This statement suggests that television was an important reason why the united states lost the war in Vietnam. Is there sufficient evidence in sources D to K to support this interpretation?

“The war on colour television screens in American living rooms has made Americans far more anti-war than anything else. The full brutality of the combat will be there in close-up and in colour, and blood looks very red on the colour television screen”.

(A statement made by the a BBC commentator in 1970 to members of the British armed forces.)

This statement suggests that television was an important reason why the united states lost the war in Vietnam. Is there sufficient evidence in sources D to K to support this interpretation? Use the sources and knowledge from your studies to explain your answer.

Since the middle of the 1940’s the cold war between America and Russia had been raging. America feeling threatened by the rapidly advancing communism, which was consuming the world country after country. The U.S.A since the time of the Truman doctrine had followed a policy of containment as they thought that if south Vietnam fell to communism then it was only a matter of time before the rest of the world followed and then eventually America itself.

The Vietnam War lasted twenty years it was a very vicious and devastating war, the Americans were defeated for the first time this was because the soldiers were not prepared for the guerrilla warfare practised by the Vietnamese. This involved the Vietcong working in civilian dress, making attacks and then disappearing into the jungle and also preparing a variety of traps and ambushes, which were unknown to the young American soldiers. They had been taught to fight an enemy face to face and could not cope with these covert tactics.

A Vietnamese poster, which was printed during the war shows how guerrilla attacks are made, it showed the soldiers attitude towards the attacks and shows that they were terrified of the hidden enemy. Attacks like those shown in the poster would seriously affect their spirit and morale thus causing more losses and casualties against the Vietnamese. Guerrilla warfare, tactics and traps were responsible for most of the reason that America did not win the Vietnam War. The poster may not have been shown on the television but many other examples of guerrilla warfare would have been.

During the war, ‘Time’ magazine, a prestigious American publication printed a shocking picture on its front cover. This picture was shown all over the world, on TV, in newspapers, it shows two children crying and screaming running away from a napalm attack with the American soldiers looking very unsympathetic towards them. The picture was very emotive and when it was published back home in America the American people were disgusted by the thought of their soldiers in Vietnam killing innocent children.

The Americans also deployed a variety of other weapons, which included a defoliant Agent Orange that ...

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The Americans also deployed a variety of other weapons, which included a defoliant Agent Orange that they sprayed into the air over the jungles, When the Agent Orange touched any plant life it would cause it to wither and die. The aim of this was to clear the jungle so that the Vietnamese would have nowhere to hide and would have to fight face to face as the Americans had been trained, unfortunately the Americans did not bank on the growth rate of the jungle because within a week, the time it took to deploy a unit, it had grown back to the extent that you would have never known it had been destroyed. After the war it was found out that Agent Orange gave you cancer among many other illnesses, after the war was over many Vietnamese and Americans died from the effects of Agent Orange. Also the Americans used napalm, which is an aluminium soap of various fatty acids that when mixed with petrol makes a firm jelly that they used in some bombs and mainly in flamethrowers.

Three months after being elected president, Lyndon B. Johnson launched Operation Rolling Thunder. Unlike the single bombing raid in August 1964, this time the raids were to take place on a regular basis. The plan was to destroy the North Vietnam economy and to force her to stop helping the guerrilla fighters in the south. Bombing was also directed against territory controlled by the NLF in South Vietnam. The plan was for Operation Rolling Thunder to last for eight weeks but it lasted for the next three years. In that time, the US dropped 1 million tons of bombs on Vietnam. This caused many people to start protesting in America as they thought that America should mind their own business.

An American journalist working for the American press as a correspondent in Vietnam he describes how it was to identify the enemy; he also describes the weapons that the Americans used and their devastating affects. He goes on to say that the Americans hadn’t come to Vietnam to act like nazis and that it is little wonder that the Vietnamese do not see the Americans as saviours. In 1971 a public opinion pole showed that 71% that’s nearly three quarters of the country were against the Vietnam War. Although this source would not be directly shown on TV the attitude towards the war would have been.

During the war was one of the lowest points for America’s history in which hundreds were killed during the atrocity of My Lai. After a particularly heated and dangerous couple of weeks, the soldiers of Charlie Company came upon My Lai. Charlie Company had taken casualties, and the unit was known for its violent tactics. Two platoons went into My Lai looking for Viet Cong fighters, on the orders of Lt. William Calley. According to various accounts, the soldiers were given decidedly mixed messages about what to expect. Men, women and children, including babies, were killed in the carnage that followed. Praying children were shot in the back of the head, elderly men were hacked to death with bayonets. People were shot on their knees, in the back, with their hands in the air.

More than 500 people were killed in just hours. Some of the corpses were mutilated. Some women who weren't killed were gang-raped. Lt. William Calley who was in charge of Charlie Company was sent back to the United States for trial along with 5 other soldiers he was charged with 109 counts of murder, an appalling number but well below the real death toll. Calley was given life but only served three years after a pardon from president Nixon this sentence didn’t nearly match the crime that he and the soldiers out of Charlie Company that took part in the atrocity committed. The whole thing was likened to what the Nazis did to the Jews. The incident created even more anti-war feelings among the American people. The events which happened in My Lai would not have been shown on TV but they would have almost certainly been talked about on TV as would other search and destroy missions have been.

In 1967 a cartoon was published in ‘punch magazine’ which shows how President Johnson was sacrificing his dream of a great utopia i.e. feeding and sheltering the homeless, because he was using the country’s economy to fund the war effort. The prospect of the country’s economy may have not been shown on TV but it will have certainly have been discussed.

During 1970 there was an anti war protest at Kent state university this was brought about by such events as the innocent killings of hundreds of people at My Lai and that pictures were being shown in the press of the American soldiers mercilessly attacking innocent children. Also the fact that the war was draining a lot of money out of the country’s economy did not please many American citizens. Since the start of the Vietnam War and the publics backing for the war steadily sliding, student from universities all over America had been protesting for the end of the war, but all this came to a peak during May 1970.

President Nixon announced he had ordered US troops to invade Cambodia, a neutral state. Nixon's escalation of US involvement in the War contradicted his promises to start withdrawing America from the war this was a catalyst for protests all over the nation. One school's protests, Kent State, would create after effects felt throughout the nation. At Kent State University in Ohio, students expressed disapproval and rage with Nixon, and their protests quickly turned violent. On May 3, the Ohio governor ordered the National Guard to Kent State, and on May 4, guardsmen fired shots at student protesters. Four students were killed and nine wounded and was shown on TV as there were cameras there covering the protest, this shocked the whole of America as there children were being killed by there own countrymen because of the war in Vietnam. After the events at Kent state university it caused uproar among student colleges All over America people staged even more protests, boycotted classes and more violence followed

Results of an Australian opinion poll showed that most countries were anti war; this does not directly relate to US TV but shows that most countries were against the Vietnam War.

The development of satellite communications during the war brought television into the Americans living rooms and played a major part in the loss of the war by inciting anger in the American people over how the war was being fought, it also led to things not directly being shown but talked about and discussed on TV. The killings of the four students at Kent state university would also have been shown on TV with cameras being they’re covering the protests. Although TV did play a major part in the Americans losing the war it was not solely to blame also there were the factors like the soldiers not being prepared for the guerrilla tactics used by the Vietnamese. Also public pressure led also to America losing the war, there were many contributors to the Americans losing the war and television was just one of them.

By Craig Thompson 10TRM