The theory was actively embraced by his successors, presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon.
The Truman doctrine:
The Truman Doctrine stated that the United States would support "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
U.S. President Harry S. Truman made the proclamation in an address to Congress on March 12, 1947 amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946-1949). The doctrine was specifically aimed at assisting governments resisting communism. Truman insisted that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with the result being a domino effect of acceptance of communism throughout the region (explained above).
Truman signed the act into law on May 22, 1947, which granted $400 million in military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.
Source A contains limited information, as it is not the whole complete speech, however the information given is enough to satisfy the reader. It shows that president Lyndon B Johnson is trying to relate him self with all of the other American presidents who were involved in the Vietnam conflict so he could show the public that he is not the only American president to show some extent of violence in Vietnam so that the public would understand that he would “have to show support for the people of south Vietnam.” It also explains, in a very biased way, why the Americans are fighting in Vietnam; it says, “We are there to strengthen world order” and “We fight because we have a promise to keep”.
Some historical questions could be raised from this source like:
- Why did the United States of America get involved in the Vietnam War?
- What are America’s aims in the war?
- Did America really need to join the Vietnam War?
As I said earlier, this source is not complete; therefore it cannot answer many historical questions, like, what exactly happened to the USS Maddox? Or, Why does America have to show commitment in other countries welfare?
This source is definitely a biased source as it only shows America’s point of view towards fighting the war in Vietnam. It shows a lot of feelings and emotions to persuade the public to back the war. This source is an unreliable source as it is not the complete speech and also because it shows a biased point of view. This source is a useful source to explain why the US got involved in the Vietnam War.
Source B:
Source B is a private conversation with the US president. This source has an unknown producer. It is also is a primary source and it is about: Is Vietnam worth it? The conversation itself took place in May 1956. It is a useful source to explain why the Unites states of America got involved in Vietnam as it comes directly from the US president in a private conversation. It explains well, but not in great detail, why the US got involved in the Vietnam War. It also shows how the cold-war tension was a major reason of this involvement in the war.
Source B is a written account on the US president Lyndon B Johnson’s private conversation. It was only months after fighting his presidential elections in America. President Johnson thought that a tough Vietnam policy would increase his votes in the elections. As I said earlier, the producer of this source is unknown. But he/she had a definite purpose for publishing this private conversation. This purpose was to let the American public know what their president thought about fighting in Vietnam.
Some historical questions could be raised from this source, like:
- Why did the untied states of America join the war in Vietnam?
- What was Vietnam really worth to America?
- Did the people of America know much about the war in Vietnam?
This source has lots of information about what the president thinks about fighting in Vietnam. It tells the reader that the president does not think much Vietnam. “What the hell is Vietnam worth to me… what is it worth to this country?” the president doesn’t want to fight in Vietnam but is forced to. “I don’t think it’s worth fighting for………and I don’t think we can get out.”
This source is a biased source as it shows the American point of view. “What is it worth to this country?” that shows that the source is shown only from one country’s point of view, therefore it is a biased source. It shows great emotion from the US president as he is confused and does not know what to do. “It’s just the biggest damn mess.” This source is not quite reliable as it is biased and incomplete. This source is a useful source to explain why the US got involved in the Vietnam War.
Source C:
This source is a written account of an interview to professor Noam Chomsky, an American war critic, in October 1982, way after the end of the Vietnam War this shows that this source is a primary source. The producer of this source, professor Noam Chomsky, had a definite purpose of producing this source. This was to spread his thoughts of fighting the Vietnam War to the US public and to show that the United States covered-up the “real causes of the war”.
Noam has always been interested in politics, and it is said that politics has brought him into the linguistics field. His political tendencies toward socialism and anarchism are a result of what he calls "the radical Jewish community in New York." Since 1965 he has become one of the leading critics of U.S. foreign policy. He published a book of essays called American Power and the New Mandarins, which is considered to be one of the most substantial arguments ever against American involvement in Vietnam. He believed that America’s involvement in Vietnam was because America wanted to dominate and control countries. He believed that the United States did not want an independent South Vietnam that was no longer dominated by America. He also believed that the US feared that South Vietnam might be able to reform and improve itself and develop its economy the US feared that because they wanted to dominate and control the south.
This source contains information on what Noam Chomsky thought about the war in Vietnam. It shows what he believed on why the US got involved in the Vietnam War. It also shows that professor Noam Chomsky did not like the US’s actions in Vietnam.
Some historical questions could be raised from this source, like:
- Why did the US get involved in Vietnam?
- Why did America fear independence of South Vietnam?
This source is an objective source as it shows both sides of the conflict, the US’s and Vietnam’s. It shows a lot of emotions of professor Noam Chomsky as he is trying to get his point of view across to other people. This source is quite reliable as it is objective and also quite true! This source is a very useful source to explain why the United States got involved in the Vietnam War.
Conclusion: Sources A to C are quite important to explain why the united states got involved in the war in Vietnam as they show different reasons and point of views for the matter.
Did the power of television force the
United States to leave Vietnam?
(Sources D to L)
Source D:
This source is a North Vietnamese poster produced and published during the war. It shows the problems faced by the Americans fighting a guerrilla war.
This poster presents a particular point of view of how the Americans struggled to fight guerrilla fighters and how they found it difficult to bring in fresh supplies of ammunition and other necessaries.
This poster is intended to influence Vietnamese people into thinking that the Americans are getting defeated and look confused. I would think that this source was produced to influence young Vietnamese men to join the National Liberation Front (guerrilla fighters), as it looks easy to defeat the confused Americans.
This source shows that the Americans did not belong there as it is not their territory and they didn’t know this particular type of warfare and they were not used to this type of war terrain. In this source, the Americans look confused, as they didn’t know their enemy well and also because they were fighting for the wrong reason on the other hand Vietnamese guerrilla fighters look skilled and ready for any opposition, as they know this type of warfare and terrain very well because they are fighting in their own country. The trucks shown at the corner of the poster show how US supplies break down easily as they come from very far distances. That leads to great economic loss.
This source answers the question positively as it would have forced the US into leaving Vietnam as it helps them to realize that their soldiers are not quite skilled in this type of warfare and it would help them to realize the great economic loss caused by this war.
Source E:
As this source is a photograph it is quite easy to tamper with it. But looking at this photograph I do not think it has been tampered with.
The photographer of this might have actually selected the view so this image might be objective rather than subjective. This photograph is showing the cruelty of American firepower as it hurts innocent young children this picture shows a young girl afraid and running away from Americans as she was hit by napalm (a US military bomb used frequently in the Vietnam war which is a chemical weapon which inflicts terrible burns causing huge pain.) this shows the cruelty of American military power.
The photograph is trying to show American cruelty towards Vietnamese people.
Source E answers the question positively because when photographs of this nature (cruelty and pain) were published in the US a lot of Americans protested against the war giving the president more pressure to pull back force from Vietnam.
Source F:
Source F is a written document on the account of Richard Hamer, an American journalist, writing in 1970. It is clearly a primary source. It was produced for a clear reason, which was to inflict his opinion of the difficulties of fighting guerrillas.
This source is an opinion, not a fact; therefore the information given might not be totally true. The information given in this source explains how the US found it difficult to combat their enemy, as they didn’t know whom it is. “Did one of them (peasants) lob the mortar? If so which one? Should you kill all of them or none of them?” this shows US troops’ confusion and struggle against enemy forces. Richard Hamer explains in this source that the Americans should at least give a warning before blasting whole villages apart with napalm. “One does not blast hamlets to dust with high explosives from jet planes miles in the sky without warning.”
Source F contains lots of various information however it does not agree with the question of Did the power of television force the United States to leave Vietnam? This source shows that the enemy are the ones who caused most damage to US forces.
Source G:
Source G is the reaction of an American soldier, in 1968, after having been told about the massacre of 347 unarmed civilians at My Lai. Source G could be a letter or diary extract from an American soldier fighting in Vietnam. The producer of this source is unknown, but his views and opinions have been recorded. The soldier tells us how he thought they came to Vietnam “to do something courageous on behalf of their country…something in the American ideal” The soldiers came to fight in Vietnam because they felt that they wanted to something for their country, but after the My Lai massacre they started realizing that that is not what they came for; the American ideal “didn’t mean slaughtering whole villages of women and children.”
Source G gives us an individual reaction to the war, the soldiers don’t like themselves for killing innocents, and they have realized their role in the war is not ‘courageous’ or in the ‘American ideal’, they put themselves in comparison with nazi’s. This gives us the impression that they are unhappy with their massacre killings of innocent unarmed civilians. The US soldiers are killing the innocent in Vietnam because they think they are killing off communism but, in fact, they do not know who their enemy is. This proves the war has no valid purpose. Source G was written in order to help the soldiers make sense of the war and their actions. They have started to think about the war and are writing to try and sort out their thoughts and feelings towards the war. The soldiers are confused as to what point there is to the war.
Source G does not help me prove that the power of television was the reason the U.S was forced to leave Vietnam. This source suggests that the reason for the American defeat was the confusion and unwillingness of the soldiers involved in the war and the fading public support forced the Americans to leave Vietnam. This source suggests that the guilty feelings of the soldiers were the reason for the defeat.
Source H:
Source H is a cartoon published in the British magazine Punch in 1967; it shows the effects of President Johnson’s war policy on Americas 'Great Society’. Source H presents the opinion of its producer. The cartoon shows International biased opinions on the war. The cartoon shows a train (representing the Vietnam war) using the wood (representing America's great society) it is made out of, as fuel. The cartoon shows the affect the war is having on the U.S Economy, the Vietnam War is being powered by the sacrifice of a Great Society. The cartoon shows how when more and more have the great society is destroyed; the faster the train (war) is going. The cartoon is showing how the American society is suffering because of the war in Vietnam. Johnson’s vision to “feed and shelter the homeless…to provide more education and medical care” is suffering because of the major cost of the war. Johnson’s promise for the great society to the American Nation is being broken because of Vietnam. The war is affecting Medical care, Education, welfare and benefits, resources and leisure (The ‘Great Society’). The money that would have gone into maintaining Johnson’s great society is now being spent on the Vietnam war, the cartoon represents the money spend on Vietnam as the burning wood. The Vietnam War is deciding how to spend the U.S economy.
Source H answers the question, of ‘Did the power of television force the United States to leave Vietnam?’, positively as it uses propaganda to tell the viewer that the Vietnam war is costing America great economical loss which helps the US president realize that it would be more successful if he pulled out of the war.
Source J:
Source J is a photograph from an American school textbook showing an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University in 1970. I do not think the photograph has been tampered with. But the photographer might have chosen the view e captured, though source J has not been taken at any specific time to capture a particular moment. The picture is of normal everyday people that attend Kent State University; the crowd is made up of the teachers and students of Kent State. All the people gathered are protesting against the war in Vietnam. There is a mix of both genders gathers in the protesting crowed, however there a majority of white people as they had more rights and money than any other race at the time. The photograph itself was not intended for propaganda reasons however there is propaganda present in the photograph.
The photograph shows us that the Americans protesting are passionate about their beliefs on the war, which means that there are lots of Americans against government decisions on the war in Vietnam. It also shows that there were speeches made on the matter as you can see in Source J; the photograph was taken from behind people standing on a type of platform, which shows how strongly people are against the war. The people demonstrating are trying hard to get their message of anti-war across to higher authorities.
Source J was published in a school textbook in 1970, after the end of the war. For this reason, the source would have had no influence on the war decisions, as it would have been over however it would have had a slight impact on the war decisions at the time of the war. Source J doesn’t agree with the set question of Did the power of television force the United States to leave Vietnam? However it does show the commitment of the American public against the war.
Source K:
Source K is a public opinion poll asked in Australia during 1969-1970 (Australia fought alongside America in the war in Vietnam). The public were asked if they wanted their forces to continue fighting in Vietnam or be brought back home. I think the Australian government organized this type of poll so that they could find out public opinions on the war. The results of the poll would have probably been published in a newspaper.
Source K is an Australian factual opinion. However it would have no impact on American decisions on the war. This source could have easily been tampered with so the results probably correspond well with the producer’s opinion. The source shows that in 1970 50% of the voters wanted to bring their forces back home. This shows that there is a majority against the war, it also means that producer probably had a negative view on the war. Source K does not provide me with enough evidence to prove that the power of television forced to United States to leave Vietnam.
Conclusion: The power of television did force the United States to leave Vietnam, but only to some extent. There are plenty of other factors for the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War.