The media was valuable in showing the American citizens the US tactics such as chemical weapons: Agent Orange, Napalm and others. As Source A shows, these weapons were very dangerous and cause a lot of havoc throughout North Vietnam. Although the chemical weapons assisted the US military against the Viet Cong, the media had a powerful impact on the people of America as they were horrified by the use of these chemical weapons.
Another horrifying US tactic that the media covered was the Search and Destroy missions. US air forces would go to Vietnamese villages starting firing and using air raids to bomb the villages, trying to kill any Viet Cong soldiers. The photo in Source B was manipulated so that you thought that why this innocent man was getting shot, but when you read Source C, you realize that the man was murdering the South Vietnamese soldier and their families. You realize that the media can be manipulated to make you think in different ways.
The Tet offensive was a military campaign between January and April in 1968. NVA forces launched a large and completely unexpected attack on nearly all cities in Vietnam. Many US military bases were affected by the attack. Over 4,300 American and South Vietnamese soldiers were killed during the Tet Offensive. 16,000 were wounded and over 1,000 were missing. North Vietnamese and Viet Cong casualties numbered approximately 45,000, with an additional 7,000 taken prisoner. Even though from a Viet Cong perspective the Tet Offense wasn’t a complete success, the morale of all the US soldiers went down as they thought there was no way that they could win the war and the Viet Cong would kill them eventually. The media conveyed the campaign very effectively. An important man part of the media during the war was Walter Cronkite. He was one of few people who were reporting the Vietnam War in Vietnam. Cronkite came to cover the aftermath of the Tet Offensive. Cronkite was invited to dine with General Creighton Abrams, the current commander of all forces in Vietnam. While dining Abrams told Cronkite, "we cannot win this goddamned war, and we ought to find a dignified way out.”
Back in America, the media was telecasted live and showed all of the realities of war. Many Americans said the war was immoral. Because of the media the Americans were able to see the dead and injured body count and the media caused many protests. There were over 100000 protestors outside Pentagon, Washington 1967. 4 years later, a huge crowd of 300000 took part in the Veterans March. The media was linked in these things because of the protest songs. The protest song raised a great amount of awareness towards the Vietnam War.
The media affected the war greatly as it was the first war to show the realities of warfare to the people at home, who are in their comfort and don’t realize how much people sacrifice in the war. The media had an important role in the war as it changed the war itself. The media showed the realities of war such as chemical weapons, Search and destroy mission, air raids, surprise attacks (Tet offensive) etc. The media caused people in America to make the US government realize that there was no point for America to be part of the war in the first place as Vietnam was a country far away and that they had no right to impose their view towards a poor nation like Vietnam. The media had an important role in the war as it affected the war greatly.
