Vietnam syndrome

Vietnam syndrome (Vietnamese: Hội chứng Việt Nam) is a term which is popular in the United States, describing the massive impact of the American people plus the internal problems among the U.S. leadership regarding the US involvement in the Vietnam War.^[1] The term is shown through aspects about politics, society and economy like: the decreasing truth of citizens, especially young; anti-war movement and draft resisters; fear and losses of US veterans once served in the Vietnam War; the division in the internal United States and distrust in the leadership, especially in foreign affairs. In addition, the Vietnam syndrome also involved in economic stagnation, increasing crimes and collapse of American image in international stage in post-war era.

First mentioned by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in a speech at a veterans' conference in Chicago on 18 August 1980. Since then, the term became a subject of controversies in the conservative side in the US, especially in foreign affairs. Initially used to criticize former US President Jimmy Carter's policy. Some scholars like Ole Holsti and James Rosenau consider the US involvement policy in the Cold War was the reason that worsen the international cooperation towards American global leadership.

The term began from the American society in the 1970s. Public surveying in the era showed that most Americans, from various classes, saw that the US involvement in the Vietnam War "a mistake". In most of the war, the United States deployed around 6,5 million troops. At the highest time, American soldiers who stationed in South Vietnam reached 545 thousand, along with over 1,100 aircrafts and around 60 warships. At the time the war ended, 58,220 Americans died, 330 thousand more wounded and many more were missing. Additionally, the war affected US politics, with two presidents leaving office respectively in this period. Some US generals were killed or injured in the conflict, leading to the anti-war movement to rise even more post-war.

After Ronald Reagan took power, the Vietnam syndrome continued to influence the American foreign policy. An example is the support for the Contras, a faction in Nicaragua, against Sandinista's far-left government (see Iran–Contra affairs). The event re-memorized former involvements, especially Vietnam, and raised public fear of another mistake. Public pressure made the United States Congress passed the Boland Amendment as part of the House Appropriations Bill of 1982 to prevent using federal funding to support the Contras from overthrowing the Nicaraguan government.

But overall, despite the Vietnam syndrome's effects, post-Vietnam era still sees US follows intervention in foreign affairs, making it almost a part of American foreign policy. In that case, policymakers often put limits in scale, time and strategic mission to prevent an another Vietnam. The 1991 Gulf War was considered an effort to restore trust in military capacity and leadership roles of the United States after disastrous era that the Vietnam War left behind.