As the America’s longest war, the Vietnam War was the first  war the United States lost, although it won virtually every battle because of its superior fire power, mobility, and the high-tech support. For this reason, the Vietnam war seemed to defy definition and description. It was also the first war brought into the family room by television, causing  a lasting impact on the public mind, leaving the complexity and the ambivalence of the Vietnam war unanswered. For the soldiers who fought it, it was a frustrating guerrilla war maddeningly without front lines against an enemy who seemed invisible. Worst of all, when they came home, the soldiers received no warm welcome and discovered that the familiar world in which they used to live is now just unreal and hostile.

For the price of it, the Vietnam war cost the lives of 57,939 Americans, $150 billion in military spending and produced four millions killed or wounded Vietnamese on both sides.

Today, after nearly 25 years,  the Vietnam war still remains a controversial, divisive issue in public opinions and stirs such embittered passion on all sides in the United States. One may ask what lesson have we learned from the Vietnam war? Unfortunately many failed to notice that the Vietnam war was conducted by a small group of politician elites who had neither the knowledge of warfare nor the military experiences, who traditionally underestimated the determination of a third-world country foe (North VN) and looked down on the potential strength of a developing nation friend (South VN).Until this foreign policy of arrogance is corrected the torch of freedom will be carried on by the oppressed who  yearn and fight for the spirit of Liberty. Perhaps this is the noble cause with which the Vietnam war began: “Let every nation know, whether  it wishes well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of Liberty.”