Source E is the instructions given to the guerrillas from the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. It tells the guerrillas how they should treat civilian people. It states that ‘when staying in a civilian house, maintain it as if it is your own’. This shows that the guerrillas looked after and treated innocent civilians with a great deal of respect. By doing this the guerrillas gained support from the Vietnamese people. Source E contradicts source C because in source C it says that some ‘men acquired a contempt for human life’ whereas in source E it says that you should ‘love the people’.
4. Source F is an article from an American magazine and it shows that 64% of people said that television had made them feel like backing up the boys in Vietnam. Only 24% felt opposed to the war. This article was written only two years into the war and very little had happened in Vietnam in these two years. The real stories of war hadn’t come back to the American people and war still seemed attractive. This article was propaganda and used to show the government that they had the majority of the American peoples support. The majority of the media still supported the war at this time.
Source G shows that from 1965 to 1968 according to the American public the most important problem facing the country was the situation in Vietnam. Before 1965 the American people didn’t think that Vietnam was the countries biggest problem. The problems facing America before 1965 were mainly domestic problems but in 1962 ‘war peace and international problems were the most important problems facing the country. Although the American public thought that Vietnam was the biggest problem facing the country it doesn’t mean that they didn’t support the war. I know this because of what it says in source F, in 1967 the majority of people backed the soldiers in Vietnam.
Source I is an article published in an American magazine in 1970. It was published two years after it had been written. This means that the article was covered up by the military so that it couldn’t get back to the American public. The American government knew that public opinion was very important. If the public turned against the war then it would have been very difficult to carry on. The article is about the My Lai massacre in 1968. This story did turn the public opinion because it shows how awful the war was and it also showed the American people that a lot of innocent Vietnamese people were being killed. This was the story that did turn the American public against the war.
These three sources are fairly important sources as they show the general feeling of the American public during the Vietnam War. I think the least useful of these sources is Source I. This is because it is only an article from a magazine and it doesn’t show the public reaction to the Vietnam War. There is no information given to show peoples reaction to this article. I think though that other evidence would be necessary to show accurately the public reaction in the USA to the Vietnam War.
5. Source G shows how the American publics opinions on the most important problem facing America changed when the war started. It shows that from 1965 to 1968 the public thought that Vietnam was the most important problem facing the country. However it doesn’t show whether the public were against the war or whether they supported it. It certainly shows thought that it was a very important problem.
Source H is a letter from an American soldier and it was written in 1969 towards the end of the war. It is very anti war and makes war sound evil and terrible. In the letter the soldier describes ‘every day a new bunch of kids ripped to pieces’. Many of the soldiers out in Vietnam would have written letters, as it was one of the only means of communication. The letters from the soldiers changed as the war went on. The soldiers turned against the war and wrote letters describing the terror of the war. This meant that the people back in America found out what the war was really like. In this letter the soldier described kids who are just 18 or 19 with ‘their whole lives ahead of them’. This will have brought back to the reader the real nature of the war. From all the letters from the soldiers the real nature of the war was being brought back to the American people. It also says in this source that the soldier is ‘sick to death of it’, this showed the American people that the soldiers didn’t want to fight any more and there was a very low morale among the soldiers. Because the soldiers were unhappy in Vietnam this would have made the people back in America unhappy. Many families wanted their sons back from war and much of the public’s opinion about the war changed due to this.
The article in source I was printed two years after it was written. This was because it showed the evil of war and the American government knew that it would change the opinions of some Americans about the war. The article is a horrific account of the My Lai massacre in March 1968. It shows that many innocent civilians, some who were very young were being killed by American soldiers in a dreadful way. This article uncovered what really was happening in Vietnam. It relates to source C where it says there ‘mission was not to win terrain, but simply to kill’. This shows that the soldiers were like machines and were only out to kill. This article horrified many American people who couldn’t believe what was happening in Vietnam and who couldn’t believe the awful things some of the American soldiers were doing. It changed many opinions.
Source J is a photo taken in 1968 in My Lai when the My Lai massacre took place. Although it was taken in 1968 we are not told when it was released. It shows very frightened people who are frightened as a result of American action. This photo is very graphic and will have had an impact on the people who saw it. It shows the American people the truth and it isn’t an exaggeration because it is a photo. Like source I this will have horrified a lot of people.
Source K is a song which comes across as an anti war song. In the chorus it says ‘Open up the Pearly Gates. Ain’t no time to wonder why we’re all gonna die!’ This is referring to the gates of heaven. It suggests that the American soldiers were going on a suicides mission and they were all going to die. This is also carried on at the end of the song where it says ‘be the first ones on your block to have your boy come home in a box’. These lines showed the American public that their boys had no chance in Vietnam. In the second verse the songwriter mentions Wall Street and how there is plenty of money to be made from the war. This showed the American public that money was being made from a nasty war. In verse three it says ‘Cause the only good commie is one that’s dead’. This relates to source C where one reads about the American soldiers content for human life. This song will have reached a wide audience of Americans and its sarcasm scared a lot of Americans who worried about their boys in Vietnam. They didn’t want their boys to come home in a wooden box like it says in the song. This will have had an effect on the American peoples opinion on the war.
Source L is similar to sources H and K as all these sources show criticisms of the war. This source shows an American describing what a suit can be worn for. All the things it can be worn for are American things and relate to an American lifestyle. The American uses very American language and comes across as an Uncle Sam figure. There is a Vietnamese person wearing the suit saying ‘it don’t fit’. This is very brief but the message comes across in a simple way. The Vietnamese person is not only referring to the suit but also the American life style. He is saying that he doesn’t want to be like an American and he can’t change his life style, which is very different. The American man is looking down on the Vietnamese man but the Vietnamese man isn’t looking up to the American man. The American man is smiling whereas the Vietnamese is very unhappy wearing something, which isn’t right for him. This cartoon went out to a wide audience of American people. It changed opinions about the war because the Americans realised that they couldn’t force themselves onto the Vietnamese. They realised that the Vietnamese people were very different to the American people and had contrasting lifestyles. It showed Americans that the Vietnamese were very different people. The American publics opinion changed as they realised that the cultures were very different.
6. I believe that television did play an important part in changing peoples attitudes to The Vietnam War. At the beginning of the war televisions were becoming more common in America and they were used to tell the American public the news. Obviously the Vietnam War was the biggest news at the time and every day the American public were told about what had been going on in Vietnam. In source F from an article in Newsweek published in 1967 I can see that 64% of the American people supported the war and only 24% opposed it. This shows that the television encouraged the majority of viewers to support the war. This article was written at the beginning of the war when it wasn’t as serious. At the beginning of the war most of the press and public supported the war. Therefore what was shown on the television would have been biased towards the Americans. Most of the footage was of the Americans killing the Vietnamese and of the American soldiers who are enjoying themselves and who are looking happy. As more stories of the war were brought back to the American public less supported it and the footage shown on the television changed.
Source K is a song written in 1967 at the same time as the article in source F. This song was written because songs reach a very wide audience through the radio. During the Vietnam War many songs were written protesting the war. The most famous songwriter who wrote protest songs was Bob Dylon. He wrote many songs that were very influential and he gained the support of many young people. There was also a student protest movement. This was made up of students who didn’t want to be drafted in. They burnt draft-cards and many immigrated to countries near to America such as Canada. Thousands of students protested with riots. The students made their protests very public so that they could gain more support in opposing the war.
The television was also reaching a very wide audience and it was very influential in changing the public’s opinions. If the television companies changed their opinions of the war then it meant that a lot of the American public’s views on the war changed. This is what happened, the TV companies decided that they no longer supported the war and therefore they showed footage of American soldiers being killed in bloody ways. The television was a very powerful thing and was used to influence the views of the American public.
Although the television did play an important part in changing people’s attitudes to the Vietnam War, I don’t think that it played the biggest part in changing attitudes. There were many other factors such as newspaper and magazine articles and letters sent from the American soldiers. Source H is an example of a letter from an American soldier written in 1969. Many letters were sent back from the soldiers in Vietnam, as there were no other means of communication. They were very important as they told the reader what was really going on in Vietnam. Towards the end of the war many of the letters sent home from Vietnam were very anti war and told the readers how happy the soldiers were. The letter in source H is an example of one of these letters. This influenced the readers who turned against the war, as they wanted their friend or family member home.
I also think that articles in magazines and newspapers were very important in changing people’s attitudes to the Vietnam War. Source I is an example of an article written about the My Lai massacre in 1968. Many readers will have read this article as it went out to a very large audience of readers. Other articles like this, which told the reader about all the nasty things, which were happening in Vietnam, would also, have been read by a big audience.
Overall I think that television did play a big part in changing peoples attitudes to the Vietnam War but it wasn’t the only factor. The articles in newspapers and magazines and letters also played a big part in doing this as did the fact that America was losing the war.