One of the many changes the United States underwent during the Vietnam War was through its culture. The Vietnam War caused the most social destruction, pain, and division of any other point in American history. The most popular debate that sprung up during the war was whether the United States should have even been involved in it at all. Over 1,400 personal narratives, 100 short-story collections, 750 novels, and 250 films came about based on the events and effects of the Vietnam War. These numbers alone show how deeply passionate American citizens were about the war. Many of these works are still spoken of today and kept relevant like “Apocalypse Now”, “Catch-22”, and “Full Metal Jacket”. In fact, these movies and books are considered some of the most popular works of art for their time and beyond.
Aside from big movie productions or best-seller novels, the Vietnam War played a huge role in forming ordinary people’s political and social opinions. Whether or not they believed that the USA should be involved in Vietnam at all sparked both positivity and negativity toward government officials who had the authority to make important decisions regarding Vietnam. Some people threw riots and protested the war entirely, while others cheered on their military and supported the U.S. involvement in Vietnamese affairs. For example, in 1969, the musician Jimi Hendrix performed his own rendition of the Star Spangled Banner in which he added components and changed parts of the song entirely as an act of protest against the war. Some people find his actions heroic and inspiring, while others are disgusted by the amount of disrespect they believe Hendrix showed to the country. This performance is still relevant today and can still spark debates over whether his actions were good or bad.
The Vietnam War 