Some Legacies and Lessons of Vietnam
George C. Herring
More than ten years have passed since the end of direct American involvement in Vietnam, and it now seems appropriate to examine some of the major consequences of the war, its impact, its legacies. I do this not, as is so often done, to find renewed justification for the war or to show once and for all that we were wrong to get involved but to establish an admittedly crude historical record. I do not pretend to be all-inclusive. My sources include what can be gleaned from the press and other printed materials. In addition, over the past year and a half, I have participated in symposia on Vietnam in Kentucky and Texas, at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, and at the University of Southern California. I have incorporated observations drawn from these varied and very revealing gatherings. My central conclusion is that, for those intimately touched by it, the war in Vietnam continues to have profound human suffering and tragedy as its principal legacy. Elsewhere, a mixture of indifference, confusion, and persisting controversy is the norm.
