Why did the US withdraw from Vietnam in 1973

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Matthew Barden        History Coursework        Sutton Grammar School

ASSIGNMENT: MODEL A1: VIETNAM

Explain why the United States withdrew its forces from Vietnam in 1973.

America had been involved in Vietnam for many years financially and actively. The French returned to their Indo China after the Second World War and although they received financial backing from the US they were defeated by the Vietminh. In Geneva in 1954, it was agreed that Vietnam would be divided in two – North Vietnam ruled by the communist Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam led by Ngo Dinh Diem. President Eisenhower made it clear they would support Diem as America opposed communism.  In 1960, President John F Kennedy agreed to send military experts to South Vietnam as well as equipment in an attempt to stop the spread of communism. By 1968 there were 536,000 American troops fighting in the difficult conditions in Vietnam.

The main reason the US withdrew from Vietnam in 1973 was pressure from the media and the American people. The mass protests to end the war put the American government under a lot of pressure to withdraw. The media coverage provoked demonstrations throughout America. People also felt the need to protest because of increased taxes, the drafting policy and the fact the war seemed of no relevance to the American people. The manner of protest was extreme and this increased the unrest. The brutal handling of these protests by the authorities added to the anger. The timing of the withdrawal was significant because the American economy was suffering and the army was trapped in a deadlock in Vietnam. Also Nixon wanted to fulfil his election promise of ending the Vietnam War.

The western media coverage of Vietnam was uncensored so the press reported and commented on whatever they wanted. The media was the public’s only source of information about events in Vietnam.  Although the media did put a negative spin on information from Vietnam they cannot be completely blamed for the one-sided coverage of the war. Journalists in Vietnam could follow an American patrol taking photographs, film footage and report back on events. However, journalists could obviously not employ this method with the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). The North Vietnamese government controlled what was reported about their army’s activities. This situation meant the media provided the public with an explicit insight into the horrific deaths of American soldiers, the terrible effects of defoliants, war crimes committed by the US army as well as their mistakes. However, there was very little information on similar occurrences involving the NVA or Vietcong.

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Reports of chemical warfare and war crimes provoked the biggest reaction from the American public. The use of the chemical, Agent Orange that caused babies to be born deformed and war crimes such as the torture of prisoners, was seen as so inhumane they undermined the reason for Americans being there. The America government went to war to save Vietnam from the ‘evils of communism’ but it appeared they were fighting the war without any ethics at all. This opinion was emphasised by reports of such incidents as the destruction of the village, My Lai, where an entire Vietnamese ...

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