You may have been tear-choked as you touched or watched others touch "the Wall" at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the most visited war memorial in our nation's capital. . Lacking sufficient services to assist their recovery, some of these unassimilated veterans turned to alcohol and other drugs, their addictions only sending them further to the margins of society. To treat the Vietnam dead like the victims of some monstrous traffic accident is more than a disservice to history; it is a disservice to the memory of the 57,000.5. Major Michael Davis O'Donnell 1 January 1970 Dak To, Vietnam Listed as KIA February 7, 1978. Free of overt historical reference to either the Egyptian or Greco-Roman traditions of monument design—the main visual touchstones for American memorial-building—Lin’s design broke with these traditions through its use of black granite, polished to a reflective smoothness (instead of white limestone or marble); its horizontal orientation, submerged into the earth instead of rising vertically; and its lack of any figurative ornamentation or any embellishment at all, save for the chronological listing of names of soldiers killed in the course of the war, etched into the granite’s mirror-like surface. On the other side were the veterans and their self-appointed spokesmen, politicians such as Webb and James Watt (Secretary of the Interior under Ronald Reagan), and social conservatives such as Pat Buchanan. But can America truly mean that we should feel honored by that black pit?6. In response to the designs submitted to these various competitions (generated by famed architects, artists, and members of the general public alike), conflicting interpretations once again revolved around notions of elitism versus populism——harkening back to the language of the controversy over Lin’s memorial.14 In a 2002 debate with architect Daniel Libeskind on the matter, New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier commented, “There is something a little grotesque in the interpretation of Ground Zero as a lucky break for art. The memorial is a two acre national memorial unveiled in 1982, located in Washington, D.C., containing the names of more than 58,000 American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War. Some observers attributed this factor to Maya Lin’s presence on the jurying panel, which also included victims’ families, political appointees, curators, and other artists.17 It was even announced at one point that Walker’s and Arad’s design resembled a sketch that Lin had made for the sort of memorial that might be placed at the site.18 Like Lin’s design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Reflecting Absence was criticized for failing to incorporate any representations of human figures, its minimal design interpreted as “a rejection of codes of heroism.”19 In a practical reenactment of the negotiation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the addition of a representational statue of three firefighters hoisting a flag at Ground Zero was proposed. Like the Vietnam War, Americans gradually began to see the other side of the coin and it is now one of America’s most revered art pieces. Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Founder: Monument Almost Never Got Built Jan Scruggs commemorates the 40th anniversary of the end to the Vietnam War with a walk along the memorial he pioneered building. In July 1980, Congress passed a bill authorizing three acres on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to serve as the memorial site. Not only was Hart’s statue included at the memorial site, but a flagpole was added as well. All answers to reader questions are provided for informational purposes only. On one side were the proponents of Lin’s memorials, defined in the media and the public imagination as Wolfe’s elitist “art mullahs,” “draft dodgers,” the “future New Leftists,” and, of course, followers of Jane Fonda (infamously dubbed “Hanoi Jane” after a trip to North Vietnam, during which she made statements condemning the U.S. military). The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has changed how we think of war and the way we grieve in public. Jun 16, 2014. It's remarkably simple, really. Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. By endowing memorials with the ability to accomplish these tasks, we bestow them with an extraordinary amount of power and authority. Despite the stated wishes of the VVMF, Lin’s design proved instantaneously divisive. At the time of the memorial’s design, many veterans who had been exposed to Agent Orange, a chemical weapon used by the U.S. military as an herbicide and defoliant, still suffered ongoing health problems. Yet, this seemingly god-given shrine wears political feet of clay, and behind it lies a fierce controversy that re-opened the wounds of the war the memorial was designed to heal. A War Behind the Wall: Controversies Surrounding the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Positioned in the shadows of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, and with nearly three million visitors each year, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the most popular sites in Washington, DC. However, the years that saw the memorial’s proposal, design, and construction—1980 to 1982—coincided with a momentous shift in the topography of American political culture: the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and the ensuing negotiation of a new federal agenda. 3. The debate over Minimalism, applied to Lin’s design, provided new terms through which to resurrect America’s internal debate over the validity of the Vietnam War. By now, we are so accustomed to its visual rhetoric—the polished black granite, the lists of names, the horizontal positioning—that to think of these components as anything but standard practice takes an act of real imagination. Following a march by thousands of veterans through the streets of Washington, D.C., to the National Mall site, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982. For years, American society as a whole, regardless of political affiliation, had studiously ignored Vietnam veterans, their presence a painful reminder of the war’s moral ambiguity. https://albertis-window.blogspot.com/2009/05/vietnam-war-memorial.html . Vietnam Veterans Memorial. One needs no artistic education to see this design for what it is, a black trench that scars the Mall. Maya Lin Vietnam Memorial is one of the beautiful places that consist and is made up of black granite wall carved, in this place you can found the carved names of 58,272 Americans who died because of the tragic escapade that happened in Southeast Asia. Readers are advised to consult a health professional about any issue regarding their health and well-being. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall USA website is dedicated to honoring those who died in the Vietnam War. They gained support from various members of government, and U.S. Mathias, Jr. managed to gain support to authorize the fund three acres in the Constitution Gardens, Washington D.C. 16. But the memorial might not exist in the form we see today if it weren't for the support of architects who defended the young architect's controversial design. Though its location on federally owned property and its maintenance by the National Park Service might imply otherwise, the impetus to create the Vietnam Veterans Memorial came entirely from the private sector and from one man in particular: Jan Scruggs, a Vietnam veteran who had been wounded in the line of duty. A tabula rasa upon which individuals could project their individual, personal experiences of the war was what the VVMF desired and, as historian Marita Sturken and others have observed, a tabula rasa was what they got. more. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind. Sturken, 321. Besides being a place of deep, profound reflection, it is quite beautiful in its personalization of listing the names of all who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice. The controversy surrounding the memorial instantly vanished from the pages of the press, replaced by celebrations of its interactivity, tranquility, and emotive power. Photostory examining the Vietnam Memorial Wall, the controversy surrounding it, and what it means to those who visit it ... Watch President Obama's Speech at the Vietnam War Memorial - … Share on Facebook. The memorial has become such a part of the national culture over these three decades that it is difficult to remember how controversial it once was. Ibid. Maya Lin was practically a kid when her design was selected to become the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Emphasis on Veterans. Karal Ann Marling and Robert Silberman, “The Statue Near the Wall: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Art of Remembering,” Smithsonian Studies in American Art 1, no. The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue concerns the fate of United States servicemen who were reported as missing in action (MIA) during the Vietnam War and associated theaters of operation in Southeast Asia.The term also refers to issues related to the treatment of affected family members by the governments involved in these conflicts. In the late 1970s a lone, virtually penniless, politically unconnected Vietnam veteran -- Jan Scruggs -- started on a mission to construct a national monument to a war that many Americans wanted to forget. 1980s In 1979, Congress grants a Vietnam War veterans' committee the right to build a memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C., dedicated to American soldiers killed in the conflict in Vietnam. Sturken, 320. Although she designed an apolitical monument, the politics of the Vietnam War could not be avoided. American Artist discusses science fiction in the context of contemporary art and the concept of “Colored Time.”. the controversy . Black walls, the universal color of shame and sorrow and degradation. Yet soon after it was unveiled, employees of the U.S. National Park Service, which administers the National Mall, noticed that visitors had begun leaving an extraordinary variety of objects there. Peter Walker and Michael Arad. Despite the fact that beyond certain superficial qualities, Lin’s memorial shared little in common with the work of classic Minimalist artists such as Richard Serra or Donald Judd, critics nonetheless conflated it with Serra’s equally controversial Tilted Arc, labeling it another example of an inscrutable Minimalist public artwork erected at taxpayers’ expense. It set the tone for the ensuing cultural debates pitting “the people” against “the elites,” as found in Tom Wolfe’s criticism of Lin’s memorial design. The National Review commented, “The mode of listing the names makes them individual deaths, not deaths in a cause; they might as well have been traffic accidents.” Similarly, the New Republic opined: It is an unfortunate choice of memorial. Marita Sturken, “The Aesthetics of Absence: Rebuilding Ground Zero,” American Ethnologist 31, no. Read More. Each juror was required to read Fields of Fire, A Rumor of War, and other current literature about the Vietnam War. • Identify possible reasons for controversy surrounding the Vietnam War by constructing reasonable hypotheses (B.12.1, B.12.15). . The controversy surrounding the memorial instantly vanished from the pages of the press, replaced by celebrations of its interactivity, tranquility, and emotive power. Following a march by thousands of veterans through the streets of Washington, D.C., to the National Mall site, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 13, 1982. Heralding the end of one era and the commencement of a new one, Reagan famously proclaimed, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” further adding that: From time to time, we have been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Constructed in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, generally referred to as the “Wall,” consists of two black granite wings, each almost 250 feet long, which meet at an obtuse angle that is submerged into the landscape of the National Mall, a green space between the Lincoln and Washington Memorials and some distance behind White House, in Washington, D.C. It was a war fought between the communist Viet Cong from North Vietnam, and the democratic South Vietnamese, who the United States was trying to protect from expanding communist threat. It also offered a way to exorcise lingering bitterness and anxieties that the war had propagated. Vietnam War Memorial Controversy / Perot #341560. While not as controversial as the Vietnam War, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Mall honors the 58,000 soldiers who were killed in the war and has its own history of controversy. Like the war itself, this memorialization was highly controversial, but the site has become the most frequently visited memorial in Washington, D.C., drawing over 4 million visitors annually. Maya Lin Vietnam Memorial is one of the beautiful places that consist and is made up of black granite wall carved, in this place you can found the carved names of 58,272 Americans who died because of the tragic … Photostory examining the Vietnam Memorial Wall, the controversy surrounding it, and what it means to those who visit it. The earliest of these battles was the controversy over Lin’s design. But the fact that the language deployed to critique Arad’s and Walker’s design so closely echoed the criticism launched against Lin in the early 1980s signifies that the debates of that era remain unresolved. For the millions of people who visit each year, Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall sends a chilling message about war, heroism, and sacrifice. As time progressed it caused more and more controversy in the United States. Shortly after the dedication of the land for the memorial, the VVMF announced an open competition for designs for the memorial itself. Like the war itself, the monument proved controversial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a tribute to the dead of the United States' longest, most unpopular, and least successful war. The Wall USA is a non-profit endeavor maintained by … Why reinforce the bourgeoisie’s pathetic illusions? Many veterans, politicians, critics, and the general public read its refusal to explicitly glorify the war or frame the listed soldiers’ sacrifice in recognizably heroic terms as an ideological statement, proof of Lin’s—and the memorial’s—purported anti-war position. . A stated goal of the memorial fund was to avoid commentary on the war itself, serving solely as a memorial to those who served. Far from being a fait accompli, amassing the public will to support this new agenda took real work. The social and political divisions caused by the war changed America as a nation and especially changed those who fought in it. The shift, however, d… At the same time, many Americans were starting to question whether in fact all POWs had been released. It distributed an instructional booklet communicating its vision to all who registered for the competition. The opinions expressed in Newsmaxhealth.com and Newsmax.com do not necessarily reflect those of Newsmax Media. Once there was no more room for conflict—the memorial’s form, upon dedication, was no longer negotiable—the front in this culture war moved elsewhere. “We do not seek to make any statement about the correctness of the war,” Scruggs said. Social critics and commentators quickly picked up and elaborated on Carhart’s characterization of the memorial. 10. Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/vietnam/r3/october/, http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/vietnam/r4/1982/, http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3407, Extending Beyond Craftsmanship, into Inquiry and Exploration, Horror, Contemporary Art, and Film: In Conversation with Dan Herschlein and Chad Laird. Over 300,000 were wounded. Perhaps Lin’s centrality—twenty years after the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial—to the debate over Arad’s and Walker’s design was inevitable, given her presence on the design competition’s selection committee as well as her legacy as the definitive memorial builder of the late twentieth century. As Michael Clark points out in the essay, “Remembering Vietnam,” by the late 1960s, Hollywood and the mass media seized on this aspect of the veteran experience, creating variations of a fictionalized veteran “who threatened at every moment to bring the war home with him in the form of flashbacks that turned firecrackers into artillery and passersby into the enemy.”10 In Clark’s analysis, these depictions of veterans served, for nonmilitary American citizens, as a way to “launder the violence of the war by relegating it to some ‘other’ place: Southeast Asia, and the [veteran’s] psychotic unconscious.”11 Such representations enabled film viewers to reframe their experiences of the contemporaneous violence occurring at home, on American soil. Today, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a landmark feature of the nation’s capital and a must-see spot for those wishing to honor the fallen soldiers from a contentious 20th-century war. 12. Maya Lin’s original competition submission for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. For example, veteran Tom Carhart famously commented: I don’t care about artistic perceptions, I don’t care about the rationalizations that abound. In and of itself, the Vietnam War was controversial and remains a hotly debated topic even today as some argue the United States’ undefeated record remains intact while others believe the country lost when it removed its troops from the Asian nation. 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