Conclusion

The Vietnam Memorial was mired in controversy from its inception.  The Vietnam war itself was buried in controversy, with so many anti-war sentiments, an uneducated public, and political proponents, who many believed were mere puppets of the military influences that were so strong in Washington.  The American G.I. was caught in the middle of this tug of war, with the government drafting him just out of High School, and sending him to war.  

All the while protest songs played on the radio, and students staged sit-ins to protest our involvement in Vietnam.  Public antiwar demonstrations became commonplace, and some of them turned to violence. Nobody was thinking that the Vietnam war was a good idea, even the politicians began to relent, but when the United States pulled out of Vietnam, no matter what it was called, it was seen as a defeat.

Once the idea of building a Vietnam memorial got off the ground, the political bickering began about where it would go, what it would represent, and how much it would cost.  The Vietnam Memorial Fund privately raised the money to build the monument even as the politicians were talking budget cuts.

As it happened, the winner of the Vietnam Memorial design competition was a young woman of Asian descent (gasp) which started other controversies.  She was too young, she was a woman, she was a first generation Chinese-American, the design was too informal.  This was all overcome as logic finally prevailed.

On Veterans Day 1982 the Vietnam Memorial was dedicated, but not by President Reagan, or any other high ranking government representative.  They didn’t want to be associated with it, and they all declined to attend.