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The impact of propaganda
The role of the media during the Vietnam War
The role of the media during the Vietnam War
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The war in Vietnam got a lot of attention – mostly negative attention. Veterans were not welcomed back in the country; instead, they were treated as outcasts. There is one thing and one thing only to blame for this. The media. The media gave the war terrible press and soon the citizens began to believe everything and anything they heard or saw. Thanks to CBS and other news sources the Vietnam War was the most hated war in American history.
The Vietnam War. The second longest war in US history. This war has a bad reputation because it was televised all around the United States by news stations like CBS and NBC. The war started from the gain of power of communist Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam but the war evolved into a conflict of two political
Walter Cronkite covered stories such as the JFK assassination, the Civil Rights movement, and the Vietnam War (Biography of Walter Cronkite, n.d.). People trusted him, people believed in him, people listened to him. That’s why when he announced “the world [was] closer to the brink of cosmic disaster” the nation believed him (Cronkite, n.d.). The war was hopeless. The war was impossible. The war was lost. The already-hated-war became even more hated. But that was the power Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America. The nation blindly trusted him; never would “Uncle Walter” lie to the people of America (Clark,
It wasn’t until 1990 when Operation Desert Storm took place during the Gulf War (ushistory.org, n.d.) that people started to realize what they were doing was wrong. As people were sitting in their living rooms observing what was going on over in Vietnam through the glass screens on their television, anger was building up inside of them because they were witnessing U.S. soldiers killing people overseas. Nobody in the US actually understood what was happening in Vietnam, they would just spite them for what they were informed about by the media. When people finally started to understand the motives behind the soldier’s acts they felt ashamed of themselves for blaming Soldiers when they should have had their heads turned to the government (Smith, 2015). “[The Vietnam War] later became a politically managed war” (Bartlett, 2015). Nobody treated the situation correctly and many people are ashamed of how they treated the soldiers. We now have monuments and honorable events dedicated to Vietnam Veterans hoping for forgiveness from behavioral activities that were derived from incomplete information from the
Beginning in the early 1960's American journalists began taking a hard look at America's involvement in South Vietnam. This inevitably led to a conflict with the American and South Vietnamese governments, some fellow journalists, and their parent news organizations. This was the last hurrah of print journalism, as television began to grow in stature. William Prochnau's, Once Upon A Distant War, carefully details the struggles of these hardy journalists, led by David Halberstram, Malcolm Browne, and Neil Sheehan. The book contains stories, told in layers, chronicling America's growing involvement in South Vietnam from 1961 through 1963.
The Vietnam War was the most publicized war during its era; moreover this was the most unpopular war to hit the United States. All over the country riots began to raise, anti-war movement spread all over the states begging to stop the war and chaos overseas. This truly was a failure in the political side of things. For the public, all they saw was a failed attempt in a far away country. Events such as the Tet Offensive where the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong established an all out attack on key locations around Vietnam, and although the Viet Cong was virtually wiped out, this still had a large affect psychologically on the troops as well as the populist back in the United States. Another atrocity that occurred during this war was the My Lai Massacre. This was the mass murder on unarmed civilians in South Vietnam during March 16,1968. Around November 1969, the world saw this and was outraged with the killings of innocent civilians prompting and giving the public more reasons to stop the war. Although the war was very unpopular, men and women were still fighting and dying for America. Heroes such as Captain John W, Ripley of Dong Ha, Medal of Honor recipients, and overall troops that gave the ultimate sacrifice were forgotten for a brief period. As unpopular as the war was, the American people should still know the stories and good that some of these troops had done for the United States.
The Vietnam War was a vicious conflict predominately between the United States and Australia against The Viet Cong and The North Vietnamese. Initially the public supported the war, however the American president of the time, Lyndon B. Johnson, exaggerated how easy and worldwide the war was to attract further support. When he called for “more flags” to be represented in South Vietnam only the Philippines, the Republic of South Korea, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand indicated a willingness to contribute some form of military aid. By doing this “it enabled Johnson to portray the developing war as international to show it must be dealt with and gain support,” (Hastings, 2003). The outcome of the Vietnam War was ensured because the governments of the United States and Australia could not maintain their publics’ support due to the popular culture of the time. This was because much of the war was shown on television or other popular culture, so events like the Battle of Long Tan could be seen by families and people of all ages in their living rooms; this was the first time they could see how bad a war can actually be.
The Vietnam War was one of many. One reason some people argue the US should have been in the Vietnam War is because of the belief the US was trying to help establish a democracy there. The Vietnam war helping America win the cold war was another reason people believe the US was justified in the Vietnam war. Others believe that the US should not have been there because they were supporting a corrupt government, another reason is that American warfare was excessive and abusively killed many innocent civilians and ruined the land. While it appeared that the US was trying to spread democracy and win the cold war, but in truth, the US was supporting a mini Hitler, and our strategy had little chance of
Vietnam was a highly debated war among citizens of the United States. This war was like no other with regards to how it affected people on the home front. In past war’s, the population of the United States mainly supported the war and admired soldiers for their courage. During the Vietnam War, citizens of the U.S. had a contradictory view than in the past. This dilemma of not having the support of the people originates from the culture and the time period.
The Vietnam conflict has been known for being the most unpopular war in the history of the United States. The war of 1812, the Mexican war and the Korean conflict of the early 1950's were also opposed by large groups of the American people, but none of them generated the emotional anxiety and utter hatred that spawned Vietnam. The Vietnam war caused people to ask the question of sending our young people to die in places where they were particular wanted and for people who did not seem especial grateful.
The Vietnam War was America’s longest war, lasting about 8 years, the number of deaths in the war were one of the highest compared to the number of deaths in previous wars.
The Vietnam War was the longest war in America's history of involvement. Twenty years of hell, land mines, cross-fire, and death. Vietnam was divided by the Geneva Accord. The north being communist run by Ho Chi Minh. The south being anti-Communist run by Ngo Dinh Diem. Before Vietnam was separated, it was run by France. France had ruled most of Indochina since the late 1800s. The Vietnamese were unhappy with the way the French were controlling, therefore, many of them took refuge in China. When in China, they began to follow the lead of Ho Chi Minh, who wanted to model the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence as that of the U.S. version. In the 1940s, Japan had taken over Vietnam which upset Ho Chi Minh and his revolutionaries when they had returned a year later.
Engaging in the war in Vietnam brought a whole different set of "American Views" to the topic of war. This time the country did not support the war like we've seen in the past. Mostly by young people, the war effort was criticized and Americans staged massive protests. The Vietnam War's controversy spurred a great many sources of protest, against our government's use of power, how far we could stretch the rights of free expression, and primarily against the violence of the war itself.
It is quite important to note that there was a time where the majority of Americans did not see involvement in Vietnam as a mistake. According to a Gallup poll conducted in August of 1965, 24% of Americans believed it was wrong to have US combatants in Vietnam. These numbers steadily rose throughout the years. It was not until August 1968 did a majority of Americans, approximately 53%, feel we made a poor decision. What caused this discontent with our involvement? Overall, the American public was seeing many young men die for a cause that they could not articulate. The futility of these losses was frustrating. There were other specific events that added to hatred of the War in
...been involved in because it was against an unknown enemy in an unknown territory. The consequences of the war far exceed the benefits. The citizens during that period of time would definitely agree. The war caused a severe decrease in the countries moral. Many people no longer trusted the government and grew extremely skeptical of its actions. The recession soon after the war did not help in boosting the spirit of the country. The Vietnam war also exposed many of the United States‘ weaknesses. It showed that our government had planned poorly. It also showed that it was possible to resist the United States as a mass. There is a major difference between one disagreeing voice and a vast number of them. In the end the United States had devastating losses socially and economically. Protests and politics will always go hand in hand when the “sheep” disagree with the “herder“.
-Marshall McLuhan, 1975 Newspaper reporters and television commentators were free to question the wisdom of fighting the war When the war initially began, the US marines were backed fully buy the people of America. Hundreds of men volunteered to join the army and felt that this was their duty to protect their country. But as the war dragged on the press soon began to change its point of view and was eventually accused of being 'un patriotic' and even guilty of 'helping the enemy'. There were various reasons why public opinion changed as the war hauled through for such a long period of time, leaving lasting scars in the history of the world. Possibly one on the most significant and emotional events which occurred in Vietnam was far before US marines were actually fighting a guerilla war in Vietnam.
While the Vietnam battles began in the 1950’s, America did not become involved until 1965, under the command of President Lyndon Johnson. Right away the decision was met with mixed reactions. World War II had ended about 20 years prior to the deployment of U.S. troops in Vietnam, and many were not exactly excited to jump into another war. Right away protest groups formed across the nation, and many people began to let ...
There were many events that lead up the Vietnam War, it started in 1945 with the hostilities between the French and Vietminh. “Geopolitical Strategy, economics, domestic US politics, and cultural arrogance shaped the growing American involvement in Vietnam” (Anderson 1). As a matter of fact, the Vietnam War was several wars, but it was not until 1962 that America had their first combat mission, however, Americans were killed during ambushes by the Vietnamese before the first combat mission. There is much controversy over the reasons for the Vietnam War, supported by the several different books and articles written about the war. “The most famous atrocity occurred in a tiny hamlet called My Lai in March 1968” (Detzer 127). History shows that the reaction of many Americans to the attack by US soldiers on the village of My Lai during the Vietnam War was opposition, and the actions of the US soldiers during the My Lai Massacre will be forever remembered as a significant part of the Vietnam War and American History.
As we got further and further into the Vietnam War, few lives were untouched by grief, anger and fear. The Vietnamese suffered the worst hardship; children lay dead in the street, villages remained nothing but charred ashes, and bombs destroyed thousands of innocent civilians. Soldiers were scarred emotionally as well as physically, as