why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial?

As conservatives sought to consolidate their gains following Reagans election, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial controversy presented an opportunity for conservatives to harness both the affective power of the veterans fury and the resulting public outcry on their behalf. Associated Press correspondent Malcolm Mal Browne photographed him sitting quietly in the lotus position as the flames consumed him. Their military experience meant they had contacts far and wide, at all levels of all professions, within government and the private sector. Michael Clark, Remembering Vietnam, Cultural Critique 3 (Spring 1986): 50. Together with Spreiregen, he composed a report based on these thoughtful comments. 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. CBS evening news anchor Walter Cronkite returned to Vietnam to see for himself what was happening. Hanoi offered to restart peace talks, yet remained intransigent in its demands. His successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, inherited the Vietnam situation. In large part, this was accomplished through a series of conflicts waged at the level of culture. And that message got through to me.. Bob was the detail person and a good writer. The With the site approved, VVMF scrambled to address the issues of what the Memorial would look like and who would design it. In this sense, it was a complex ideological battle. 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. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: from Controversy to Healing He was in Vietnam, serving in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. Here's how a controversial work of art healed America after Vietnam Sturken, 322. 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. 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. How were Vietnam veterans treated when they returned from the war? 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. We had to constantly find the most effective next step to take and be sure not to get waylaid by tangents. The group started to hold regular planning meetings. In an article in the Washington Post, writer Tom Wolfe defined the debate over the inclusion of Harts figurative memorial as a story of art experts and the Vietnam veteransand of how the veterans asked for a war memorial and wound up with an enormous pit they now refer to as a tribute to Jane Fonda. Their initial timeline was aggressive, with an ultimate goal of dedicating the Memorial on Veterans Day 1982just a little more than 36 months away. In 2009 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the site. Mathias set up a meeting so he could learn more. Compounding the pain was that societys ill treatment of the veterans extended to their families. And if they were bitter, who could blame them? Others: 80,000 plus, 200,000400,000 civilians Congress swiftly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that removed most restrictions from the president in regards to Vietnam. As a senior at Yale University, Lin entered a nationwide competition sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and her design was selected from the more than 1,400 submissions that were received. South Vietnam On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemys intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. 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. The list of tasks to achieve such a goal seemed endless. The Making of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial - JSTOR Daily Ibid. Just as the American people could be a part of building the Memorial through their contributions and support, they could also have an opportunity to participate in its design. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Westmoreland adopted a search-and-destroy policy to find and engage the enemy and use superior firepower to destroy him. Washington, D.C. As memorials are objects of public commemoration, we demand a lot of them. Perhaps Lins centralitytwenty years after the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorialto the debate over Arads and Walkers design was inevitable, given her presence on the design competitions selection committee as well as her legacy as the definitive memorial builder of the late twentieth century. By June 1977, Scruggs was attending graduate school at American University in Washington, D.C. and had embarked on a research study exploring the social and psychological consequences of Vietnam military duties. Learn more about featured topics of the Vietnam War and Vietnam Era. Moreover, could it accomplish all of that while listing the approximately 58,000 names in an artistic, meaningful way? Frances military involvement in Vietnam began when it sent warships in 1847, ostensibly to protect Christians from the ruling emperor Gia Long. Republican Richard Nixon won the presidency in the fall elections. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. The chief design criteria were that the memorial be 1) reflective and contemplative in character; 2) be harmonious with its site and environment, 3) make no political statement about the war itself, and 4) contain the names of all who died or remained missing. Some antiwar protestors blamed the men and women who served in Vietnam, taunting them and spitting on them when they came home. The Three Soldiers - Wikipedia By early 1982, VVMF asked Warner to bring together both sides for a closed-door session to hammer out the issues. But, say those opposed, the men represent the women, the men represent all soldiers . While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Every major engagement between U.S. forces and VC or NVA was an American victory, and the casualty (body count) ratio always showed significantly larger casualties for the communist forces than for the Americans. I think I even spilled my coffee. But, her presence made a difference. The hope is that the creation of the Memorial will begin a healing process, Doubek wrote. The location secured, the seemingly uncontroversial process of articulating goals for a memorial and staging a competition draws over 1100 entries then the largest such design competition in the United States and the winner is Maya Lin's "Wall. 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. The design Lin envisioned listed the names chronologically by date of casualty. Lin and VVMF eventually selectedthe Cooper-Lecky Partnership as the architect-of-record, with Lin as the projects design consultant. The Three Soldiers. 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. 20. 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 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. 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 ceasefire allowed Nixon to declare peace with honor, but no provisions existed for enforcing the terms of the accords. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Jan Scruggss and VVMF members desire for a memorial that would heal the social rifts wrought by the war was wishful thinking. To make matters worse, Diem responded by sending troops to raid pagodas. and was so hurt by the controversy . Many had worked together, some in Washington. ARVN divisions in the north were surrounded and routed. For the millions of people who visit each year, Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall sends a chilling message about war, heroism, and sacrifice. 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. A s memorials are objects of public commemoration, we demand a lot of them. (His son, Marine Corps lance corporal Richard Fitzgibbon III would be killed in action in Vietnam September 7, 1965. Millionaire H. Ross Perot made a sizeable donation. Yet, to say the media cost America victory in Vietnam is vastly oversimplifying a very complex situation. Four of the eight were themselves veterans of previous wars. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. 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. Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They . An author, teacher, and lecturer, Spreiregen had written the authoritative book on design competitions. By years end, 2,573 individuals and teams had registered almost 3,800 people in total. Jack was the visionary, the creative, big-picture guy. The first phase encompassed the detail planning and preparations for holding the competition, said Spreiregen. In the Shadow of the Washington Monument. VVMF met the prospective jurors and scrutinized their credentials. 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.. ' Continuing, Wolfe sarcastically asked: Shouldnt public sculpture delight the public or inspire the public or at least remind the public of cherished traditions? Editors note: This essay was originally published on Art21.org in November 2011. Mathias had grown increasingly concerned about how veterans had been treated on their return. Like all stereotypes, this one was unfair. Their military experience meant they had contacts far and wide, at all levels of all professions, within government and the private sector. (Woods continues to serve on VVMFs Board of Directors to this day. The Tet Offensive shocked Americans at home, who thought the war was nearing victory. Some opponents simply did not like the fact that Lin was a young student, a woman, and of Asian descent; how in the world could she possibly know how to honor the service of the Vietnam veteran? The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall was dedicated in 1982. Each contestant sealed his or her name in an envelope and taped it to the back of the submission. 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. The timing and scale of the offensive caught ARVN, the U.S. and other SEATO troops by surprise, however. 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. Ike may not have seen the message, but at any rate he was focused on establishing NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) as a wall against additional communist advances in Europe and was intent on securing Frances participation in NATO. For weeks, heated discussions took place around the topic of who should be part of the design jury. 170,000220,000 military Letters came from moms, dads, grandparents, sons and daughters with heartfelt notes accompanied by checks and dollar bills. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund | 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300 | Arlington VA 22201 | 202.393.0090 Although Americas war in Vietnam failed to salvage the Republic of South Vietnam, it bought time in which neighboring countries improved their economies and defensive capabilities, and it may have discouraged greater communist activism in places like the Philippines. 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. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Washington DC That changed in August 1964. On January 21, 1970, Jan Scruggs was having his morning cup of coffee, but he was far from his kitchen table at home. Earlier, Wild Bill Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the World War II forerunner of the CIA, had also advised that the U.S. had nothing to gain and much to lose by becoming involved in what was then French Indochina. He made an impassioned plea for funding to his guests, members of the defense industry. In the fall of 1980, VVMF announced the national design competition open to any U.S. citizen, who was over 18 years old. 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). Warner, at the time married to Elizabeth Taylor, had strong connections to both Hollywood and the corporate world. I am tired of hearing it called such by you. The Vietnam War was the longest in U.S. history until the Afghanistan War (20012021). He closed by saying: To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. President Johnson, watching the broadcast, said, If weve lost Walter Cronkite, weve lost the country. In May, Johnson announced he would not run for reelection. 3 (August 2004): 122. The design competition also needed to be able to attract design competitors.. Scruggs and Doubek began having regular meetings with John P. Wheeler, a graduate of West Point and Harvard Business School. Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Location, History & FAQs Maya Lin worked closely with Cooper-Lecky on all aesthetic aspects of the design. The controversy overshadowed the mission and what we were doing, until the Salute brought it all together. Overview Military conscription, commonly known as "the draft," is one of the most complex topics related to the Vietnam War. Under those agreements, Cambodia and Laoswhich had been part of the French colonyreceived their independence. 1 (Spring 1987): 10. 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. The first fundraising letter was signed by Bob Hope. A different feeling prevailed among many within the U.S. government. North Vietnam was a prodigy of both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Red China. The controversy surrounding the memorial instantly vanished from the pages of the press, replaced by celebrations of its interactivity, tranquility, and emotive power. 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 . In a February 27, 1968, broadcast he summed up what he had found during his return trip to the war zone. The entire text size and layout Lin saw as an open book. He had studied the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung, a student of Sigmund Freud, who wrote of shared societal values. The body count policy fell into disfavor and was not employed in future American wars; in Vietnam it led officers to inflate enemy casualties. As Scruggs analyzed the concept of collective psychological states, he realized that, just as veterans needed psychological healing, so too did the nation. . Instead they found bitterness and discontent and they were often disliked by the public. They werent nice. Sturken, 322; Anne Swartz, American Art After September 11: A Consideration of the Twin Towers, Symploke 14, nos. The "Black Gash of Shame"Revisiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Its mirror-like surface reflects the images of the surrounding trees, lawns and monuments. You had to live through that period to really understand it. In the end, the quarry in India was selected. This began a series of destabilizing changes in government leadership. Movies were dealing more realistically with their issues. Architectural drawings and a one-page written summary, 1980 or 1981. For this reason, in Vietnam today it is known as the American War. His reasoning was that a complete mess would make it tough to stop construction. PDF Vietnam War Answer Key Pdf Full PDF - web1.willowwoodco.com Each juror was required to read Fields of Fire, A Rumor of War, and other current literature about the Vietnam War. 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. Vietnam has a long history of being ruled by foreign powers, and this led many Vietnamese to see the United States involvement in their country as neo-colonialism. I remember The Washington Post had pages and pages of stories in the A section. Vietnam veterans were, at long last, receiving the recognition they deserved. 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. Why reinforce the bourgeoisies pathetic illusions? And Congress had declared a Vietnam Veterans Week for that April to honor those who had returned home. Such images pack tremendous emotional punch but often lack context. The shift, however, did not represent a resolved conflict between public art and public memory and memorialization, but merely a temporary relocation of the site of debate. General Price, along with Senators Warner and Mathias and future Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, gave moving addresses before the command was given, and 150 shovels entered the ground with enthusiastic veterans enjoying the moment. 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. As a first step, VVMF retained architect Paul Spreiregen to serve as the Professional Advisor for the competition. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. American troops had won every major battle they fought, and General Nguyen Van Thieu had come to power in South Vietnam in September; he would remain in office until 1975, bringing a new measure of stability to the government, though he could not end its endemic corruption. Why was the Vietnam Memorial so controversial? - Yoforia.com Could a memorial accomplish such an enormous and daunting task? Guerrilla warfare (asymmetrical warfare) does not permit such clear-cut data. Vietnam, however, was divided at the 17th parallel. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a tribute to the dead of the United States ' longest, most unpopular, and least successful war. With such an overwhelming response to the competition, logistics became an issue. Maya Lins original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Images of fighting, of dead and wounded soldiers, of POWs held in North Vietnam were beamed into Americas living rooms night after night, as was footage of hundreds, sometimes thousands of antiwar protestors marching through the streets. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Credit: In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images) . 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. Maya Lin, has gone on to become a respected architect and artist, with a studio in New York City. 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. As Scruggs had always envisioned, the Memorial would feature all of the names of those who had died. The jurors began by touring the site and then returned to Hangar #3 at Andrews to view each of the 1,421 designs individually. During the Second World War, Vichy France could do little to protect its colony from Japanese occupation. It just resonated, he explained. Why was Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial initially controversial? To achieve this effect she chose polished black granite for the walls. The French suffered a major defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, leading to negotiations that ended with the Geneva Agreements, July 21, 1954. But instead of enthusiasm, he received skepticism. His political party, the Democrats, had been blamed for China falling to communism; withdrawing from Vietnam could hurt them in the 1964 elections. 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 debate over Minimalism, applied to Lins design, provided new terms through which to resurrect Americas internal debate over the validity of the Vietnam War. Over 500,000 wounded, Explore articles from the HistoryNet archives about Vietnam War. By 1979, the country was beginning to have more positive feelings toward Vietnam veterans. By early 1980, contributions started to arrive. In 1993 the Vietnam Womens Memorial was unveiled a short distance from the wall. Eventually, a compromise was reached with the commissioning of a traditional statue depicting three servicemen with a flag to stand at the entrance to the memorial. Buddhists, who comprised South Vietnams majority, claimed Diem, a Catholic, favored citizens of his religion in distributing aid. Most, like the Lincoln Memorial, were competitions between select designers. Woods remembered, I was like the kid at FAO Schwartz. A few of the most vocal opponents, including James Webb and H. Ross Perot, had previously been strong supporters of a memorial. Jan was a great spokesperson. Why was the Vietnam women's memorial so significant? The construction process hits a snag when relentless and powerful critics, led by Tom Carhart, find an unsavory political message in the supposedly apolitical winning design -- ultimately forcing a compromise, the addition of a flag and a statue with three soldiers to the Wall. With the seed money from several defense industry donors, especially Grumman Aerospace, VVMF launched its first large-scale direct mail campaign to reach out to the public. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. There is considerable debate over whether he was primarily nationalist or communist, but he was not especially anti-Western. It's the most-visited memorial on the National Mall in Washington, attracting more than 5 million people each year - the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The jury evaluation took place over five days, from April 27 through May 1, 1981. 4. Corrections? Vietnam Veterans Memorial - U.S. Department of Defense Initially the (Senators) staff was split, recalled Monica Healy, a long-time Mathias aide, on whether Mathias should take the lead and support the efforts to build the Memorial. During the 1970s, it . It ended with communist victory in April 1975. 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 vision of VVMF is to ensure a society in which all who have served and sacrificed in our nation's Armed Forces are properly honored and receive the recognition they justly deserve. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Wikipedia The NVA suffered some 120,000 casualties. Early in his efforts Scruggs had called on Emogene Cupp, then the national president of the American Gold Star Mothers. 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 the memorial, as well as the rituals that take place there and what role the memorial may be playing in the construction of a his-tory of the Vietnam War.8 Beyond the academic discourse, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has also in-spired a considerable popular literature. Nonsense. Additionally, the emergence of Park51the proposed Muslim community and cultural center to be located a few blocks from the former World Trade Center siteas a major point of public interest and debate, which peaked during the 2010 congressional elections, confirms the continued political potency and cultural power of memorials as embodiments of representational practice. More than 150,000 veterans, families, loved ones and friends made plans to attend. Civilian deaths during that time period were estimated at 2 million, but the U.S. estimate of civilians killed in the north at 30,000. 1. The jury included: architects Pietro Belluschi and Harry Weese; landscape architects Hideo Sasaki and Garrett Eckbo; sculptors Costantino Nivola, Richard Hunt, and James Rosati; and Grady Clay, a journalist and editor of Landscape Architecture magazine. It was one of the most resounding defeats in all of military historyuntil it became a victory. They stressed that all funds for the Memorial would be raised from private donations. Johnson wanted to focus on instituting Great Society programs at home, but Vietnam was a snake he did not dare let go of. Once there was no more room for conflictthe memorials form, upon dedication, was no longer negotiablethe front in this culture war moved elsewhere.