why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial?

Spreiregen, a graduate of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, was a Fulbright Scholar who had served as the director of urban design programs at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) from 1962-66 and as the first director of architecture programs at the National Endowment for the Arts from 1966-70. 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. 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. The walls are inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 men and women . On June 11, 1963, an elderly Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc sat down in the street in front of a pagoda in Saigon to protest Diems policies. It was one of the most resounding defeats in all of military historyuntil it became a victory. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Yet, this seemingly god-given shrine wears political feet of clay, and behind it lies a fierce controversy that re-opened the wounds of the war the memorial was designed to heal. Security was improving even as American forces were in the process of withdrawing. 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. On March 5, 1975, the NVA invaded again. Mathias had grown increasingly concerned about how veterans had been treated on their return. Many had worked together, some in Washington. 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. and was so hurt by the controversy . The Memorials walls point to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, thus bringing the Memorial into the historical context of our country. Lower Manhattan must not be transformed into a vast mausoleum, obviously, but neither must it be transformed into a theme park for advanced architectural taste.15, Such rhetoric spilled over from the initial debates surrounding the redevelopment of the site of the Twin Towers to those regarding the design for the memorial. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. It was also a hard-earned victory, leaving more than 300 U.S. Because of this, Mathias appointed her to manage the details and to work with Scruggs, Doubek, and Wheeler on the legislation for the memorial. They were unwrapped, number coded, photographed for the record, and prepared for display. All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden.12. Kennedy saw American efforts in Southeast Asia almost as a crusade and believed increasing the military advisor program, coupled with political reform in South Vietnam, would strengthen the south and bring peace. I heard that those present agreed to double their contributions after Taylor completed her remarks, Scruggs said. Sturken, 125. North Vietnam was a prodigy of both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Red China. And if they were bitter, who could blame them? I think I even spilled my coffee. But, her presence made a difference. Despite the stated wishes of the VVMF, Lins design proved instantaneously divisive. By years end, 23,000 American military personnel would be in South Vietnam. 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. I am always incredibly moved and heartened, especially when a veteran tells me that The Wall has helped them in some wayit could not mean more to me. 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. Why was the Vietnam women's memorial so significant? When Lin asked how many Smiths would be on The Wall, the team realized how important the chronological listing was to the design. They are a treasure of design insight and included many prescient thoughts as to how the Memorial would likely be experienced, Spreiregen wrote of Clays notes. Some felt that the money to build a memorial could be better spent delivering the many services veterans needed. 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. As soon as ground was broken for The Wall in March 1982, planning for its dedication ceremonies began. Following its dedication, Lins memorial quickly became the prototype for American war memorials. It seemed every time they contacted someone, they were greeted with enthusiasm for the idea. Not only was Harts statue included at the memorial site, but a flagpole was added as well. 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. (Woods continues to serve on VVMFs Board of Directors to this day. Intellectually and emotionally, America could embrace the idea. By endowing memorials with the ability to accomplish these tasks, we bestow them with an extraordinary amount of power and authority. Two U.S. helicopter units arrived in Saigon in 1961. There were four phases to the design competition spanning almost one year: planning and preparation; the launch; the design phase; the design evaluation and selection; the press conference and public presentation. United States: 540,000 Thirty years later, it is difficult to think of her memorial as a controversial work of art. The controversy overshadowed the mission and what we were doing, until the Salute brought it all together. while the veterans were primarily concerned with the ability of the design to offer emotional comfort to veterans and the families of the dead, either in terms of forgiveness or honor.7. About Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Rather, by honoring those who sacrificed, we hope to provide a symbol of national unity and reconciliation.1. 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. On January 30, 1968, during Vietnams celebration of Tet, the lunar new year, VC and NVA units launched a massive attack in every province of South Vietnam. Hamburger hill number - Math Formulas Within months after he recovered from his wounds and returned to his unit, the American public was learning the details of the events at My Lai. I had my ear to the ground, Mathias recalled. As VVMF focused on fundraising, Sens. Hidden in a hole in the ground, with no means of access for those Vietnam veterans who are condemned to spend the rest of their days in a wheelchair. This grew into the operation known as Rolling Thunder that began on March 2, 1965, and continued to November 2, 1968. He would never forget those friends. It was the Senators gut feeling that we needed to do this., This was serious business, Mathias said. To its own surprise, Hanoi found its forces advancing rapidly toward Saigon, realized victory was at hand, and renamed the operation the Ho Chi Minh Offensive. A memorial made perfect sense to him. Another article in the same issue of the Post echoed Wolfes definition of the terms of the debate, commenting that: There is a discordance between the sophisticated wall and the unsophisticated statue. In 2009 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund assumed responsibility for the maintenance of the site. 14. Mathias set up a meeting so he could learn more. Tour Washington D.C.'s Arlington National Cemetery, Tomb of the Unknowns, and Vietnam Veterans Memorial, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vietnam-Veterans-Memorial, How Stuff Works - History - Vietnam Veterans Memorial, National Park Service - Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 15. In 1972 a poll determined he was the most trusted man in America.. She greeted each visitor in a regal fashion, wearing a dressing gown, perfect makeup, and beautiful shoes that curled up at the toes. 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. Direct mail was proving to be a highly effective fundraising tool. The Vietnam Wall Controversy - About - Overview - Lehigh University On April 30, their tanks entered Saigon. But if the challenges seemed insurmountable, no one expressed any fears. Scruggs and Doubek began having regular meetings with John P. Wheeler, a graduate of West Point and Harvard Business School. 1. 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. What is dark tourism and why is it so popular? In the fall of 1980, VVMF announced the national design competition open to any U.S. citizen, who was over 18 years old. Antiwar protests continued across America and in many other countries, but on April 28, 1967, Gen. Westmoreland became the first battlefield commander ever to address a joint session of Congress in wartime, and Time magazine named him Man of the Year. He found that returning veterans were finding it hard to trust people. Yet, to say the media cost America victory in Vietnam is vastly oversimplifying a very complex situation. Frederick Hart. Furthermore, the extreme visual simplicity of Lins monument made it easy for critics to utilize it in a concurrent debate about the merits of minimalist sculptures as public artworks. Guerrilla warfare (asymmetrical warfare) does not permit such clear-cut data. The greatest challenge VVMF faced, said Doubek, was to put together a functioning organization with people who didnt know one another, people who were very young and didnt have a lot of experience. Even white troops were beginning to protest. Never before or since have journalists been given such complete access to cover a war. 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. 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. The U.S., possessing the largest foreign military presence, essentiallydirected the war from 1965 to 1968. He was in Vietnam, serving in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade. Vietnam veteran Joseph Zengerle, then an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, volunteered the use of an aircraft hangar at Andrews Air Force Base. Watt followed on March 11, 1982, by granting permission for the construction permits. American involvement began to escalate under President John F. Kennedys administration (January 1961November 1963). HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. ever and endured a raging national controversy over the avant-garde . 17. In late spring 1969, American and South . The entire text size and layout Lin saw as an open book. When VVMF announced the selection of Lins design, the initial public reaction was generally positive. It claimed,In one day of ferocious fighting we had eliminated from the field of battle a total of 919 American troops, had knocked out 22 enemy vehicles and 13 helicopters, and had captured one M-14 rifle. Marine losses actually were 45 dead, 203 wounded, and a few vehicles damaged. This message of personal responsibility, in contrast to governance by an elite group on behalf of individuals, became a hallmark of the Reagan administration. 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. To achieve this effect she chose polished black granite for the walls. Mathias and Warner continued to rally support and ferry the legislation. It seemed every time they contacted someone, they were greeted with enthusiasm for the idea. VVMFagreed to the statue compromise, as well as to adding a flag and to reviewing the inscription on the Memorial, but they did not want to wait untila statue was designed before breaking ground. Laos, South Vietnam: 850,000 One needs no artistic education to see this design for what it is, a black trench that scars the Mall. Washington, D.C. Aerial view. Instead, the memorial became a dividing line between factions both real and imagined. They did not like its minimalist design. In a February 27, 1968, broadcast he summed up what he had found during his return trip to the war zone. A different feeling prevailed among many within the U.S. government. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. Experience the evolution of the Vietnam Wall controversy by reading through a chronological list of documents divided into five rounds: Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs initiates a hard-fought battle to build a Vietnam War Memorial, finally convincing Congress to appropriate land for a memorial that would be built with public funds. In previous war, progress and setbacks could be shown on maps; large enemy units could be engaged and destroyed. 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. 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 . The VC was effectively finished; it would not field more than 25,00040,000 troops at any time for the remainder of the war. The Gold Star Mothers is a group of mothers whose sons or daughters have died serving their country. 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. Bob was the detail person and a good writer. Seven more such immolations occurred that year. Lacking sufficient services to assist their recovery, some of these unassimilated veterans turned to alcohol and other drugs, their addictions only sending them further to the margins of society. The war became the central rallying point of a burgeoning youth counterculture, and the coming years would see many such demonstrations, dividing generations and families.. On Christmas Eve, in Saigon, a VC set off an explosive at the American officers billet in the old Brink Hotel, killing two Americans and 51 South Vietnamese. Maya Lin, has gone on to become a respected architect and artist, with a studio in New York City. Although differences in the two bills required a Conference Committee to meet, on July 1, at a White House Rose Garden ceremony, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation providing two acres for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall.