This source gives a good idea of the emotions and feelings that President Johnson is going through. It is acknowledgeable that he knows that he is in a vulnerable position as not only has he taken over Kennedy without an election of any sort but has also entered a war. Therefore he is desperate to get the people on his side. He must also be very uptight as he is worried about the domino theory taking action on South Vietnam.
I think that this source is more biased then objective as it is mainly president Johnson’s opinion and his attempt to win the people’s heart. Therefore I think when he wrote this speech he made sure that the people of America would be proud of him once they heard it.
I think that this source is not that reliable as even though it gives a few of Johnson’s reasons for entering the war it is still very biased. This is because the main purpose of this speech was to make the American people have faith in their president and belie that it was right for them to enter the war.
Source B
Source B is private conversation that President Johnson is having with an unknown listener. As it is a private conversation that took place at the time, this source will be regarded as a primary source.
This private conversation is President Johnson’s own opinion. We can be sure that they are his true feelings as he thinks that only this person will be hearing what he thinks as he does not know that he is being taped. Though we know that what he is saying is his own word we can be sure that what he is saying are not his true and deep feelings and thoughts as he would not tell anyone besides his family those.
The real motivation for the person who taped this private conversation can not be known but explanations of why he decided to tape the conversation can be thought up. I think that one of the reasons he could have wanted to tape this conversation could be so that people would know what their President actually thinks. On the other hand they could have done it for money as they could have recorded it in order to sell to a newspaper. Besides this there could be a number of reasons of what motivated this person to record the conversation however the two above are the most likely.
This source was published when America was planning to get involved. Therefore the publication of this source was bound to raise a few eyebrows. In this source it is clear that President Johnson is completely against the idea of America entering the war as he does not see any relevance for them entering. Once read by the people they will think that if the ruler of our country is not sure about going into war and thinks it is pointless then obviously it can not be right.
It was also published before the American destroyer Maddox was attacked by North Vietnam. This then gives us an insight as to the real reason for why America entered the war. It is then acknowledgeable that if America was not bombed then there is a possibility that they would not have gone to war. Therefore I think that the only specific reason for America going into war was them being attacked.
Though it tells us al the reasons of why America should not enter the war it does not tell us why they should enter the war. However if common sense is used it is perceivable that the main reason that Johnson changed his mind about entering the war was when they were bombed.
Along with this source I would need to study a timeline to get an idea of the events that happened around this time. I would also have to look at the other sources in order to get a good idea of why America entered the war.
This source is very good when it comes to examining a person’s feelings as it gives us a clear image of President Johnson’s feelings. It tells us how he does not think there is any point in entering the war and how he believes that it is a mess that they will not be able to get out of. This tells us that he simply wants to avoid the war at all costs.
This source can be believed yet it can’t. You would think that as it is a private conversation president Johnson would only be telling the truth. But then you would think as we don’t know who he is talking we would think how much would he exactly tell this person? And when it comes to thinking of the person’s identity you also think how do we know that this tape has not been edited?
All in all this whole speech is very opinionated which makes a person doubt its reliability as opinions can change overnight.
Source C
Source C is an interview which was written a log time after America had entered Vietnam. Therefore source C would be classed as a secondary source.
This is an interview that someone is having with an American war critic, Professor Noam Chomsky in October 1982. It is obvious that this professor though American is completely against America entering the war and does not believe in any of the reasons that America has provided for entering the war. Professor Noam evidently produced this as he wanted to put his thoughts across and record what had happened.
I think the main reason that the professor produced it was so that the people of America who had supported their country would wake up and see the truth. Basically he wanted to tell people that it was wrong for America to enter the war and that it is wrong fro the people to believe that it was right.
Though this source was produced a long time after America had entered the war it was still written while the cold war was going on.
This source reveals that though the Americans apparently entered the war to help South Vietnam they actually ended up destroying most of the country and not protecting it from North Vietnam like they had said so. It claims that the Americans could not bear to see South Vietnam stand up on its two feet as then the country would forget about America meaning they might turn communist.
It helps us as it tells us a different view point of why America entered the war. Though it does tell us why they entered the war it only tells us so form one point of view (his point of view). This makes it very one sided.
For that reason I would need to examine the other two sources and also a study a timeline to see the events that took place between these times. I think that I would also have to do research on Professor Noam as it is not clear who he is. It would be important to know more about him as he might not be a real war critic and he might even not be American.
This source mainly consists of Professor Noam’s emotions and opinions. This is evident as he takes every opportunity to strike out at the Americans saying that they were completely unjustified for entering the war. And that they were lying about the reasons for why they were entering the war as they said they would be protecting the South from the North yet they only destroyed the South as they could not tolerate them standing up on their own two feet.
I would say that this source is mainly biased as it is only giving one side of the argument. This can be said as he is just undermining the Americans and say that they no justified reason for what they were doing.
In conclusion I would say that this source could be quite useful if someone wanted to look at why America entered the war from a different perspective.
After studying all three sources I think that it is pretty clear that the main reason that America entered the war was because their destroyer the Maddox was bombed and I think that if it was not bombed then they would not have entered the war.
