The Romance of the Dogfight: A Cautionary Tale for Historians

Prospects ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 105-135
Author(s):  
Thomas Cripps
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Living Room ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
World War ◽  
Photographic Images ◽  
American Television ◽  
The Core

By the end of 1991, the United States had not quite completed the restoration of the prestige of its armed forces. The occasion was the triumph of American arms as part of a United Nations exercise intended to restore the territorial integrity of the sheikdom of Kuwait, which had been violated by its truculent neighbor, Iraq. Curiously, photography was at the core of the adventure. For decades, World War II had been endlessly refought on American television screens, a stream of visual nostalgia for “the good war” (as Studs Terkel had named it) made possible by archival photographic images of a quite high order. But the image of victorious Americans against Axis heavies had been sullied by the Vietnam War, “the living room war” that had suffered a terribly bad press at least in part as a result of incessant, bloody, and finally fruitless combat that appeared as daily images on the nation's TV screens.

Who Should Serve: Pre-World War II Planning for Selective Service

1970 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-404
Author(s):  
Albert A. Blum ◽  
J. Douglas Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Service System ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
Selective Service ◽  
Selective Service System ◽  
The World

ONE of the more perplexing problems facing the United States in the twentieth century has been that of selecting fairly which citizens shall serve in the armed forces. Today controversy surrounds the application of the Selective Service System to them raising of troops for the Vietnam War. Thus far, however, the hostilities in Vietnam have not posed one difficulty for the Selective Service System that existed during World War II, namely, the necessity of granting substantial numbers of industrial and occupational deferments, except insofar as educational deferments are a form of industrial ones. Such deferments have grown more important during the world wars of the twentieth century as nations engaged in full-scale hostilities have been forced to rely heavily on them in order to maintain the industrial and economic strength of the nation.

scholarly journals United States involvement in Vietnam from 1950 to 1959

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 74-81
Author(s):  
Phuong Vu Thu Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
World War ◽  
Direct Involvement ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Vietnam War

The end of World War II led to fundamental changes in the international situation, posing problems for the victor nations which had to abandon the colonial system outdated and inconsistent with objectives. However, giving up interests in the colonies seemed hardly possible for the capitalist powers. France plotted to return to Vietnam to restore colonial rule. The USA went from having no interest in the return of France to backing France, and finally exerting deep intervention and direct involvement in the Vietnam War. This paper gives an outline of the United States involvement in Vietnam from 1950 to 1959.

Generations of Veterans: Socioeconomic Attainment from World War II to the Contemporary Era

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Alair MacLean ◽  
Meredith Kleykamp
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Military Service ◽  
The United States ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
World War ◽  
Socioeconomic Attainment ◽  
Veteran Status ◽  
The Life Course

Abstract Scholars have long examined how generations or, more technically, cohorts produce social change. According to theory, people’s lives are shaped by the years in which they were born because they experience, along with their peers, particular historical events at the same points in the life course. Despite the importance of history, however, many scholars have evaluated cohorts not defined by clear start and end dates, but rather by arbitrary cut points, such as five-year intervals. In contrast, this article uses defined changes in military service in the United States stemming from shifts between war and peace, and from draft to volunteer service to assess how cohorts have contributed to change in socioeconomic attainment. It uses the Current Population Survey from 1971 to 2017, which has not previously been used to evaluate how veteran status may have produced shifting outcomes across cohorts. It finds evidence that cohorts had different average income overall and between groups, with veterans earning more money than nonveterans who were eligible to serve during the draft era before the Vietnam War. These gaps are partially explained by racial and educational differences. The findings provide a model for analyses of changes in the relative status of other groups, as well as information about how the role of military service in social mobility changed historically.

scholarly journals Military Optometry from World War I to the Present

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-8
Author(s):  
W. Howard McAlister ◽  
Jeffrey L. Weaver ◽  
Jerry D. Davis ◽  
Jeffrey A. Newsom
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Military ◽  
World War ◽  
Eye Health ◽  
The Military ◽  
Good Vision

Optometry has made significant contributions to the United States military for over a century. Assuring good vision and eye health of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines is critical to maximizing the military functions necessary to achieve victory. There was little organization or recognition of the profession in World War I, but optometrists were essential in achieving the mission. Recognition of the profession of optometry was still limited in World War II but it was improving, especially with commissioning as officers occurring in the Navy. Through the Korean and Vietnam Wars, optometry grew in stature and strength with all services eventually commissioning all optometrists, and Army optometrists were assigned to combat divisions. Continuing through the more recent conflicts in the middle east, the profession has continued to make an impact and has become an essential part of the armed forces of the United States. Doctors of optometry are now an integral part of the Department of Defense. The nation cannot field an effective fighting force today without the dedicated performance of these officers.

Epilogue

The Sit Room ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 279-284
Author(s):  
David Scheffer
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Colombian Government ◽  
Syrian Conflict

A result from which “all ugliness will flow again.” WARREN CHRISTOPHER THE BOSNIAN WAR took three years of intensive diplomacy to end, while combat and atrocities were unremitting. The talking phase of armed conflicts has veered wildly from days to decades in recent history, and often failed completely when one side fought to achieve outright military victory. There were no negotiations to end World War II; only total defeat of the Axis Powers sufficed. The Korean War ended in a stalemate absent any substantive talks, and the United States and North Korea remained, technically, at war, for decades thereafter. Negotiations to end the Vietnam War began in 1968 and continued into the next decade only to be eclipsed by the total victory of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces in 1975. The catastrophic Syrian conflict began in 2011 and continued unabated despite years of U.N.-sponsored talks in Geneva. The Colombian government and the indigenous guerilla group, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC), finally ended their civil war in 2016 with a peace agreement after 26 years of on-again, off-again negotiations....

From the League of Nations to Vietnam

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udi Greenberg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Vietnam War ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
World War ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Moment

This chapter focuses on theories of Hans J. Morgenthau, a German émigré specialist on foreign relations. In the years immediately after World War II, Morgenthau emerged as the highest intellectual authority on international relations in the United States. His theory, which became known as “realism,” explained why the United States had no choice but to oppose the Soviet Union and China and prevent them from expanding their power in Europe and East Asia. However, Morgenthau also opposed U.S. intervention in the Vietnam War. This dual position marked both the high point of the German–American symbiosis and the moment of its crisis.

Strategic Air Power

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Gerald Hughes
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
Air Power ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
Aerial Platforms ◽  
Terror Bombing

Strategic air power is one of the means by which a military strategy employs aerial platforms to bypass the battlefield to achieve decisive political results in conflict. Most obviously, this has involved the coercion of an enemy nation-state by seeking to destroy its economic ability to wage war (as opposed to eliminating its armed forces). In Clauzwitzian terms, this represents a fundamental shift in identifying the enemy’s “center of gravity.” Debates over whether air power can achieve strategic goals date from the very first applications of it. The use of strategic air power requires systematic organization (e.g., RAF Bomber Command; the US Strategic Air Command) and, in addition to the use of strategic bomber aircraft, can be used in conjunction with missiles or tactical aircraft against targets selected to diminish the war-making capacity of the enemy. One of the aims for using strategic air power is enemy demoralization—that is, the racking up of punishment to the extent that the will of the enemy to resist is broken. The theory of strategic heavy bombing began to be developed during the aftermath of World War I. By the time of World War II, opponents of strategic air power made frequent reference to “terror bombing” as shorthand for its use. Of course, this term is dismissed by proponents of the use of strategic air power for the manner in which it delineates between other aspects of war (often equally unpleasant) and the targeting of civilians/war-making capacity. The use of strategic air power has been limited since World War II for a number of reasons. Not least among these is the relative scarcity of major wars as well as the inability of the vast majority of modern nation-states to devote sufficient resources to seek any decision in conflict via strategic air power. The United States is a notable exception here and it employed strategic air power in Vietnam in 1972, against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, and in Kosovo in 1999.

Of Mice and Schoolchildren: A Conceptual History of Herd Immunity

2021 ◽  
pp. e1-e8
Author(s):  
David Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Disease Ecology ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
The Core ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Infectious Disease

This article explores a tension at the core of the concept of herd immunity that has been overlooked in public and scientific discussions‒namely: how can immunity, a phenomenon of individual biological defenses, be made relevant to populations? How can collectives be considered “immune”? Over the course of more than a century of use of the term, scientists have developed many different understandings of the concept in response to this inherent tension. Originating among veterinary scientists in the United States in the late 19th century, the concept was adopted by British scientists researching human infectious disease by the early 1920s. It soon became a staple concept for epidemiologists interested in disease ecology, helping to articulate the population dynamics of diseases such as diphtheria and influenza. Finally, though more traditional understandings of the concept remained in scientific use, in the era after World War II, it increasingly came to signal the objective and outcome of mass vaccination. Recognizing the complexity of scientific efforts to resolve the paradox of herd immunity may help us consider the best distribution of immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).(Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print June 10, 2021: e1–e8. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306264 )

Securing Asia for Asians

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simeon Man
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
World War ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

This chapter describes the U.S. buildup of the armed forces of allied nations in East Asia immediately following World War II, focusing in particular on South Korea. The United States justified militarization in the name of teaching Asians how to defend their newly acquired freedom from communism, and, more broadly, of building an Asia for Asians. The chapter argues that this effort carried unintended consequences, as the attempt to incorporate “free Asians” into the U.S. military empire simultaneously heightened the specter of subversive Asians within the military and in the United States in the 1950s.

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