Patricia Roxas
Explain how Australian society responded to the Vietnam War
By the 1960s and early 1970s, the Australian society’s response to the Vietnam War led to division in the Australian society. The Australian society and various groups had many different views and opinions towards the Vietnam war. Many people supported the government’s decision to become involved in Vietnam as being the right thing to do in the war against communism. Supporters included the RSL, Liberal Party, Country Party, Democratic Labor Party, media and polls. While, others were opposed to the war since it was seen as none of Australia’s business and it was just causing suffering not helping. Opposers included the Labor Party, Save our Sons, Youth Against Conscription, conscientious objectors, religious groups and university students.
In the early years, the majority of Australians supported the country’s involvement in the Vietnam war because of many reasons such as being against communism. Australia felt that a communist takeover of South Vietnam would be a direct military threat to Australia. They also began to fear in the domino theory which meant that if Vietnam fell into a communist nation, so will its neighboring countries including Australia. Australia did not want to fall into a communist nation and in addition to the request for help made by the South Vietnamese government, Australia supported the war and troops were immediately sent to Vietnam. Older Australians which were part of the group called the Returned Servicemen’s League also supported the war. These people believed strongly in the idea of the Anzac Spirit and expected the younger generation to ‘do their bit’ as they had during World War II. Response from the conservative political parties such as the Liberal Party and Country (now National) Party was also in agreement with Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam war. The Australian society rallied behind the leadership of Menzies showing a lot of support for the action. In 1966, Australia warmly welcomed the visit of the American president, Lyndon Baines Johnson popularly known as LBJ. The new prime minister of Australia enthusiastically declared that when it came to Vietnam, Australia was ‘all the way with LBJ’ which meant that Australia was willing to support the US in supporting the Vietnam war. Moreover, the Deomcratic Labor Party had a very large Catholic membership and was also very anti-communist. It was determined to oppose any ALP policies - so it automatically supported the war. Response and support throughout the Australian society regarding the Vietnam war was widespread. The media were mostly in favour of the war. Many of the papers simply said Australia had no alternative, given its geographical position and its treaty commitments. In a Morgan Gallup poll held in May 1965, 52 percent said they supported government policy in Vietnam, 37 percent opposed it and 11 percent were undecided. The poll proved that there was widespread belief in the domino effect theory and that it was a popular reason for sending troops into Vietnam.
