The anti-war movements and protests reflected on the soldiers in Vietnam and led to the defeat of the US armed forces. The media portrayed war in such a negative manner that resentment is still present today. The introduction of televised news coverage of the Vietnam War set a precedent of fear of war within the American culture. The vivid footage and images of combat educated the American people of the true horrors
Aiming to win back support from the American’s, as many people did not support the Vietnam war due to the bad media that was publicised. This was the first War to be so publicised and it shocked many of the people back home. This lead to Anti-War protest, which became one of the US governments aims to stop. However they still stuck to the aim to try and contain Vietnam from the spread of communism and supporting the SV defeat the VC in nearby country Cambodia. On the other side the aims of the NV government and their terrorist organisation the VC did not alter as they still aimed to persuade the SV government to vote for Vietnam to become a communist country.
Vietnam War The Vietnam War was the longest war fought in America’s history. It lasted from 1955 to 1973. It tarnished Americas image of itself by becoming the first time in history the United States failed to accomplish what it set out to do; preserve a separate, independent, non-communist government. The American people were changed by this War as well. It was the first war ever to be broadcast on television, Americans were able to witness exactly what the soldiers were experiencing.. A major affect of the war was the division it caused among US citizens.
Russia equipped the North with “weapons, radar and the new MiG fighter planes” but the North many used the MiG’s for dogfights agents the US. Search and destroy was an effective tactic used by the US. Search and destroy was a tactic were the US soldiers would “invade” a village if the US army had a tipoff that the Vietcong or the NVA were in the village or weapons and seek them out. “For the first time idea of a mission was how many body’s they retrieved. In some villages the were “piles” of body’s.
It was also a propaganda disaster. The Americans had always presented their campaign against Communism as a moral crusade. But the My Lai Massacre and the herbicides used on the forests damaged America's reputation. The whole campaign was shown to be flawed. The Americans were propping up a government which did not have the support of its own
The Vietnam War changed America forever. Lasting 18 years, it was the longest war ever fought in the history of American wars. The war had also affected the lives of the American people. This was the first war that showed the disasters of the battlefield on television. This was the war that had etched permanent memories onto the minds of the people of the United States.
President James K. Polk and President George W. Bush had both wanted to go to war with countries that they believed had been a threat to the United States. They both had believed that these two countries that they had wanted to go to war with had been terrorizing American citizens. Both presidents had honestly believed that the only way to settle this dispute was to go to war. These two presidents had manipulated the government and Americans into thinking that that the only option they had left was to go to war. They both made citizens feel that their lives were going to be, if not already, in danger.
In a CBS special, Cronkite concluded, "To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past, to say we are mired in a bloody stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory conclusion" ( Hallin, 1986, p.170) This did not help increase the support for our troops in Vietnam. The overall support for the war was diminished by Cronkite's report. The negative coverage of the war influenced politicians, the public, and the American soldier. Concerned with losing support, politicians started to really get involved. The TeT offensive was a last ditch effort for the communists.
Because the American government openly supported the Christian Diem, the South Vietnamese were almost as against American involvement as the North Vietnamese by the time of the Tet Offensive. The Americans’ failure to keep the North Vietnamese at bay only added further tension between the United States and the people they were trying to help. Back in the U.S., protest was growing to the point that full engagement in Vietnam was becoming difficult. Opposition to the draft was an extremely crucial form of protest. Literally, “tens of thousands fled to Canada or Europe to avoid the draft” (Wills 29).
Television during the Vietnam War exposed the brutality of the war and brought it into American living rooms. 18. The primary goal of the protest movement of the 1960s was to end war in Vietnam. 19. The Vietnam War caused the US to distrust the government.