The clips of GI’s in Vietnam were revealed to show South Vietnamese women and children civilians being stripped and murdered. Many young women and young girls were raped but these images were never televised.
Colour television showed devastating images and the real portrayal of war. The images of a hero going to war were replaced with the image of mass murders with no point.
Television showed the horrors of the My Lai massacre, which shocked many US, citizens – the reality of the war was brought to them. After the massacre the American support dropped sharply overnight.
Young soldiers were naïve and thought that they would win the war if they killed more people, and a perfect chance to do this was during ‘Search and Destroy’ missions. In March 1968, troops were ordered to kill livestock and destroy the buildings, the unit also thought they had to kill everyone they found. In 4 hours they had killed up to 400 innocent civilians- this included no Vietcong and only 3 weapons were discovered.
The American public had access to devastating images a year later and their images of war were shattered. Protests soon started and young men did not want to be a part of this war.
Unfortunately, the young men of America had been doomed to go to war from the start. Draft cards ensured that all the able men would go to war. If you received the draft papers then you were destined to Vietnam. Draft avoidance in the beginning was seen as a criminal offence and the older generations who had fought in previous wars couldn’t understand why they did this.
The draft system was balanced in favour of white, middle class and educated Americans, but the public didn’t realise. As the experiences for war were reaching the television screens, people began to help out friends, and family- they continued with education, made up medical reports and some escaped from America. It was obvious the public support was falling. The draft system created resentment towards the government therefore the support fell.
Amongst the troops in Vietnam, drug taking became increasingly common- just like back in America. During the 1960’s, the Counter Culture rejected old values and revolutionised to experiment with drugs and have policies of Free Love, Flower Power, and children, teenagers and students grew their hair long and grew beards.
In the 1960’s in America, there was wide scale protests against the war and the money the government were ploughing into the war. The younger people didn’t want to follow in their parent’s footsteps.
The mass protests were a small indication to how the Americans felt and just how bitter they had become. It was the thing that made it clear to President Johnson that the public support that was so badly needed had fell.
Vietnam veterans joined the protest when they returned from the war and as the numbers increased they formed the ‘Vietnam veterans against the war’. They gave a powerful visual message when they appeared at protest meetings with mutilated limbs and cripples in wheelchairs. The protesters had a slogan, which they chanted which said it all on their part- ‘Hey Hey LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?’ /
On the 21st October, the opinion of the American public against the war became very clear in the form of a mass protest. The climatic protest of 50,000 people turned into a violent riot, which lasted for two days in Washington. It was a portrayal of how much the American government had lost public support in the course of a few years.
Even when Johnson was pulled out of office and Nixon appeared to be doing his job, the protests carried on, especially when America invaded Cambodia. In Kent State University, Ohio, hundreds of students were protesting and couldn’t be dispersed so guardsmen were called in. They shot at unarmed students and released tear gas- 4 students were killed and 1 was paralysed.
In conclusion, it was the media and television that had moulded the American publics reaction, especially after what came clear about the massacre of My Lai. It gave the reality of the situation after it became obvious the war wasn’t to be won after the Tet Offensive. If television hadn’t been invented then the public wouldn’t have known the full graphical horrors which resulted in protest and young men burning their draft cards. Due to this American support fell, which eventually put a stop to the war.
