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The senior staffers were against it. As they forged a partnership with Mathias and his staff, VVMF also set out to establish other key relationships. Ho Chi Minh had been educated in Paris. When VVMF announced the selection of Lins design, the initial public reaction was generally positive. We didnt have any space, but I liked their idea and told them I would volunteer to help with all that I could.. Michael Clark, Remembering Vietnam, Cultural Critique 3 (Spring 1986): 50. The task groups proved effective, as described by John Woods, who jointed as a key advisor. 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. 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. Mathias set up a meeting so he could learn more. Scruggs was raised in a rural Maryland town between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. His mother was a waitress; his father a milkman. A s memorials are objects of public commemoration, we demand a lot of them. American intelligence knew an attack was coming, though the Army had downplayed a New York Times report of large communist troop movements heading south. I had my ear to the ground, Mathias recalled. Military personnel, including nurses, were warned not to wear their uniforms in the States. In 1973 a third Vietnam war begana continuation, actuallybetween North and South Vietnam but without significant U.S. involvement. Overview Military conscription, commonly known as "the draft," is one of the most complex topics related to the Vietnam War. 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. 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. Only a few, such as the St. Louis Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, had been the result of open competitions. 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. It was a direct result of the First Indochina War (19461954) between France, which claimed Vietnam as a colony, and the communist forces then known as Viet Minh. Nonsense. Could a memorial accomplish such an enormous and daunting task? The design aroused a great deal of controversy, reflecting the lack of resolution of the national conflicts over the war as well as the lack of consensus over what constituted an appropriate memorial at the end of the 20th century. Why was the memorial so controversial? 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. All of them realized how critical it was that a memorial be apolitical. Cupp had experienced firsthand the pains caused by the war. Just before Christmas 1979, Warner hosted a fundraising breakfast in his Georgetown home. Before the 1880s, the French controlled Vietnam. Many veterans, politicians, critics, and the general public read its refusal to explicitly glorify the war or frame the listed soldiers sacrifice in recognizably heroic terms as an ideological statement, proof of Linsand the memorialspurported anti-war position. Over the next few years, as the war came to a close and more and more troops returned home, the media began to paint a picture of the stereotypical Vietnam veteran: drug addicted, bitter, discontented, and unable to adjust to life back home. The Tet Offensive shocked Americans at home, who thought the war was nearing victory. However, that posed a problem of how tolocate an individual name. 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. Dark tourism, also known as black tourism, thanatourism or grief tourism, is tourism that is associated with death or tragedy. He was an excellent partner and fundraiser. Mathias knew the legislative process. 7. The U.S. suffered over 47,000 killed in action plus another 11,000 non-combat deaths; over 150,000 were wounded and 10,000 missing. How were Vietnam veterans treated when they returned from the war? 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. 14. Why was the Vietnam Memorial so controversial? - Yoforia.com Sturken, 322. 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. 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. 16. Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs, the individual to first pitch the idea of a memorial, used $2,800 of his own money to begin the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in 1979, according to History. Many people will not comprehend this design until they experience it. They complained about the walls being black. Compounding the pain was that societys ill treatment of the veterans extended to their families. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - Definition, Cause & Significance - HISTORY Why the Battle for Hamburger Hill Was So Controversial. The following February a strategic hamlet program began; it forcibly relocated South Vietnamese peasants to fortified strategic hamlets. While many veterans successfully reintegrated into their families and communities, tucking their experiences in combat away on a mental back shelf, others were unable to cope on their own. Every 15 minutes, there was a pause for prayer. They were unwrapped, number coded, photographed for the record, and prepared for display. The walls are inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 men and women . They stressed that all funds for the Memorial would be raised from private donations. 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. He was in Vietnam, serving in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. They treated the moms the same as they treated the vets. A memorial made perfect sense to him. Ultimately, the Commission of Fine Arts, which had the final say in the matter, overruled Lins objections. In addition to the accounts of its creation, sev- 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. Because the U.S. failed to achieve a military victory and the Republic of South Vietnam was ultimately taken over by North Vietnam, the Vietnam experience became known as the only war America ever lost. It remains a very controversial topic that continues to affect political and military decisions today. Sturken, 320. 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. 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. Moreover, could it accomplish all of that while listing the approximately 58,000 names in an artistic, meaningful way? The VVMF organizers soon learned that it required an Act of Congress to build a memorial on Federal land, and Scruggs first called one of the senators for his home state of Maryland. 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. The text size is less than half an inch, which is unusual for monument design, but was selected to make the memorial read more like a book. The timing and scale of the offensive caught ARVN, the U.S. and other SEATO troops by surprise, however. But instead of enthusiasm, he received skepticism. Your donation to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will help expand our mission to honor, educate and heal. It was becoming apparent that we had been able to be instruments to something far greater than anything we had ever imagined.. On November 8, 1979, VVMF held a press conference in which Mathias, Warner, and several others announced the introduction of legislation to grant two acres of land near the Lincoln Memorial for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Please leave evidence I will report anything other than this 1 See answer Advertisement lheduardomarques With such an overwhelming response to the competition, logistics became an issue. She is still remembered fondly by veterans for the moving Memorial she designed for them. 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. They set their sights in support of the clear, simple vision Scruggs outlined:to honor the warrior and not the war. 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. 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. China conquered the northern part of modern Vietnam in 111 BC and retained control until 938 AD; it continued to exert some control over the Vietnamese until 1885. 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. The Draft - Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Mathias and Warner continually stressed that their objective was to provide the country with a symbol for reconciliation. This fear evolved into the Domino Theory; if one country fell to communist control, its neighbors would also soon fall like a row of dominos. Success was measured in body count. It was to be a war of attrition and statistics, a policy that suited Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who distrusted the military and often bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff in issuing directives. 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. 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. 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. They did not like its minimalist design. 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. Similar, even larger, atrocities were conducted by VC and NVA unitssuch as an NVA attack on a Buddhist orphanage at An Hoa in September 1970 or the execution of 5,000 people at Hue during the Tet Offensivebut the concept of American soldiers killing civilians in cold blood was more than many Americans could bear. Sturken, 321. 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. 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. 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. It was World War II and her family lived in Nam Dinh, an industrial city and military target on the north coast of Vietnam. 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. A Space of Loss: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - JSTOR The two sections were not unlike North and South in the United States prior to the Civil War; their people did not fully trust each other. Bob was the detail person and a good writer. On the other side were the veterans and their self-appointed spokesmen, politicians such as Webb and James Watt (Secretary of the Interior under Ronald Reagan), and social conservatives such as Pat Buchanan. The memorial should be conciliatory, transcending the tragedy of the war.3. Ibid. Vietnam Veterans Memorial | Encyclopedia.com They really worked well together and were the driving force. On January 21, 1970, Jan Scruggs was having his morning cup of coffee, but he was far from his kitchen table at home. During the Second World War, Vichy France could do little to protect its colony from Japanese occupation. Black is not a color of shame. Frances military involvement in Vietnam began when it sent warships in 1847, ostensibly to protect Christians from the ruling emperor Gia Long. 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. When the 18-year-old Scruggs volunteered to enlist in the Army in 1968, debate surrounding Vietnam was escalating. 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. On the other hand, Congress had never declared war and so the president was limited in what he could do in Southeast Asia. But several weeks after the announcement, a handful of people began to protest the design. Doubek approached Scruggs after the meeting and suggested that he form a nonprofit corporation as a vehicle to build a memorial. The three of them had different strengths, Healy explained. Could it heal the chasm within society, promote closure, show gratitude to those who served, comfort those in grief, and remind future generations of the toll wrought by war?