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Books > History > American history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945
For American children raised exclusively in wartime-that is, a Cold
War containing monolithic communism turned hot in the jungles of
Southeast Asia-and the first to grow up with televised combat,
Vietnam was predominately a mediated experience. Walter Cronkite
was the voice of the conflict, and grim, nightly statistics the
most recognizable feature. But as involvement grew, Vietnam
affected numerous changes in child life, comparable to the
childhood impact of previous conflicts-chiefly the Civil War and
World War II-whose intensity and duration also dominated American
culture. In this protracted struggle that took on the look of
permanence from a child's perspective, adult lives were
increasingly militarized, leaving few preadolescents totally
insulated. Over the years 1965 to 1973, the vast majority of
American children integrated at least some elements of the war into
their own routines. Parents, in turn, shaped their children's
perspectives on Vietnam, while the more politicized mothers and
fathers exposed them to the bitter polarization the war engendered.
The fighting only became truly real insomuch as service in Vietnam
called away older community members or was driven home literally
when families shared hardships surrounding separation from cousins,
brothers, and fathers.In seeing the Vietnam War through the eyes of
preadolescent Americans, Joel P. Rhodes suggests broader
developmental implications from being socialized to the political
and ethical ambiguity of Vietnam. Youth during World War II
retained with clarity into adulthood many of the proscriptive
patriotic messages about U.S. rightness, why we fight, heroism, or
sacrifice. In contrast, Vietnam tended to breed childhood
ambivalence, but not necessarily of the hawk and dove kind. This
unique perspective on Vietnam continues to complicate adult notions
of militarism and warfare, while generally lowering expectations of
American leadership and the presidency.
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