Final answer:
The war in Vietnam ended with the reunification of Vietnam under a communist government, mass slaughter in Cambodia, and had a lasting impact on U.S. domestic affairs, damaging the reputation of the United States and leading to widespread distrust in government.
Step-by-step explanation:
The war in Vietnam culminated in various significant outcomes, but a victory for a western style government or the end of the Cold War were not among them. Instead, one of the direct outcomes was mass slaughter in Cambodia, a neighboring nation which experienced a genocide under the Khmer Rouge regime following the destabilization of the region due to the conflict. Another outcome was the strengthened reputation of the United States, which was heavily diminished. The U.S. faced a 'credibility gap' where many Americans started to question the honesty of the government concerning the situation in Vietnam. The war had cost the lives of over one million Vietnamese combatants and civilians, and the U.S. military suffered significant casualties as well, with 58,000 Americans killed and around 365,000 wounded.
The reunification of Vietnam under a communist government in 1975 was an outcome of the war following the withdrawal of U.S. troops after a peace agreement in Paris in 1973. Despite this peace agreement and the eventual U.S. withdrawal, the war continued until the North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and took control over South Vietnam. Domestically, the war eroded public trust in the government, fostered a sense of cynicism regarding American foreign policy and democracy, and caused a profound loss of consensus, confidence, and claimed moral high ground in the American political culture.