Anti-war protests began as soon as the war did. Some Americans went far enough to burn themselves to death in demonstrations. The media played a big part in increasing the protesting and pressuring the government to end the war. Back at home Americans watched uncensored footage on their colour TVs in horror. They saw pictures of terrified children running away from soldiers, their skin peeling from napalm. They saw the piles of dead bodies from the My Lai Massacre. They couldn’t believe that their soldiers were doing this. Another reason to be anti-war was that taxes had risen to pay for the war and conscription was introduced. Many men that went to war didn’t want to do what they were doing. Many men didn’t even know what they were fighting for. The average age of a soldier was 19.
The Americans thought up new plans for fighting. One was called Operation Rolling Thunder which lasted from 1965 to 1968. It used the latest technology and surgical bombing. This meant that targets were carefully selected. Only bridges, roads, railways, barracks and supply depots were bombed. Major cities were avoided because the US didn’t want to make their relationship with the USSR even worse. Eventually, the Americans took to saturation bombing – bombing anything and everything. This increased the protesting and turned people more against the war, pressuring the government to end it. After Operation Rolling Thunder a poll revealed that twice as many Americans wanted the war to end than two years previously. There were further protests. Two Americans actually burnt themselves to death in a demonstration. The Americans also lost support of South Vietnam. The Operation also made the Vietcong more determined to win.
Another idea was search and destroy missions. It was like guerrilla fighting because it gave the Vietcong very little warning to attack. The Americans flew in helicopters and landed close to the villages. They would attack and then search the village. If there were still signs of Vietcong, the village would be destroyed. Sometimes the Americans destroyed a village because they felt like it. They did it in revenge of losing their friends in the war. Also, there were times when they really couldn’t tell the Vietcong from the peasants so they decided to attack anyone Vietnamese even when there was a likely chance that they were innocent. This put more pressure on the government to withdraw and America was losing support of South Vietnam.
To get the Vietcong that were in the jungles the US used chemical warfare. This was better to use than bombing and bulldozing because that was too expensive and took to long. The most common that were used were Agent Orange and napalm. Agent Orange was an herbicide that destroyed trees and vegetation so the Vietcong couldn’t hide in the trees. It also ruined rivers and soil. Napalm was fired at the people. It made their skin peel. Again, the US fired at innocent people on purpose as well as by accident. Americans saw media images of Vietnamese people suffering the effects of chemical warfare and were horrified. This put more pressure on the government.
The Americans set up a Strategic Hamlet Programme. This was to protect the Vietnamese civilians but also the Americans had been worried about them joining the NLF (National Liberation Front). 1.2 million were forced into safer villages. The villages had stockades built round them and were guarded by the SVA (South Vietnamese Army). The peasants were not happy about this. They didn’t want to move because it was their home and also they had to travel further to reach their rice fields. The programme caused more hostility between the USA and the Vietnamese and actually increased the number of peasants joining the NLF.
Two major incidents happened in 1968 that affected the Vietnam War. The first was the Tet Offensive. Tet is the Vietnamese New Year. The North Vietnamese Army and the Vietcong launched attacks throughout South Vietnam. Over 100 cities and military sites were attacked including Saigon where a suicide squad of 19 blew a hole in the US embassy and occupied it for 6 hours. The Americans reoccupied it room by room killing every Vietcong. President Johnson had become so unpopular because of the war that he decided not to seek re-election. Nixon became the next president and promised that he’d end the war.
The other incident was the My Lai Massacre. On 16 March, nine US helicopter gunships landed close to My Lai where there were suspected Vietcong but actually they were innocent and unarmed. Three platoons disembarked and began a search and destroy mission. One platoon was led by Lieutenant William Calley who had been described as “a kid trying to play war”. He ordered his men to explode brick homes, set fire to thatch homes, shoot livestock, poison wells, and destroy the enemy. Some soldiers didn’t want to follow Calley’s instructions but were forced to. About 500 people were killed. Some were even raped beforehand. A few survived because they were sheltered under bodies of those less fortunate. The survivors later became communists. Lieutenant Calley was seen as a hero to the Americans. But the following year the truth came out. A marine, Paul Meadlo, gave his account in a TV interview. A public enquiry was demanded. Lieutenant Calley was given a life sentence but only served three years. Americans saw the My Lai images as well and were further appalled.
There are a number of arguments as to why the USA withdrew its forces from Vietnam. Some could argue that it was because the Vietcong had a good chance of beating the US. They had more effective tactics and the war was in their country so they were familiar with their surroundings. When the French had war in Vietnam they had lost. This was significant because French was a big country with lots of resources and Vietnam was only a small, peasant country. Others argue that it was because of the cost. It was a costly war of over $165 billion. American citizens had to pay more tax to support the war. Another reason for the Americans to be anti-war was the conscription. Young men could be forced to fight. Another factor is the protest movement. Throughout the war protests increased and more and more Americans thought the war was a bad idea. The protests put big pressure on the government. Some people say the media was the most important reason for the government to end the war. Everyone had been shocked when they saw the images and heard the truth about the American soldiers. This also led to further protesting. You could say that the media coverage of the My Lai Massacre had played a big part in ending the war. I think that all of these factors helped to persuade the government to withdraw its troops. I think the main factors were the horrific media coverage and the protest movements. The government saw that the American people weren’t happy with the war and the terrible things that happened in Vietnam and saw that war wasn’t a good idea. The Americans also lost support of the Southern Vietnamese people which pressured the Government because they were on their side. America had gone into the war because they were worried about the domino theory coming true. After the war ended, it didn’t. Vietnam’s neighbouring countries stayed Capitalist.
