Today helped clear the logistics of the war for me. I was really confused about how it was both North versus South Vietnam and Vietnam versus America, but I soon connected that the North had bases in the South, like the Cu Chi Tunnels, which allowed for a combat war. I also realized that while it was labeled North versus South, it was really America fighting against communism and Vietnam fighting for independence.

The museums really spoke to me and had me thinking about the importance of language during the war. The fact that it was called a “civil war” and then shifted to the “American War” shows what the Vietnamese thought about the involvement of American forces. A civil war is a war within one country, but calling it the American War shows that it became a war involving foreign intervention. Also, the war being called the American War in Vietnam and the Vietnam War in America has a heavy impact. Rather than having one neutral name, each name can cause Americans and Vietnamese people to view the other nation as the enemy. To me, this shows that the war was not only about what was right, but also about pride, power, and winning instead of protecting human life or freedoms.

The museum exhibits also had me questioning how the war was justified. I learned little about the war in school, which made me wonder if it is because it is not the outcome America wanted to remember. What I did learn was that it was a fight against communism and the domino theory. But finding out Vietnam had already been under French control, and that the war to them was about independence, was news to me.

This made me think that the U.S. stayed in the war not only to combat communism, but also because of national pride. I have a book about quotes presidents have said, and I remembered a section about the Vietnam War, so I looked some up:

 “I’m not going to be the first American president to lose a war.” – Richard Nixon 

“I don’t think it’s worth fighting for, and I don’t think we can get out.” – Lyndon B. Johnson

I think these quotes show that the war was about, or at least shifted to, pride instead of democracy. The destruction of villages and civilians was completely unjust if America was only there to fight a political ideology. These actions, alongside the quotes, make me think the U.S. was there so we would not embarrass ourselves. To me, our actions and ego are more embarrassing.

This continued with the Agent Orange exhibit. While chemical weapons and gases can be part of war, it is such a heavy action to take with limited understanding of the long-term effects. It not only killed and harmed people during the war, but also damaged future generations. This disallowed freedom, the thing America was supposedly fighting for.

I was also moved by the people who risked a lot to expose the truth of the war or help bring it to an end. Ronald L. Haeberle, Lawrence Colburn, Hugh Thompson Jr., and Nguyễn Thị Bình stood out to me as unspoken heroes. Whether through photography, protecting civilians, or diplomacy, they showed that courage during war is not only about fighting. Sometimes it is about telling the truth, refusing to stay silent, and protecting human life when others do not – doing this all after people were killed for protesting shows a lot about their character and selflessness.