why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial?

For this reason, in Vietnam today it is known as the American War. . The women soldiers the nurses suffered too. Many felt it should be composed primarily of veterans; others felt it should be made up only of professionals; some thought a mix of the two would be best. When I meet Vietnam veterans who stop me to say thank you for creating the Memorial, I always want to say: thank you, for the service and sacrifices that all of you have made in service to your country, she added. 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). Then, in October 1980, veteran and lawyer Tom Carhart, also a former supporter, testified before the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) against the design, saying that One needs no artistic education to see this design for what it is, a black trench that scars the Mall. 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. "The veterans were asking me, 'What do you think people are going to do when they first come here?'" Lin recalls. 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. This began a series of destabilizing changes in government leadership. American drawdown continued, with only 43,000 personnel left in-country by mid-August. Critics of Lins design proposed that a second work be included on the memorial site, as a solution to the problem of the original memorial design: a figurative bronze statue by Frederick Hart of three soldiers in uniform, which had placed third in the initial competition. It was also a hard-earned victory, leaving more than 300 U.S. In 2009 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the site. They came from veterans and from the neighbors, teachers, coaches and friends of veterans. Hi, Im Claire. My background was relatively modest, he said. Inscribed on the black granite walls are the names of more than 58,000 men and women who gave their lives or remain missing. 1) it commemorated an unpopular war. They needed support, friendship and help. After 25 years, the way in which visitors have embraced and cherished this work has been a great gift to me, she wrote in the program for the 25th anniversary ceremony. Following the Tet Offensive of 1968, the NVA had to assume the major combat role because the VC was decimated during the offensive. The solution on how to locate a name evolved into a directory of names with an alphabetical listing andthe panel and line number of each name. But I was always impressed with the example my parents set.. 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. In the fall of 1980, VVMF announced the national design competition open to any U.S. citizen, who was over 18 years old. End-to-end, the total number of submissions would have stretched one and one third linear miles. Only a few, such as the St. Louis Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, had been the result of open competitions. By early 1980, contributions started to arrive. Like the war itself, this memorialization was highly controversial, but the site has become the most frequently visited memorial in Washington, D.C., drawing over 4 million visitors annually. But, say those opposed, the men represent the women, the men represent all soldiers . The In Memory plaque, dedicated in 2004, is near The Three Servicemen and honors the men and women who died as a result of their service in Vietnam. It was very hurtful, Cupp recalled. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. An official groundbreaking ceremony was held on March 26, 1982. Mathias and Warner continued to rally support and ferry the legislation. Jan was a great spokesperson. Healing meant many things to many people. Black is not a color of shame. American intelligence knew an attack was coming, though the Army had downplayed a New York Times report of large communist troop movements heading south. But if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? Congress swiftly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that removed most restrictions from the president in regards to Vietnam. 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. A few preliminary concepts were embraced. Ibid. He had studied the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung, a student of Sigmund Freud, who wrote of shared societal values. It was a whirlwind of events, and the press coverage was unbelievable. It echoed the theme that regardless of how anyone felt about the war itself, everyone cared about honoring the men and women who had served and those who had ultimately lost their lives. 11. The 15,000 in uniforms and civvies, walked among floats, bands and baton twirlers. This lends a sense of personal intimacy in a public space which helps create a sense of connection to the memorial. It was the most thoughtful and thorough discussion of design that I have ever heard, and I have heard many, he recalled. 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. Woods remembered, I was like the kid at FAO Schwartz. By endowing memorials with the ability to accomplish these tasks, we bestow them with an extraordinary amount of power and authority. A s memorials are objects of public commemoration, we demand a lot of them. This presented the new MACV commander (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam), General William C. Westmoreland with a thorny challenge: how to show the American people progress was being made. We had to build credibility among the design community, but also build credibility with the veterans, said Woods. 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. (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.) With permit in hand, Doubek instructedto commence construction immediately. On April 27, 1979, Doubek incorporated the fledgling entity, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and Scruggs asked him to be an officer and director. 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. It is a V-shaped polished black granite wall that runs 246 feet long. In the end, the quarry in India was selected. Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 198182. They found that they were very real people who did many of the same things they did, recalled Spreiregen. 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. As time progressed it caused more and more controversy in the United States. Memorials are built to give context and, possibly, meaning to suffering that is otherwise incomprehensible. Both Scruggss and the VVMFs statements clearly conveyed that the memorial the veterans sought was to be an apolitical tabula rasa that would neither contribute to nor comment upon the unresolved controversies surrounding the war. 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. General Westmoreland had been promoted to Army Chief of Staff and replaced in Vietnam by Gen. Creighton Abrams. They complained about the walls being black. A lingering question of the war is what might have happened if Eisenhower and Ho had arranged a meeting; possibly, an accord could have been reached, or possibly Ho was simply seeking to limit American involvement, in order to more easily depose the Diem government. But several weeks after the announcement, a handful of people began to protest the design. His political party, the Democrats, had been blamed for China falling to communism; withdrawing from Vietnam could hurt them in the 1964 elections. Two nights later, Maddox and the destroyer USS Turner Joy were on patrol in the Gulf and reported they were under attack. Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They . It was designed by American architect Maya Lin. The design team and VVMF searched for a way for the names to be sandblasted rather than hand-carved. It was like a Woodstock atmosphere in Washington for those who had served in Vietnam, recalled Scruggs. 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. 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. A chronological listing would also allow a returning veteran to find his or her time of service on The Wall and those who died together to remain together forever on The Wall. Once Scruggs decided to build the memorial, the next step was to get some people behind him. . American involvement began to escalate under President John F. Kennedys administration (January 1961November 1963). Johnson wanted to focus on instituting Great Society programs at home, but Vietnam was a snake he did not dare let go of. From the registration forms, it was apparent that architects, artists, designers, as well as veterans and students of all ages and all levels of experience were planning to participate. By June they had stalled the invasion, with the help of American airpower. Omissions? Thirty years later, it is difficult to think of her memorial as a controversial work of art. 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). The priorities were to launch fund raising and achieve passage of the authorizing legislation. When VVMF announced the selection of Lins design, the initial public reaction was generally positive. Tensions between blacks and whites had been intensifying for years as African Americans sought to change centuries-old racial policies. When I was attending law school, Vietnam veterans were an anomaly among the young single professional set of Washington, so it was something you didnt mention. remembered Doubek. As Sturken notes in her essay, The Aesthetics of Absence: Rebuilding Ground Zero, the impetus to create a memorial at the site of the Twin Towers was almost instantaneousby the next day, even as the names and number of dead remained unknown, there was discussion of a memorial.13 Discussions about what to do with the site addressed two twin concerns: the redevelopment of what had been both a hub of commercial activity and an integral part of a broader residential neighborhoodlower Manhattanand the memorialization of the loss of lives that occurred at the site. To make his dream a reality, he planned to get support from people as diverse as former anti-war presidential candidate George McGovern and Gen. William Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam. ARVN divisions in the north were surrounded and routed. Her only son Robert, an Army draftee, was killed by a land mine on his 21st birthday, June 6, 1968. Daniel Abramson, Maya Lin and the 1960s: Monuments, Time Lines, and Minimalism, Critical Inquiry 22, no. It was surreal.. Were all the result of our upbringing. Many people will not comprehend this design until they experience it. In November, a coup deposed Diem, with the blessing of Kennedys administration, which had quietly assured South Vietnams military leaders it was not adverse to a change in leadership and military aid would continue. On February 7, 1965, the U.S. Air Force began bombing selected sites in North Vietnam. Working with the construction manager, GilbaneBuilding Company, the design team had to locate the appropriate type of granite: a flawless, reflective, deep ebony stone. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall was dedicated in 1982. The hope is that the creation of the Memorial will begin a healing process, Doubek wrote. Scruggs, Wheeler, and Doubek then scouted the Mall sometimes by bicycle to identify the ideal spot: a stretch of parkland known as Constitution Gardens, located on the National Mall adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial. The Memorials walls point to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, thus bringing the Memorial into the historical context of our country. Over 500,000 wounded, Explore articles from the HistoryNet archives about Vietnam War. The fact that such nongovernmental entities as the New York Times, CNN, and the Max Protetch Gallery took it upon themselves to solicit designs for both the new World Trade Center buildings and for suitable memorials to the attacks indicates the extent to which the American public writ large was attuned to the sites future. North Vietnam spent two years rebuilding its military; South Vietnam was hamstrung in its responses by a fear the U.S. Congress would cut off all aid if it took military action against communist buildup.

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