Edwin Starr's Use Of Anti-War Messages During The Vietnam War

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Many songs consisting of anti-war and pro-war messages were created during the Vietnam War era. One popular artist, Edwin Starr made it obvious that he was protesting this controversial war especially in his song War. Through his lyrics he was able to portray the cruel realities by focusing on everything that is lost during, or because of the war. Lyrics that really stand out to me are "They say we must fight to keep our freedom, but lord knows there's got to be a better way." These lines demonstrate that the foreign policies that were in place during the Vietnam War were rejected by the anti-war movement. During this era the Truman Doctrine and Domino Theory greatly influenced US foreign policies. The Truman Doctrine stated that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from authoritarian forces. The part "we must fight to keep our freedom" clearly refers to the fact that many people believed that if we did not fight against communist forces they would spread to the United States. Our involvement in the Vietnam War was caused by this fear of communism takeover which also influenced the development of the domino theory. Basically the domino theory infers that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino…show more content…
I believe this part of the song is very powerful because it carries a lot of emotion to the audience. It makes the audience realize how much was truly lost during this war, not only did thousands of soldiers die but there were many more left mourning for their loved ones. This part really allows the listener to connect with the pain these mothers have when they lose their sons. Everyone has lost someone they love and can sympathize with that feeling of

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