Vietnam After the Vietnam War :: Vietnam War Essays

The new unified Vietnam became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). With the Americans gone, however, Vietnam's military problems were not over. In neighboring Kampuchea (previously named Cambodia), Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge began a reign of terror in hopes of creating a pre-industrial utopia, murdering around 2 million people in so-called "killing fields." In 1978, the SRV invaded Kampuchea to stop the Khmer Rouge, in what became known as "Vietnam's Vietnam." While the invasion put an end to the "killing fields," China became upset by the SRV's extension of influence in the region and began a border war with Vietnam. After decades of war, Vietnam found itself with the world's fourth largest army but one of the poorest economies. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, it began to turn more and more to capitalism and a liberal economy. By 1975, Vietnam was off the Gallup Poll list of top issues in the US. Outside of concern for remaining POWs still in Vietnam, Americans became less and less concerned with events in the country. Nonetheless, the war had lasting impacts. It inspired a public distrust of the US government and made the military less popular, at least in the short term. The draft has not been used since. President Reagan tried to follow the Weinberger Doctrine, "No More Vietnams." In 1982, Yale student Maya Ying Lin's design for the Vietnam War Memorial was built in Washington DC, a permanent monument to the American casualties of the war. Another monument to the Vietnam War is the role it continues to play in American popular culture. Angels from Hell (1968), Satan's Sadists (1969), Chrome and Hot Leather (1971), The Losers (1971), and Taxi Driver (1976) deal with Vietnam veterans' difficulties with life after returning to the US. Tracks (1976), Who'll Stop the Rain (1978), Between Heaven and Earth (1994), and The War (1994) deal also deal with veterans scarred by the war. Other films such as Coming Home (1978), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Born on the Fourth of July(1989) depict veterans' mostly successful struggles to cope with life after the war. Apocalypse Now (1979) made officers villains, but An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Lords of Discipline (1983), Taps(1981), and Private Benjamin (1980) portrayed the military involved in Vietnam more positively. From Rambo (1982) to Platoon (1986) to Full Metal Jacket (1987), movie depictions of the Vietnam experience have varied a great deal.