How was opposition to the Vietnam war portrayed in Contemporary literature, film and popular song?

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How was opposition to the Vietnam war portrayed in Contemporary literature, film and popular song?

Background

In 1954 the USA backed French troops in Vietnam that were fighting to retain the country that was once there’s under colonization. Although they did not agree with the reason for the war they us gave over $1 billion to help them win because they were afraid that the communist Viet minh would set up government and spread there ideology. This was known as the “domino theory”. Despite all this the French lost. Peace talks were held in Geneva which decided the best thing to do was to split the country in two along the 17th parallel. The USA pledged there supported to the South which was capitalist, and gave them financial backing and arms. This was not a good idea as the corrupt government of the south sold most of these weapons to the Communists.

Much of the south supported the communist north and they staged an uprising. America was not happy, as they believed that this would start the events of the “domino theory.” They decided to give the south money and even went as far as sending 10,000 advisors in November 1963 to teach the southern forces in the art of conventional fighting. This was useless, as the National Liberation Front (NLF) fought a guerrilla war on the south. The South Vietnamese army became very unpopular north and south after a number of innocent peasants were tortured and executed. Later that month Diem, the leader of the south was killed and his government overthrown. People danced in the streets on both sides, as they believed they now had freedom from a corrupt government that did care about its people. Later that month the new president of America, Lyndon Johnston declared a full-scale war on the NLF.

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Literature

In the early years of the war most literature supported the war as they did not want to seem unpatriotic but as it dragged on opinions began to change. With the birth of the “flower power” era peace and love became very desirable to many people. On the 27th June 1969 “life” magazine printed all 242 Americans that were killed during the week in the “Hamburger Hill” incident. Each dead soldier had there picture displayed on a full page. This showed the public that were was more to lose than public money. It reinforced the anti-war sentiment in the country. ...

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