Turning Points In The Vietnam War

The introductory attack began spectacularly during celebrations of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year and left global lungs breathless (Farber and Bailey 34-54). Widely seen as the turning point in the Vietnam War, the NLF and PAVN won an enormous psychological and propaganda-associated victory, which ultimately led to the loss of popular support for the War in the United States and the eventual withdrawal of American troops. Additionally, the events surrounding the Tet Offensive piloted American citizens to increased polarization. Attracting members from college campuses, middle-class suburbs, labor unions, and government institutions, the anti-war movement was swollen with aggrieved affiliates (Farber and Bailey 34-54). The observable pathos of the protesters delivered the distrust of a growing population to the White House doors; the budding doubt in governmental affairs was difficult to discard and impossible to ignore. Indisputably, the Tet Offensive of 1968 cleaved the fragile harmony of the public and birthed a political skepticism that continues to subsist in modern American minds.

It was the first war that was openly broadcasted on television; “the horrors of war entered the homes of Americans” (WeEBLY). It was the very first time people saw footage of combat in their homes; the casualties resulting from it, from either side. Prior to this, images were very rarely ever released to the public. At first, television has a positive impact. Coverage of the war showed support for the soldiers. People liked to think that they were helping or part of the war. At the time there was no censorship, so the atrocities of war were being recorded by journalist. In 1967, 90 percent of the news on television was of the Vietnam War. Every night about 50 million people would watch. But due to the graphic imagery that was shown, example being villages being pillaged or Vietnamese people being burned alive, people would begin to lose support for the war rapidly. The turning point of the war was the Tet Offensive, which was an American victory(BOOK). But, television portrayed it as a brutal defeat. Media would state that the United States would be unable to win the war. “It is increasingly clear to this report that the only rational way out would be to negotiate, not as victims, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did the best they could.” (Cronkite) Despite the U.S. doing well in the war initially. After all the negative coverage, most Americans would withdraw their support for the war. This would completely destroy soldier’s moral. They no longer wanted to fight knowing that the American public did not approve of them in the slightest. This made it the most unpopular war in US

Vietnam was an entirely new type of war for the United States. It still remains morally and historically problematic in today’s society. The Vietnam War had a tremendous impact on American society and culture, primarily because it was the first war to be televised. The American press played a significant

Many of the democrats within the legislative branch turned against Johnson’s war. Scholar’s conflict on the reason why Johnson’s own party turned against him, some scholars attribute it to the growing number of antiwar constituents, while other scholars such as E.M. Schreiber, Burstein and Freudenburg cite the numerous deaths of American soldiers in combat. One democrat by the name of Eugene McCarthy labeled the entire Vietnam War as an “error” and describes the Johnson administration as “misguided.” McCarthy decides to run for President, but loses in the primaries by a slim margin to Johnson, further indicating that the antiwar movement was gaining significant momentum. Things were only beginning to get even worse as the Tet Offensive

Appy claims that public opposition to the war and formation of a peace movement leading to a lack of trust in the government due to lies and cover-ups on events happening in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq are comparable to America’s attitude during the Vietnam War. Supporting this claim to the opposition of the war by the public because of the government’s perversion in the media is seen in the Middle through the example of Pat Tillman. Tillman’s death, which was propagated to make the public believe that he died in battle instead of a result of friendly fire, sets a prime instance for a comparison of the government’s. (Appy, 311-312). The causes of the War in Iraq such as finding and eliminating Weapons of Mass Destruction lead to

By 1968, more than half of the American people relied on television as their principal source of news. What they saw informed, engrossed, and unsettled them. CBS Evening News anchor Harry Reasoner referred to it as “horrors and failures.” The Vietnam War dominated the network newscast as it never had before. Suddenly the war was everywhere. The impact on the American public would indeed be great. It set off a critical reaction to the war within the American media and gave greater credence to arguments against the war that a vocal protest movement had been voicing for some time. The media coverage of the Tet Offensive had a great influence on the eventual outcome of the fighting and its aftermath. Clarence Wyatt, author of Paper

The release of the Pentagon Papers in 1971 proved the covert actions of past presidents dating back to all the way to Truman, including other presidents such as Johnson and current President Nixon. The government had not only been going behind the back of the people, but of the backs of themselves, sending troops without consent of Congress. This created doubt between the people and the government. Daniel Ellsberg, a military activist and analyst at the time, leaked the Pentagon Papers to New York Times to publish. The Attorney General and Nixon Administration took the New York Times to court to get a restraining order on them and prevent them from publishing anything else about the Pentagon Papers. They claimed it was for national security

The purpose of my study is to provide a defence of US propaganda in the Vietnam War. Historians, such as Caroline Page are particularly negative about the campaign, but fail to sufficiently take into account the magnitude of the task of maintaining public support for a War where American involvement was open to significant question. They also struggled as the progress of the war made it difficult to point to regular victories, and the Tet offensive was particularly destructive. Such losses were well reported by domestic and foreign media.

The Vietnam War certainly left a distaste in the lives of many who have been affected by the war; scholars have become increasingly interested in the interaction between war and public opinion. There have been many scholarly works published on the Vietnam War, but the issue that will be analyzed here is how public opinion changed the course of the war. The first article by Scott Gartner and Gary Segura is titled, “Race, Casualties, and Opinion in the Vietnam War,” it examined how the diverse races within America in combination with the atrocities in the war led to the formation of opinions that were similar in one race but were different in another race. The second article by Paul Burstein and William Freudenburg titled, “The Impact of

I have always been interested in the Vietnam War and the results of “the longest war in America.” Therefore, I have decided to examine the social attitudes toward Vietnam veterans. Since I feel so passionately about the way that Vietnam veterans are viewed, the purpose of my paper is to inform others about the way that the veterans have been criticized and misrepresented. Personally, I hope to gain a further understanding of the attitudes and views towards Vietnam veterans, especially since my father is a veteran. After reading my paper, I hope that my audience will walk away with more respect and reverence for those that fought in the Vietnam War and gave their lives for their country. My

During the Vietnam War, Americans were greatly influenced by the extensive media coverage of the war. Before the 1960’s and the intensification of the war, public news coverage of military action was constrained heavily by the government and was directed by Government policy. The Vietnam War uniquely altered the perception of war in the eyes of American citizens by bringing the war into their homes. The Vietnam War was the first U.S uncensored war resulting in the release of graphic images and unaltered accounts of horrific events that helped to change public opinion of the war like nothing it had ever been. This depiction by the media led to a separation between the United States government and the press; much of what was reported flouted

The Vietnam War was the first war that allowed uncensored media coverage resulting in images and accounts of horrific events that served to shape public opinion of the war like nothing that had been seen before. This portrayal by the media led to a separation between the press and the U.S. government, as much of what was reported defied the intentions of government policy. The media has fell blame by many for the result of the war, as it is widely believed that the war could not have been won under the scrutiny that came from the American people as a result of the media

The investigation assesses the media coverage of the Tet Offensive and its impact on American policy concerning the Vietnam War from 1968 until 1969. The investigation evaluates the contrast between media broadcasts and government reports of the war, the effect of the media on the American public, and the effect of American public opinion on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s course of action. Two of the sources, Vietnam and America: A Documented History by Marvin E. Gettleman, Jane Franklin, Marilyn Young, and H. Bruce Franklin, and The “Uncensored War”: The Media and Vietnam by Daniel C. Hallin are examined.

In times of War, the media plays a crucial role both in reporting, monitoring and giving updates. During the Vietnam War of 1955-1975, the American press played crucial roles of reporting until it ended up shifting its tone under the influence of occurrence of some events like the Tet Offensive, the My Lai Massacre, the bombing of Cambodia and leaking of Pentagon papers resulting into lack of trust in the press (Knightly 1975). From the beginning of the war up to present times there have been undying debates over the role of media in the war. The have been various criticisms over the American News Media’s actions and influences on the outcome of the war. The debate is embedded on the particular political assumptions perceived across the

The Vietnam War affected greatly the media. This is because the media was mainly used to communicate and spread word about protests and social gatherings. The media was also used by Americans to ensure that their views were heard. This ensured the protest outcome was better. The productivity of protests became increased as more media joined in to relay messages during the protests. In such protests, the government would violate the constitutional rights of the American citizens by preventing them from speaking their minds. This, as stipulated by the constitution on the bill of rights, barred them from enjoying the right of free speech. At that point, the Americans realized that the constitution was bigger than the administration of the government, and they protested even more to ensure that their constitutional privileges were not