Economic And Human Costs Of The War For The USA

Question 1

What two ways did Vietnam War have a significant cost for the USA?

Answer 1

Financially and in terms of human lives

Question 2

What was the financial cost of the war?

Answer 2

. Amount spent on it
. The fact that the money could not be spent on solving domestic issues such as improving lives of poorblack Americans in inner-city ghettos

Question 3

What was ‘the Great Society’?

Answer 3

Johnson’s plans for new benefits and projects to improve the lives of the poorest Americans

Question 4

Why did ‘The Great Society’ lose out on funding?

Answer 4

Johnson’s administration used the money to pay for the war

Question 5

How did the war have a negative impact on the way Americans viewed themselves?

Answer 5

They had lost a war to a less industrialised and wealthy country and felt ashamed of their actions during the war

Question 6

What did the war contribute to in terms of people?

Answer 6

The growing lack of trust between Americans and their government, military and police

Question 7

How much did the war cost?

Answer 7

$167 billion

Question 8

How many deaths in Vietnam war?

Answer 8

58,220

Question 9

How many Vietnam survivors got severe psychological problems?

Answer 9

850,000

Question 10

How msny US Vietnam fighters wounded?

Answer 10

, 75,00 of them severely disabled

Question 11

How did the extreme reactions to the war sharply divide US society?

Answer 11

Not only were Americans less trusting of their government, but they were also less trusting of each other

Question 12

How did the war have a significant impact on returning soldiers?

Answer 12

Many of those who fought in Vietnam remember the welcome for returning soldiers in 1945 for WW2, but many of those returning from Vietnam had a very different reception

Question 13

How were retunring soldiers treated?

Answer 13

Many returned when opposition to war was high and the soldiers faced: hostility, beaten up, spat on, accused of killing innocent people and were discriminated against when looking fot work

Question 14

Why was it a problem that very few soldiers were given free counselling?

Answer 14

It was a time where there was little understanding, or acceptance, of post-traumatic shock in the military or the government

Question 15

What was the suicide rate of veterans compared to normal men?

Answer 15

Was twice that of men of a similar age who hadn’t fought in the war

Question 16

What are numbers of veteran suicides?

Answer 16

Impossible to find exact number but estimated from thousands to hundreds of thousands

Question 17

What did the Vietnam have a significant impact on US government’s relationship with?

Answer 17

Its own people and also the world

Question 18

Why did the US government feel it had lost face abroad?

Answer 18

US had entered the war to keep Vietnam free from communism, but by the end of 1975, all of Vietnam was communist

Question 19

What did the gradual cooling off of the Cold war lead many politicians to believe?

Answer 19

That the USA should be more cautious in getting involved in conflicts in other countries

Question 20

How did views abroad of USA change from 1954 to 1975?

Answer 20

1954: viewed as a respected country due to government, wealth and unity of people
1975: anything but united. Government actions over civil rights and the vietnam war made the government less respected