Are any of you old enough to remember the Vietnam War era? I was born in 1980, so I’ve only studied it and watched movies.
Vietnam War
- Thread starter Dr. Huk-N-Duck
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yep
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Yes, I am! You're young enough to be my son. I finished high school in 1980. I was in 8th grade when the war ended. I had wanted for years to go over and "kill some gooks" to "even the score" for some of my friends and relatives who had lost their husbands, brothers, and fathers. We really didn't belong in Viet Nam, but, we were there nonetheless. Apparently we didn't truly want to win. Seems America had lost it's taste for victory in favor of appeasement.
I’m specifically interested in knowing how Christianity responded to the war in that era. From what I can gather from studying history, most conservatives supported the war, while most liberal-leaning folks were anti war. It would be really interesting to know how, specifically, the IFB churches responded, but I believe that would be difficult research because it seems IFB didn’t really have its mainstream push until the late 70s/80s.
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From the booklet "War in Vietnam" by John R. Rice, published in 1966 by Sword of the Lord Publishers, Murfreesboro, Tennessee, pp. 15-16:
"Good Christians should obey the government when young men are drafted for the war in Vietnam or protection of American homeland. . . .I believe that the enslavement of millions of people by communism is indescribably wicked. Any good Christian ought to have a holy indignation over it. I think that America sinned through our government in holding back General MacArthur and preventing outright victory in the Korean War. I believe our government sinned against God in holding back and letting Russian troops occupy Berlin and divide Germany. I believe that before that, the American government greatly sinned in being soft on communism, and turning the mainland of China principally over to the Communists and thus betraying our friend, Chiang Kai-Shek. I have no doubt that if there is ever a holy and righteous cause for war, it is to prevent godless communism with its murder and torture and persecution from taking over other lands which ask our help. But these things are settled by the government and good Christians obey the laws of the land, because the Bible commands us to do so."
I am not necessarily endorsing Rice's views on Korea, Berlin or China, but I present these remarks as evidence of what was probably the prevailing view among IFBs in the 60s with regard to the Vietnam War and on Communism in general.
"Good Christians should obey the government when young men are drafted for the war in Vietnam or protection of American homeland. . . .I believe that the enslavement of millions of people by communism is indescribably wicked. Any good Christian ought to have a holy indignation over it. I think that America sinned through our government in holding back General MacArthur and preventing outright victory in the Korean War. I believe our government sinned against God in holding back and letting Russian troops occupy Berlin and divide Germany. I believe that before that, the American government greatly sinned in being soft on communism, and turning the mainland of China principally over to the Communists and thus betraying our friend, Chiang Kai-Shek. I have no doubt that if there is ever a holy and righteous cause for war, it is to prevent godless communism with its murder and torture and persecution from taking over other lands which ask our help. But these things are settled by the government and good Christians obey the laws of the land, because the Bible commands us to do so."
I am not necessarily endorsing Rice's views on Korea, Berlin or China, but I present these remarks as evidence of what was probably the prevailing view among IFBs in the 60s with regard to the Vietnam War and on Communism in general.
Thank you for that information. That’s about how I figured it was viewed, but it’s difficult to find people who were in the conservative Baptist churches back then, and were old enough to remember.
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I was about three or four when it ended, so I have no recollection of it. My earliest awareness of current events at the international level was the Iran hostage crisis.
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John Kerry was another loser. Nobody in my family cared for Fonda, either.
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It was indeed the prevailing view amongst the IFB churches I was involved in growing up. We were "taught" (more like brainwashed) into accepting this viewpoint. Looking back, I truly believe I probably would have been among the protestors of the war, though I'd probably still hold a conservative view of most things. Dying for our own country is one thing, but to die for a country that didn't want to fight and win a war and gave in so easily, I couldn't have cared less.
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my dad remembers it very well.... born in 59 he was too young to be a part of it... but he had several older friends and cousins who fought in vietnam.. .... one of them is buried not far from here at punchbowl cemetery.... .there is another one buried there who was a navy medic he trained and was killed in iraq.... we go there every veterans day and memorial day to visit and pay respects....
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My wife had two uncles who fought in Nam. One recently passed away, and he was a very staunch believer
that the United States should have been involved. But, he also believed that the armed forces needed to have more support when they were there so that we wouldn't have lost the war. He was angry at our government for not doing more to support the troops and to garner support for those who were serving.
My dad missed being draft age by only about two years. My uncle went in the Navy to avoid being drafted, but he was in a submarine during the last remnants of the war, so he didn’t have the typical Vietnam military experience of others.
I'm barely old enough to remember Walter Cronkite reporting on the war. I remember there was a war going on "over there" somewhere. I heard names like Vietnam and Cambodia. I certainly didn't want to be part of it... as I got older, I began to understand what a debacle it all was. No one could answer for me why we were there until a man who was a Vietnam vet and was discipling me after I joined the Navy. He explained it succinctly: we were there fighting communist takeover of the country. I came to realize that we were there without much of a plan. There was no concerted effort on our part tho stop the Marxists. As was said in another post on this thread, we were more interested in appeasement than defeating the communists. I can agree with the notion of it being better to fight communism on foreign soil than in our backyard.
As for being a good Christian citizen and going along with the draft, I believe our nation was guilty of wasting lives by sending troops into harm's way with no actual plan to win this war. I believe it would have been proper for believers to oppose our methods over there. If I were to go to war, I would hope that my government had a definitive plan for victory instead of throwing away lives for a vague objective. IWO, if you're going to fight, fight to win. If you are unable or unwilling, don't go.
As for being a good Christian citizen and going along with the draft, I believe our nation was guilty of wasting lives by sending troops into harm's way with no actual plan to win this war. I believe it would have been proper for believers to oppose our methods over there. If I were to go to war, I would hope that my government had a definitive plan for victory instead of throwing away lives for a vague objective. IWO, if you're going to fight, fight to win. If you are unable or unwilling, don't go.
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Unfortunately we lost that war to keep communism off our shores. It just got snuck in through a back door (Hollywood, colleges and now K-12 public schools…and I hate to say, the ideology is even being trickled in through some churches).
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I will listen to it. I listened to the first few minutes on YouTube and he was saying that public schools when he was young were like a Pentecostal revival compared to today…but I’m imagining he preached this sermon thirty or forty years ago??? Imagine what he’d say today!
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this is where we will be tomorrow... to observe veterans day... i;ve been coming here with my adopted dad ever since i became a part of the family.... memorial day too...... the first american casualties of world 2 at pearl harbor are buried here... as well as americans who died in every war since then... including many who died in vietnam.....
if you ever saw the intro of the old original hawaii 5-0 you might recongize that statue above the memorial.... the words beneath it were in a letter written by abraham lincoln to a mother who lost all her sons in combat during the civil war....
there are several specific graves we visit here each year... . people my dad knew or are related to... ...regardless of politics or personal beliefs about any specific war... it all comes home to you in a very real way when you stand at one of the graves here... and read the name .. dates... and the words inscribed..... ...
if you ever saw the intro of the old original hawaii 5-0 you might recongize that statue above the memorial.... the words beneath it were in a letter written by abraham lincoln to a mother who lost all her sons in combat during the civil war....
there are several specific graves we visit here each year... . people my dad knew or are related to... ...regardless of politics or personal beliefs about any specific war... it all comes home to you in a very real way when you stand at one of the graves here... and read the name .. dates... and the words inscribed..... ...
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My biological father is a Marine veteran. My wife's cousin, two late uncles, one of our nephews, and two of our nieces are veterans. Our families have a history of service to this country. I'm proud of all of them. Also, I have a brother who served in both the Navy and the Army. It's a shame that he's living a life of a criminal now. I've not spoken to him in over 20 years, but do keep tabs on him through law enforcement and friends in the Orlando area.
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my dad told me his cousin who was killed in vietnam was part of the brown water navy....(rivers and backwater patrols)... and was in the mekong delta area when he died.. .... he had another cousin who was given a choice of vietnam or prison after a conviction on marijuana possession.... ..... he actually joined the marine corps and survived the war.... but ended up getting into more drugs while he was over there than he ever thought about at home...... .he ended up living the life of a criminal too.... ..the vietnam war took what was bad about him and made him worse.... ... ..... ... after vietnam the laws were changed and judges can no longer give a person the choice between jail or the military..... .