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American public opinion and the Vietnam War
American public opinion and the Vietnam War
The role of the media during the Vietnam War
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Machol chol Outline
Intro: In the many wars that the Us was involved none more than the vietnam war to change the american people opinion of war. Being a war that the people really didn't want to get into to begin with the recent advent of live same day broadcasting did little to persuade that people that going to necessary The vietnam war being one of the first war to be broadcasted by the mass media. made it easier to bring the war to the home front for the first time making it increasingly difficult for the average person at home to ignore the horrors and atrocities of, the so called necessary war by the US Government
Body:1 In the wake of World War 2 both the United States and the soviet union set forth to different campaigns in
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at the beginning the war was merely against the north and and south so a civil war of sorts. the only help the US offered was advertisers and training of the south vietnamese troops. It was just that for a long time something like 5-9 years then come 1960 one of the most controversial events in US history happened. The Gulf of Tonkin incident happen now to better understand this event you must understand it first, and depend on who you talk to came go to different ways.One which is what most americans were told and believed was that a US patrol boat was gunned down by the north vietnamese and vietcong. Then the other side which is now believed to be the true tale goes as following a US gunship was indeed
i. Difficulties faced by soldiers due to the nature of fighting in the Vietnam War - Personnel had difficulties with transportation supplied with adapted vehicles back seat faced rear to provide additional fire power (Source A) – It appears as if the government didn't worry enough to supply men with safe and capable equipment - Threat of traps led to fear as vehicles had to be parked on street at night (Source A) o Check for traps each morning became a daily ritual particularly in fuel tanks (Source A) o A request for a locking fuel cap was denied because weren’t entitled to one” (Source A) • What circumstances would have needed to arise for them to be entitled to one? The Offensive full guard was set up (24hrs a day), personnel got no sleep and were constantly on alert (Source A) – How significant would this have been in the personnel’s mental frame of mind?
The Vietnam War (1965-1975)was fought between the North and South Vietnam. The North was called Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the South was the Republic of Vietnam which was supported by the United States. On August 2nd, 1964 the USS Maddox was on a secret intelligent mission on the North Vietnamese coast where in the Gulf on Tonkin they were attacked by torpedo boats. The USS Turner Joy was attacked in the same area two days later. Due to the second attack Congress declared the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which led to air strikes.In 1959 there were 5,000 guerilla fighters and in 1964 the numbers jumped to 100,000. At Pleiku on March, 1965 U.S Marine barracks were attacked causing the three stage escalation bombing of North Vietnam to begin. The 3 year lasting bombing was used to force North Vietnam to stop supporting the "National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam" by destroying their industrial infrastructure and Vietnam's air defenses. Unfortunately this did not stop the North's support for the NLF. The U.S. Air Force bases were constantly being attacked so the U.S. on March 8, 1965 the 3,500 U.S. Marines was deployed to South Vietnam. At this point in time, the U.S. public supported the dispatch because the Vietnam War had been portrayed to the American people as a war against the spread of Communism. Johnson was president at the time and he kept adding more and more troops as the war went on. As the draft quotas increased, the American public protests started. When Nixon came into presidency his policy towards the Vietnam War was "peace with honor" in other words he wanted to widen the war. After more bombing and fighting, on January 27, 1973 the Paris Peace Accords was signed, restoring peace in Vietnam and U.S. forces pulled out. Nixon stopped all American attacks on Vietnam. The condensed summary of the Vietnam War is to see what presidents were involved in this war (Johnson, and Nixon) and what foreign policies were taken towards Vietnam mostly before the protests began.
I was against the war over in Vietnam. Part of that reason was because I didn’t think that the fighting over there was all that necessary but the real reason was because my brother Mack was drafted into the war. He was drafted pretty early on when they started the draft so when he was killed that’s where my hatred for the war.. really came from. *She actually got a little quiet here so I did my best to avoid talking too much about her brother (Keeping in mind I didn’t know this happened at the beginning)*
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.
The Vietnam War lasted from the winter of 1956 to the spring of 1975. The Vietnam War was a domesticated civil war between the communist, North Vietnam, and the democratic, South Vietnam. The North was supported by the Chinese communist, and the leader Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnam War introduced the United States to the Vietcong and Guerrilla warfare. During this time, the United States faced our own battles at home between two social groups called the Doves and the Hawks. This war was very divisive. The Doves protested and Hawks shunned them. Young men without money were being drafted while others went to college, got a medical note, or fled the country. Tensions were already high in the United States when Congress passed Public Law 88- 408, also known as the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
Compare and contrast the United States’ war in Vietnam with the American Revolution. Both conflicts could be likened to Mao’s three phases of insurgency. Explain why and discuss all three phases as they apply to both conflicts. Also, were there any similarities to British problems in the Revolution and American problems in Vietnam as far as winning the hearts and minds of the mass base?
The Vietnam War was a turning point in the way America sees war, by being the first war with media coverage, having great influence on soldiers fighting in it, and influencing the American citizens watching it happen. Often referred to as the “living-room war”, the Vietnam war was heavily impacted by media coverage, leading to controversy both at home in the U.S. and overseas on the battlefield.
The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam. Sadly, this is not what happened. The Viet Cong (VC) had far better tactics than the US. The VC was told to 'nibble at the enemy' so that he could 'neither eat or sleep'. This worked very well. Another demoralizing tactic the VC used was their landmines; they were designed to blow the limbs off the soldiers without killing them. This tied up hospital beds and meant the soldiers had to carry the wounded back to the base.
It was the evening of Christmas, 1776. The voice of an army sergeant shouted, “Everybody, up this instant! We’ve got a battle to win!” George Washington’s order awoke us soldiers, and we prepared for a rough night, as General Washington knew it would be more than strenuous to get the Continental Army, made up of 2,400 men, across the Delaware River especially in such harsh weather conditions. The plan was to attack in the morning since the Hessians would be celebrating Christmas tonight, they will hopefully be too tired to put up a fight tomorrow morning. The cold, brisk air intruded into the tent, as the rest of the soldiers arose from their slumber, not knowing what the day would bring them, or should I say, night.
The Vietnam War was one of the longest and most expensive wars in American history. It started from 1955 till April 30, 1975. This war lasted for almost 20 years. According to the article "How the U.S Got Involved In Vietnam" by Jeff Drake the U.S attacked Vietman and this wasn't supposed to happen. This war could have been avoidable. The 58,000 Americans didn’t have to die, nor did the 2,000,000 Vietnamese. The U.S government was responsible for their deaths. What the government told the public from the very beginning was that they were going to war because they had to stop the communist menace in Vietnam or other countries would follow suit; that they had to defend the democratic South Vietnamese government against the gathering Red hordes. While other people say it was an attempt by the U.S to suppress a heroic Vietnamese national liberation movement that had driven French colonialism out of its country (Drake, 1993).
In order to fight, they had to learn how to speak the Vietnamese language and they learned how to use the weapons that they were using (Friedel).The United States had to work hard in order to fight in Vietnam. The United States was in favor of South Vietnam (fallstrom).They wanted to help them beat the North (Friedel). The United States believed that Vietnam shouldn’t be a communist country. President Johnson was tired of the war and believed bombing North Vietnam would help end the war (locker). But indeed it didn’t end it. The war didn’t end up ending until two years after the United States left the war (fallstrom). At the end of the war there was about 58000 Americans that had died (fallstrom). Many soldiers came back with “physiological trauma” and had to go to therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Vietnam syndrome (freidman). The causes of the war led to very emotional times for not only the families and loved ones but by the soldiers who had to face the horrific war. All-in-all despite the horrible outcomes for the soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or Vietnam syndrome, the United States helped South Vietnam and North Vietnam become unified into one
Wartime in the United States has always placed pressure on the government and the citizens of the country to provide support by whatever means to the situation. During World War II, that support was propagated by the government in the form of censorship and a strategic public relations plan to maintain the public opinion in favor of the cause. Glorification of America's involvement in the war helped America maintain the image of "a cause worth fighting for." Technology and de-censorship would later transform America and the world's image of war, which had been formed by such propaganda as seen during WWII, into the truth about war as seen in the media's coverage of the Vietnam War. During this period, uncensored media coverage helped to morph American views about military conflicts forever as well as changing the media's role in war.
The conflict in Vietnam for the United States started when President Dwight D. Eisenhower went along with the domino theory and sent in military advisors in South Vietnam to stop the communist movement from taking place in South Vietnam. The Vietnam conflict was between the communist’s and the United States. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, and Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Cong, a guerilla group to help spread communism. The United States were supporters of the South Vietnam because they wanted them to maintain their government rather than falling to the domino theory of communism. After Eisenhower’s term ended John F. Kennedy became president and took control of the situation of Vietnam but on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated. Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded presidency and the problems of Vietnam were left to himself. In 1963, the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred where, the U.S.S Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese naval ships on august 2 1964. Two days later an even more controversial attack happened where it was reported another ship was attacked again but has later been proven false. Johnson used these events to gain congressional approval to enter into Vietnam. However the Tonkin Gulf Incident was questioned to have even happened which makes the war undoubtedly questionable Immediately after the incident . Many troops were killed in Vietnam and the United States eventually lost the war and does not achieve their goal to stop communism. Despite the large amount of conflict in Vietnam that needed to be resolved, escalating the war was the wrong idea by Johnson, as the many consequences of the war for the United States outweighed the potential spread of communism.
The Vietnam War was one of the most outrageous and long-drawn out wars in history. The other name for the Vietnam War was called Cold-Era proxy War. The war had been battled in order to stop the spread of invasion from communism in the southern parts of Vietnam. The American played the role of a supporter to the southern part of Vietnam, trying to prevent communist from approaching the southern part of Vietnam. The Americans was influenced by the French government to help with the war. France did not support communism due to their loss to the communist previously in the Indochina War, resulting in the French loosing its colony. Later, both of the countries ended up strongly, supporting the southern part of Vietnam. The length of the war, the high number of United States casualties, and the exposure of U.S. involvement portrayed a strong hatred by the U.S population on the Vietnam War.(www.ebscohost.com) Southern Vietnam was supported by the United States, while North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of North Vietnam, who fought to liberate his country from Japan and France. He was the person who successfully unified North and South Vietnam. The United States first involvement in the Vietnam War began when the U.S supported France financially in the first Indochina War in 1946, which was under the power of President Eisenhower. Later, the two US Navy vessels gave the next President; President Johnson more power to fought against the Vietnam War. In 1968, a huge, crucial attack known as the “Tet Offensive” threatened the Un...
When a country goes to war based on its superior protectors it 's out of loyalty but when a country follows the protector to the end and gives all the money and troops and develops the same foreign Policy then it’s a problem and that needs to be reconsidered reports Ainya Schefe.