why was the vietnam war memorial so controversial?
Free of overt historical reference to either the Egyptian or Greco-Roman traditions of monument designthe main visual touchstones for American memorial-buildingLins design broke with these traditions through its use of black granite, polished to a reflective smoothness (instead of white limestone or marble); its horizontal orientation, submerged into the earth instead of rising vertically; and its lack of any figurative ornamentation or any embellishment at all, save for the chronological listing of names of soldiers killed in the course of the war, etched into the granites mirror-like surface. (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.) 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. Buddhists, who comprised South Vietnams majority, claimed Diem, a Catholic, favored citizens of his religion in distributing aid. Everyone wanted to join the effort. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. The Vietnam War: Facts & Info About the Most Controversial - HistoryNet In large part, this was accomplished through a series of conflicts waged at the level of culture. Jan C. Scruggs, a wounded Vietnam War vet, studied what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder upon his return to. Vietnam Veterans Memorial - National Park Service Oooo, not any more, not any more. His reasoning was that a complete mess would make it tough to stop construction. 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. 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. A flower is laid on the names of fallen troops on "The Wall" of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington on Nov. 12, 2018. . Memorials are built to give context and, possibly, meaning to suffering that is otherwise incomprehensible. Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 198182. [] Over the past two months, art mullahs of every description have begun a holy war against the addition of [Harts] statue.8. Ultimately, the VVMF Board agreed on a jury of the most experienced and prestigious artists and designers that could be found, since it took a mature eye to envision from two-dimensional renderings how a design would look when built. Two U.S. helicopter units arrived in Saigon in 1961. In April 1995, Vietnams communist government said 1.1 million combatants had died between 1954 and 1975, and another 600,000 wounded. 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. 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. and was so hurt by the controversy . About Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Rather, by honoring those who sacrificed, we hope to provide a symbol of national unity and reconciliation.1. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial stands as a symbol of America's honor and recognition of the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War. By the time the compromise statue is dedicated, a move for the addition of a women's memorial is already underway. The Three Soldiers. But the veterans had real problems. The controversy over the planned 9/11 memorial at the former site of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, which began nearly a decade ago, harkened back to the debates of the early 1980s and heralds the current resurgence of cultural warfare. The Salute opened with a vigil Wednesday morning at the National Cathedral, where all of the nearly 58,000 names on The Wall were read by volunteers around the clock, day and night, through midnight Friday. The U.S. suffered over 47,000 killed in action, Kennedy himself was assassinated in Dallas, VC and NVA units launched a massive attack, CBS evening news anchor Walter Cronkite returned to Vietnam, https://www.historynet.com/the-vietnam-war-a-history-of-americas-controversial-war/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. As Michael Clark points out in the essay, Remembering Vietnam, by the late 1960s, Hollywood and the mass media seized on this aspect of the veteran experience, creating variations of a fictionalized veteran who threatened at every moment to bring the war home with him in the form of flashbacks that turned firecrackers into artillery and passersby into the enemy.10 In Clarks analysis, these depictions of veterans served, for nonmilitary American citizens, as a way to launder the violence of the war by relegating it to some other place: Southeast Asia, and the [veterans] psychotic unconscious.11 Such representations enabled film viewers to reframe their experiences of the contemporaneous violence occurring at home, on American soil. 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. 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. Among other duties, Healy was the member of Mathias staff who handled memorials and worked as the liaison with the U.S. Department of the Interior. Editors note: This essay was originally published on Art21.org in November 2011. Bob was the detail person and a good writer. 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. The women soldiers the nurses suffered too. Lin and VVMF eventually selectedthe Cooper-Lecky Partnership as the architect-of-record, with Lin as the projects design consultant. They complained about the walls being black. Ibid. An author, teacher, and lecturer, Spreiregen had written the authoritative book on design competitions. Like all stereotypes, this one was unfair. On April 30, their tanks entered Saigon. But the memorial might not exist in the form we see today if it weren't for the support of architects who defended the young architect's controversial design. 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. As Scruggs had always envisioned, the Memorial would feature all of the names of those who had died. 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. 1. It seemed unconscionable that heor anyone elseshould be allowed to forget. 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. 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. Maya Lins original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. In August of 1981, VVMF selected a building company and architecture firm to develop the plans and build Lins design. Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They . It was the Senators gut feeling that we needed to do this., This was serious business, Mathias said. Descriptions of the desired qualities for the memorial design included harmonious, contemplative and reflective, and again, conciliatory.2 The booklet concluded with the following passage: Finally, we wish to repeat that the memorial is not to be a political statement, and that its purpose is to honor the service and memory of the wars dead, its missing, and its veteransnot the war itself. The design team and VVMF searched for a way for the names to be sandblasted rather than hand-carved. 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. Before he spoke, however, all eyes had turned toward the kitchen door, from which has emerged his then-wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located in Washington D.C., is a tribute to the soldiers who served in the Vietnam War. The jury evaluation took place over five days, from April 27 through May 1, 1981. Remembering Vietnam: The Story Behind 'The Wall' She greeted each visitor in a regal fashion, wearing a dressing gown, perfect makeup, and beautiful shoes that curled up at the toes. But how and where could all of the submissions be displayed? To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. Shortly after the dedication of the land for the memorial, the VVMF announced an open competition for designs for the memorial itself. Black is not a color of shame. The effects of U.S. involvement, the impact of an individual's participation, political decisions and the politics of decision-making are still felt. Mathias and Warner continually stressed that their objective was to provide the country with a symbol for reconciliation. 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 . Over 1 million wounded, 50,000 plus civilian Larry Century, a young inventor from Cleveland, Ohio,was selected to serve as a consultant to Binswanger Glass Company in Memphis, Tennessee, which was awarded the contract for inscribing the names. 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. This development was shaped by the theories of economic neoliberals on the one hand and by the values of their socially conservative allies on the other. The photo was published worldwide under the title The Ultimate Protest, raising (or in some cases reinforcing) doubts about the government that the democratic United States was supporting. In 1973 a "third" Vietnam war begana continuation, actuallybetween North and South Vietnam but without significant U.S. involvement. 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. Maya Lin, has gone on to become a respected architect and artist, with a studio in New York City. Post-war, the French tried to re-establish control but faced organized opposition from the Viet Minh (short for Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, or League for the Independence of Vietnam), led by Ho Chi Minh and Giap. 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. His political party, the Democrats, had been blamed for China falling to communism; withdrawing from Vietnam could hurt them in the 1964 elections. Scruggs and Doubek began having regular meetings with John P. Wheeler, a graduate of West Point and Harvard Business School. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The act of dark tourism is somewhat controversial, with some viewing it as an act of respect and others as unethical practice. Civilian loss of life was also very heavy, with the lowest estimates around 415,000. The following February a strategic hamlet program began; it forcibly relocated South Vietnamese peasants to fortified strategic hamlets. Sturken, 322. Vietnam Veterans Memorial | Facts, Designer, & Controversy The American Legion, VFW, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), AMVETS, and Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) made sure their members knew that veterans were going to be honored and welcomed that week on the National Mall. They treated the moms the same as they treated the vets. End-to-end, the total number of submissions would have stretched one and one third linear miles. The entire text size and layout Lin saw as an open book. For this reason, in Vietnam today it is known as the American War. Instead, the memorial became a dividing line between factions both real and imagined. Hi, Im Claire. 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 the slogan has proved remarkably effective and points to a deep truth: forever is a very short time in democratic politics, writes Philip Collins. movements and weakening the morale of Americans fighting in Vietnam. Republican Richard Nixon won the presidency in the fall elections. They did not like its minimalist design. Because Warner was from Virginia and Mathias from Maryland, the two had worked together on many regional issues. By now, we are so accustomed to its visual rhetoricthe polished black granite, the lists of names, the horizontal positioningthat to think of these components as anything but standard practice takes an act of real imagination. Scruggs took two weeks off from his job at the Department of Labor to develop the idea further. 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.