Source B is extremely useful in two ways. Firstly, it is a perfect piece of primary evidence; it was taken at the time and can be proved that it was just by looking at it. Secondly it helps to explain why there were anti war movements, it was showing the public a young child being burnt by napalm by U.S soldiers. This was the first time the public had seen for themselves the effects of their nations army, and the morality of its actions started to be questioned.
Source C, although written by an eyewitness was only published in 1982. It tells us about the problems faced by a US soldier fighting in Vietnam. “But you’d never see anybody…” This helps us see why the American Public empathised with the soldiers, especially when truths much like this escaped.
Source D is a very valuable source. It is an article written at the time by a journalist. Such media attention caught the publics’ attention. With the reality hitting home “…couple of guys dead, others screaming in agony with their legs blown off” it was hard to ignore the harsh facts about the way the war was being fought. It also tells us about the general opinion on the war, as newspapers often reflected their views.
Source E is a British source, which is useful in telling us the views of the British, but does not really help us see the Americans point of view.
Source F is very useful, for it explains a highly important reason to do with anti war movements. “The was on colour television screens in American living rooms has made America far more anti- militarist and Anti- war than anything else”. This is exactly true. Americans were shocked at the treatment to the Vietnamese people, and they didn’t like this happening in their name.
What none of the sources mention are:
- “Fragging” (soldiers killing their own officers)
- “Draft Dodgers” (men who dodged their duty to fight in opposition to the war)
- Martin Luther Kings public speeches against the war
- Killings at Peace Protests
- “Operation Phoenix”
- The Pentagon Papers
- Support for the war.
The fact that soldiers killed their own officers shows that the moral of soldiers was not high. Many didn’t even know what they were fighting for. This angered the public, which their relatives and friends were dying for a cause they had no belief or understanding in.
None of the sources mention Draft Dodgers. This was the active refusal and avoidance of doing the duty set by the government. Many men openly burnt their draft cards as a statement against the war. Opposition groups set drafting offices on fire. In Catonsville, Maryland in May 1968, a drafting office was raided and the records of soldiers being drafted in were burnt. Two out of the nine people were priests and one was a former nun. This further outraged the general public.
Martin Luther King had a role in the anti war movement, by inspiring and openly talking about racism and injustice… “we have repeatedly seen the cruel image of Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together”. This sparred on the growing opposition to the war.
There were many anti Vietnam songs coming out. One band, “Jefferson Star ship” produced over 3 songs anti Vietnamese war. This influenced the young people of America and lead to many protests at universities, one where policemen gunned down some students. This horrified the public and lead to the general lack of support for the war.
“Operation Phoenix” was a program in which soldiers were given a quota of 3000 suspect Viet Cong members to “neutralise” in a month. The idea was to arrest them and get other names of Viet Cong members. This was very controversial. Many people arrested had nothing to do with the Viet Cong and were killed or imprisoned just to make up the quota. In 1968 evidence was being heard to decipher whether or not the US was acting criminally or not under the Phoenix programme
To further damage the reputation on the United States, the Pentagon Papers were discovered. These papers documented the fact that important decisions to step up the war had been made without their permission. Secretly, the papers were photocopied and sent to the New York Times. This again let the public see the real truth and more opposition was created.
The sources A-G do not tell us that some people were actually in favour of the war. This is part of a piece of writing written by Michael Joseph in 1974 “I wish I had a draft card, Bomb Hanoi, We love America”. This is a valuable piece of information as it gives us an objective view from both sides.
The sources A to G have valuable pieces of information that help us see why there was an anti war movement in the U.S. They do not however give ALL the information needed to understand, and as is shown in my essay there is a considerable amount more to look at before we can make an informed decision on how useful the sources A to G are.
