Worst moment in US history?

[TheRisingSun]

what do you think is the worst moment in the history of the USA?

War at vietnam. Should have never happend.

 

[Induhvidual_1]

Bay of Pigs, what an embarrasment

 

[Static]

I think it was a long stretch of events.

Freeing of Black>It was good and logical at the time
Martin Lurther King Jr.> a Very respectable man with interesting ideas
Within the next years up until now> Crime increases and more drugs get sold.

If it is a single day type thing Pearl harbor.

 

[Naga]

Originally posted by Induhvidual_1
Bay of Pigs, what an embarrasment

I terribly agree.

 

[SpiritSkater]

When seattle seahawks lost to the ravens a couple weeks back......

 

[Tempest Storm]

Heh, too many to count. But I would have to say the race riots in Oklahoma are right up there. Death toll wasn't high, but the message it sent was more potent than any single human right violation in Nam.

 

[Steven22]

Well the Vietnam war as a whole was probably worse Spike. Events that took place on US soil also count. Lets see, terrible politics (Nixon, comes to mind), race relations was still an uncomfortable subject, riots (if I'm not mistaken the Chicago Democratic convention [is this correct?] was one of the worst riots we've seen), and to top it all, the war was raging across the Pacific ocean were rape and pillage was taking place madly.
I have to agree that the timeline throught the Vietnam war was the worst.
Now, a single moment. Thats tough. Pearl Harbor maybe.

 

[BluddLuSt4Life]

single moment, I cant remember what the name of the battle was, think it was Anteitam, during the civil war, 26,000 americans died in a single afternoon

 

[munchyman]

Well, at least those americans (north and south) were dying for causes they truly belived in. Vietnam was a waste. 3/4 of the soldiers didnt even want to be there....not that the civil war was a good thing.

 

[Khull]

Vietnam by far. No buisness there, no point, no motive, nothing.
The worst part of it was did we even win? That right there is highly debateable, yet a diffrent topic completly.

 

[BluddLuSt4Life]

Vietnam was not a "waste". It was a nessecary action to prevent the further spread of communism throughout southeast asia. A message had to be sent to the communist regimes in the area that we wouldnt tolerate their agressive actions, and would go to war to stop them. If we had not intervened in Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand, Myanmar and possibly Indonesia, may all have fallen to communism. Instead we held the line for 10 years, giving them time to train and equip themselves to resist the communists

 

[Steven22]

Originally posted by BluddLuSt4Life
Instead we held the line for 10 years, giving them time to train and equip themselves to resist the communists

Lol, The Viet Cong overran South Vietnam 2 years after we pulled out.

Fighting between South Vietnamese and Communists continued despite the peace agreement until North Vietnam launched an offensive in early 1975. South Vietnam's requests for aid were denied by the U.S. Congress, and after Thieu abandoned the northern half of the country to the advancing Communists, a panic ensued. South Vietnamese resistance collapsed, and North Vietnamese troops marched into Saigon Apr. 30, 1975. Vietnam was formally reunified in July, 1976, and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

http://www.historychannel.com/perl/print_book.pl?ID=119120

So much for preventing further spread of communism. Opps!

 

[BluddLuSt4Life]

Yes..... but because of our sacrifice only one other neighboring country fell to communism, well actually 2, laos and cambodia. The big ones we were worried about, were Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia. Also, to a lesser extent Taiwan. None are communist today.


ps. The viet-cong, basically ceased to exist as a fighting force after the Tet offensive. Mainly because the communists in the north, never fully trusted them. What overran the south was actually the North Vietnamese Army

 

[Steven22]

Originally posted by BluddLuSt4Life
Yes..... but because of our sacrifice only one other neighboring country fell to communism, well actually 2, laos and cambodia. The big ones we were worried about, were Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia. Also, to a lesser extent Taiwan. None are communist today.

"The big ones we were worried about?" Where did you get these facts? Link please. Or was it some random statement you just mentioned?
Also we didn't prevent South Korea being overrun by communism during the Vietnam War. The Korean war seemed to be the answer to that.

ps. The viet-cong, basically ceased to exist as a fighting force after the Tet offensive. Mainly because the communists in the north, never fully trusted them. What overran the south was actually the North Vietnamese Army

The Viet Cong existed way after the Tet offensive, but yes you are right the North Vietnamese Army WAS the one that invaded South Vietnam. It doesn't change the fact, though, that they were communist and/or that South Vietnam was invaded by a communist state.

 

[BluddLuSt4Life]

Well, I thought it was common knowledge that the U.S. was worried about the spread of communism in southeast asia in the 1950's and 60's. I simply mentioned a few major countries in the region, that could have been effected later in the decade, if we had abandoned our fight in Vietnam earlier than we did.

 

[Static]

you know attilla the hun fought the romans and fought a battle which was about less the 6 hours and killed over 100,000 men... it was in medieval times so its not like there were uzi's... I find that simply amazing and terrifing at the same time.

 

[blink_penguin]

BluddLuSt4Life - you believe the domino theory?
It's only one of the stupidest theories military analysts have ever come up with to justify war where convenient. The fellow they propped up in vietnam was corrupt and embezzeled the country. I think the korean war was probably pretty bad, seing as how it was never resolved and America *STILL* has troops there, but I know little about it and it doesn't get much publicity.

Anyhoo, the worst moment in american history was when you elected George Bush junior as current president... as opposed to the funniest moment in American history when Arnie was elected governor of california

 

[c9h13no3]

The invention of the internet, and thus, the forum, is climbing the charts.

 

[bamthedoc]

Vietnam Factoids:
The French Army requested our aid.
We got them out.
After the initial relief, dumb-bell JFK got the idea to use Presidencial Priviledge to keep them in for 90 days.
After 90 days, Congress and Senate agreed that too many had died to pull troops out.

Those are the build up facts. Now here are facts of once we were in and there was nothing we could really do about it. FYI: War was never declared.

Stupid Politicians ran the war. They sat in their comphy chairs barking orders across telegraph lines and phone lines and radio lines telling generals to take unimportant positions. Next day, after many lives were lost taking and keeping that position, they were told to retreat.

Bay of Pigs "failed" for the same reasons. Politics in battle = no win situation. If the Politicians hadn't been doing what they were doing, and let the Generals do their job, Vietnam would not only have gone better, but it would have likely been a victory. The troops were demoralized by actions of Politicians and, eventually, by public reaction to the deathtoll (war came a bit later).

People don't understand the Vietnam War because Politicians shaped its history. In it, Politicians who had no war experience were calling the shots. If they had had war experience, they would have sat back and played like Eisenhower and Bush did, Public Relations and Morale. Because of the poor way in which the Policing Action was carried out (Vietnam), the troops were using out-dated WWII tactics.

Was it a blemish in US history? Yes. However, the "Why?" is different than most know.

 

[aphextwin]

i heard that more us soldiers died in the iraq war than viet war..... well i'd say the stock market crash/depression during the 1920's-30's