ABSTRACT
The concluding chapter focuses on certain strands in the historical narrative of the Vietnam War’s aftermath. It considers the ideological and political impact of the cultural narrative of the conflict, as it emerged during the late 1970s and 1980s, on subsequent American attitudes to war and the country’s military engagements overseas. The almost direct link of the Vietnam fallout to the Gulf War is briefly discussed, in the context of both foreign policy propaganda and public opinion, as is Vietnam’s impact on the suspension of military draft in the United States and the establishment of voluntary service. The conclusion closes with a brief discussion of the relationship between the American sense of victimization after the war in Vietnam and what sociologists have been referring to as “post-heroism,” including the development of post-heroic tactics in warfare technology—and with an afterthought concerning the relationship between victimhood, ideology, and political power.
