reasons for fighting.

Moreover, it marked the first time in American history when a mainstream unpopular opinion rose from a war we initiated.

This entire period is one big philosophical dilemma. Before Vietnam, there always seemed to be some sort of pride or at least a strong sense of patriotism for U.S. (United States) conflicts. For example, rampant manufacturing during World War II (WWII) lifted us out of the depression and unified America against a common enemy.

However, now it’s not uncommon to protest against war. Iraq, or the “War on Terror” was criticized for a president wishing to continue his father’s legacy regarding oil. According to Politico, the end of the war in Afghanistan was only supported by one in five Americans.

However, it all started with Vietnam. In what began as another intervention that the U.S. couldn’t sit back and that turned into a quest that begged the question: “Why are we even here?”

The inception of mainstream distrust in patriotism

“You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.” — Viet Minh leader Ho Chi Minh in a warning to French colonialists in 1946

Initially, the Vietnam War began as most U.S. conflicts, a quest for patriotism and justice. Furthermore, it was a mission to prevent the communist takeover of South Vietnam.

McCarthyism was still fresh in the minds of Americans, and in the midst of an ongoing Cold War, it was believed that there was a domino-effect of communism spreading across the world. Basically, if it goes one place then it’s going to continue to topple countries one by one.

One article in the New York Times characterizes this perfectly, titled “280 Reds Reported Slain In Biggest Saigon Victory,” showing that this wasn’t a war against Vietnam, but a war against communism in general.

“The guerrillas withdrew and were chased by armed helicopters, some piloted by Americans. One of the American pilots said it was like a ‘turkey shoot,” the Times reporter writes.

Up to that point, most U.S. conflicts dictated some sort of order, even against Nazi Germany. The Vietcong, however, were labeled guerillas and the conflict coined the term guerrilla warfare.

There were no rules this time around as another New York Times article writes:

“TERRORISTS BOMB SAIGON QUARTERS OF OFFICERS; 2 Americans Are Reported Killed — 52 Others and 13 Vietnamese Wounded; 8‐FLOOR BILLET RUINED; Blast Believed Part of Plan of Vietcong to Sap Morale and Cause Withdrawal.”

The Vietnamese militias, to some extent, were order-free, but this in fact was their plan, and it worked in disenfranchising the troops and bringing huge moral cuts with it. This guerilla-styled approach was how we fended off the disciplined British army during the Revolution, and 200 years later, the same tactics were being used against us.

While many were happy to support the war initially, a mood shift began to change, especially when young bodies began to pile up. Unlike World War II where there was a defined problem, this time young men were being drafted to fight in a war that they had no real stakes in.

A letter from a U.S. soldier sent to his parents about the death of his dog “Sweetpea” describes the hellish pains of war:

“Sweetpea… she followed me everywhere, including patrols. I use the past tense because she is dead.” the letter writes. “It’s hard to describe. But when you are in a combat zone for a long time and all your loved ones are home, you have to show some affection and receive some affection, or you go crazy.”

The soldier continues and describes a hospital visit to a friend who was sent for intensive care:

“I know what I’m going to say may sound crazy, but I hope he dies. He couldn’t bear to have his wife or parents see him that way, I’m certain of it,” he states. “I wish this war could end tomorrow, but I’m afraid it’s going to drag on for quite a time.”

“Make love, not war” — how hippies changed the tides of Vietnam

“Hey, Hey LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?” — A protest chant that first became popular in late 1967.

Rebellion is fundamental to American culture, and yet it’s taken different forms across our history. Muhammad Ali denied the Vietnam war draft, the March on Washington happened shortly after, and another significant counterculture movement was birthed: hippies.

Sure the hippies were easy to write off. Many were young stoner-types who listened to esoteric psychedelic music and did heavy drugs. However, the hippies put an image to rebellion against the war in Vietnam, which proved essential in bringing it to an end.

One reporter for the Atlantic, Mark Harris looks down on hippies, but unknowingly expresses one of their greatest contributions to society at the time:

“Many hippies lived with the help of remittances from home, whose parents, so straight, so square, so seeming compliant, rejected, in fact, a great portion of that official American program rejected by the hippies in psychedelic script,” Harris writes. “Even in arrest they found approval from their parents, who had taught them in years of civil rights and resistance to the war in Vietnam that authority was often questionable, sometimes despicable.”

Blindly trusting authority was something unquestioned before Vietnam. Granted, it was a philosophy that didn’t always lead Americans astray, but it was time to evolve past this way of thinking as a culture. One historian, William Rorabaugh, writer of American Hippies, sums up the significance of the hippie movement in an interview with the University of Washington:

“Although hippies often disagreed about beliefs and practices, they shared a desire to be authentic. Members of the counterculture condemned mainstream society for being conformist, rule-driven, and uptight.” He continued: “Authenticity meant doing your own thing. Because freaks distrusted both society and government, individual decisions were applauded as the most authentic. This was exploratory and chaotic.”

A racial nightmare: Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement

A 17-year-old Civil Rights demonstrator is attacked by a police dog in Birmingham, Ala., on May 3, 1963. This image led the front page of the next day’s New York Times.

“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.” — Malcolm X

Vietnam created a racial nightmare in America. The war coincided with the Civil Rights Movement and the rise of Black Power. African-Americans believed that fighting for democracy would buy them freedom back home.

It didn’t.

Legendary leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois expressed this sentiment:

“Let us, while the war lasts, forget our special grievances and close ranks shoulder to shoulder with our white fellow citizens…fighting for democracy. We make no ordinary sacrifice, but we make it gladly and willingly.”

Nevertheless, Black schools stayed segregated, and African-Americans were discriminated against. This caused racial relations to reach a boiling point.

Professor Mark Schaller, a well-known and respected cultural psychologist related, “The US was fighting enemies who proclaimed the right to enslave or exterminate inferior races,” said Schaller. “Presumably, American citizens were united in detesting such hateful ideologies. Yet American minorities at home still faced discrimination and abuse.”

On August 28, 1963, 200,000 Blacks and whites marched on Washington, amidst widespread media coverage. It still represents one of the most powerful protests in American history. Symbolically standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. called for Black Americans to be included in the “American Dream.”

Final thoughts

Film still from the 1968 documentary, In the Year of the Pig.

We can learn a lot from Vietnam.

Our country is situated in a place reminiscent of it. Half of our population disagrees with the other. Racial tensions are still bubbling — and sometimes burst. A new counterculture is rising, and it’s inverse to the Hippie movement.

There was something in the air during the Vietnam war. Americans could feel something was on the horizon, a point in history we couldn’t turn back from. That same feeling is here again, and it isn’t because of a new president.

There’s something deeper and it’s in the very psychology of each American.

Conversation, protest, speaking your mind, and never silencing anyone, even if they disagree with your opinion, is more important than ever. It may save our country.

Hopefully, it’s not too late.