Their efforts to win the war also became questionable when the military planned to stop the flow of supplies to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The supplies had to be stopped because that was what kept the guerilla war going but they could not stop it. At this point, it was an obvious struggle for the Americans to win this war.
Another turn of events that caused different reactions in the American community was when President Johnson did not seek re-election. The Republicans won the 1968 election and Richard Nixon became President. He soon started ‘Vietnamization’ which pulled out US troops and getting the Southern Vietnamese Army to do the fighting. It was hoped that this policy would eventually enable the United States to withdraw gradually all their soldiers from Vietnam.
After a while, the number of US soldiers killed in the war rose to 160 people a week. This number made the Americans aware of how many were dying, and that their relatives could be next. These bodies would be returned to America in body bags, which was a powerful sight to see when pictures of these body bags were shown in the newspapers. This highlights that the media was a key player in ensuring that the people at home got an explicit idea of what really was occurring in the war of Vietnam.
Another serious blow to the American community came with the exposure of the My Lai massacre during March 1968. An American community came out on a search and destroy mission but the mission soon unfolded into a massacre killing over 300 unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly. Lt. William Calley, the commander of the troops, ordered his men to enter the village firing, although there had been no report of opposing fire.
When the Americans heard the story of the My Lai massacre, serious questions arose concerning the conduct of American soldiers in Vietnam. The investigation on the My Lai massacre found a lot of mistakes in the army. There were widespread failures of leadership, discipline, and morale among the Army's troops. As the war progressed, many soldiers had retired. Many more had died. In their place were new soldiers whose leadership in the field of battle was not very high.
The My Lai Massacre was also a powerful boost to the huge peace movement who wanted the war stopped. Huge protests brought together the various direct-action movements. Some protests became violent. Some protestors were even shot dead with live ammunition by US troops.
The reactions of the USA were also split by racial differences. Black Americans were mad about certain facts about Vietnam. For example, more black than white soldiers were dying in Vietnam, in proportion to their numbers in the US. This caused anger among the black people who thought black soldiers were being used as pawns in Vietnam. Hugely prominent black icons such as Martin Luther King instructed black people not to fight in Vietnam. He felt that black soldiers should not risk their lives for a country that deprives them of their human rights. He believed that the true fight for black people was at home in the USA.
Reactions to Vietnam were different in the 60's because the war became very intense during these times. At first, the war was unimportant until the US people realized they could not win the war. Events, politics and race split the country and these meant reactions would be different depending on where you stood. America was becoming very liberated so reactions would always be different.
