Source 6 is a statement that was made at Fifth Avenue Peace Parade Committee. It demands that no more American youths should be sent to a war, which is doing no good to the Americans or the Vietnamese. It also says about Nazi’s and how we have learned lessons and will not go along with the aggressive war making policies of any government, even it is their own.
Source 7 is ‘Telltale Hearts’ by Adam Garfinkle, He says about how the students were rebellious and were doing it for the fashion rather than the principle. It says they did not take part in the anti-war demonstrations because they believed the war was wrong but because they were young and rebellious. This view could be the view of many American people so it is quite reliable. Who is he? Is he anti-AWM, what are his motives, what are his limitations? We need to know the answer of these questions before we can know it is a true view of American citizens to the students.
Question 4.
Study sources 8,9,10 and 11. In what ways would an historian studying the anti-war movement in the USA find these sources useful?
Source 8 would be a very useful source to an historian but it is not fully explained, for example, we need to know who started it and it only mentions that four students were shot dead doesn’t say whether any National Guardsmen were shot or how many were injured. In the top left corner you can see a gas cylinder of some sort, probably tear gas thrown by the Guardsmen. We need to know what started this and who started it. Was there a major event preceding this, why so muck trouble when they are supposed to be protesting to stop the fighting in Vietnam. Source 9 is a speech by President Nixon on the 1st May 1970. He speaks about those 'kids' in Vietnam and how great they are, and directly contrast them with the 'bums' who are the AWM and the protesters against the war. This source would show an historian that president Nixon was Desperate, Hurt and Critical. Source 10 is a direct contrast to source 9, as it is Arthur Krause, whose daughter was killed at Kent state university. He says how she resented being called a bum because she disagreed with someone else's opinion. This source is quite useful to an historian as it show an emotional bias from the other view. Source 11 is Memoirs of Richard Nixon in 1978, the US president from 1969-74. He regrets calling the AWM students at Kent state university ‘bums’. This source shows an apology from Nixon to Arthur Krause as he called his child who was killed by National Guardsmen a ‘bum’. This is a rehabilitation act for his wrongdoing. To an historian this source could be very useful as it shows how he made mistakes and wanted more support again.
Question 5a.
How might reporters of some newspapers have used the two photographs (sources 12 and 13) to represent America’s role in the Vietnam War?
Source 12 could be used in a newspaper to back up the AWM as it shows a few Vietnamese children whose clothes and skin burned off them by napalms fired by the American air force. This is a very strong source and could persuade millions of people to change their opinion on the war. The photo shows that the Americans are waging a war on women and children and not the Vietcong. The young girl in the middle has had her clothes burned off her and looks to be in great pain. The young boy in the foreground has had his trousers burned off him and his skin is also burning away. On the other view this could be for the war. In the background there are American troopers who are taking the young children to a medical centre. The caption could be changed to ‘Vietcong torture children: American troopers come to the rescue’. This would then mean it is pro-war. A caption is the all-important part in a newspaper as it can completely change peoples view on the photograph.
Source 13 is a picture of the My Lai massacre in which between 450 and 500 men, women and children were killed. The picture shows a man, woman and two young children. The massacre was carried out at the orders of Lieutenant William Cally and was carried out by his soldiers. The unarmed villagers were rounded up and shot by them, one by one. The newspapers could use this as strong back up for the AWM and would make many peoples attitudes towards the war to change. There is no way this picture could be used to support the war. A few of the reasons for the soldiers doing this is that they were Frustrated, Angry and took up a hate for the Vietnamese. Cally was later convicted of ordering the massacre.
Question 5b.
Explain the image of the anti-war movement as represented in the two extracts from songs provided in source 19. Given your knowledge of the sources provided in this unit, how accurate do you think this image is?
Haggards image is that the AWM take drugs, Burn draft cards, Hippies, Longhaired, Complainers, Parasitic and Scroungers. This is not a very accurate view of the AWM as there are a lot of normal everyday people in it. There are a few sources that back it up, for example sources 7 and 9. Source 7 says that students are rebellious and are in it for the fashion and not the principle; source 9 is a speech by president Nixon who claims that all the students who are in the AWM are all ‘Bums’ and the soldiers fighting in Vietnam are the greatest. There are a lot of sources that contrast the view of Haggard, for example source 5 shows how the Americans are losing the war and are killing innocent people. War veterans are coming home with no legs and joining the AWM. They were in the war and knew what was happening and knew they were killing innocent people. Source 4 also contrasts with this as it tells us of the loss of life and expense of the war. Source 10 is a TV interview with the father of one of the students killed by the National Guard at Kent State University, he says that his daughter was not a ‘Bum’, she just believed for what is right. She was not a hippy and she did not take drugs. Haggards view is not supported by other view such as the view in source 5 by the soldiers who were in the AWM. These sources show that Haggards view was not accurate and did not show a majority of people’s views.
Question 6.
“The Anti-War movement had little impact on the attitude of American people to the war in Vietnam”
Using the sources and your own knowledge
Explain whether you agree or disagree with this statement.
The sources I have studied differ in their opinion of their impact of the AWM on the American people and their attitudes towards the Vietnam War. Therefore this statement is open to different interpretations and there is significant evidence we have studied to support the different interpretations. In other words some sources believe the AWM have had a significant impact. Other sources state that other factors were very important in shaping the American opinion. While some other sources argue that the AWM had a negative influence and actually turned peoples opinion to support the war.
Source 1 shows the significant drop in support for the War. Source 2 backs up source 1 by showing a graph in percentage of people supporting, opposing and having no opinion on the War. The graph shows a dramatic drop in support of the War in 1967. This may have been because of an important event or string of events. Many of these sources vary in their reliability and usefulness and it is an essential part of the answer to analyse these sources. In general the evidence here is probably inaccurate and too limited to be able to come to a definite conclusion. New evidence and therefore new interpretations has meant constant re-evaluation of this question and this is likely to continue well into the future.
Sources 1 and 2 could well show a positive influence of the AWM as they show how support of the war dropped and opposition rose in 1967. These sources are of limited reliability as source 1 is out of context and we do not know when it was written. Source 2 has no indication of who made the poll, who was asked and how many. The answers of these questions would give us more reliability and therefore more interpretations. Sources 12 and 13 are true interpretations of what the AWM were fighting for. These photographs must have persuaded hundreds of thousands of people to change opinion towards the War in Vietnam. Source 12 shows Vietnamese children who have been burned by napalm dropped by the American air force. They have no clothes on and their skin is also burned, this showed how inaccurate the Americans were with their firearms. Source 13 shows the My Lai massacre in which nearly 500 men, women and children were rounded up and shot by American troops under the orders of Lieutenant William Cally. This was a significant event, which made some of the supporters of the war ashamed to be supporters. This was very significant to the AWM as they had more support. Source 14 shows us how the AWM expanded until the government were forced to pull out of the war but with its own costs of thousands of young lives and billions of taxpayers’ dollars. These sources show us that the AWM did have a significant impact on the war. Without the AWM the War may have lasted a lot longer and could have saved Vietnam from being nuked off the face of the earth.
Source 4 tells us that other factors were more important than the AWM. This source shows us the facts and figures of casualties and money spent on the war. These figures were vital in putting an end to the war. Source 7 ‘Telltale Hearts’ by Adam Garfinkle tells us that the AWM was not very big compared to the role of the media. He is trying to put the point across that the AWM was only a minor part of stopping the war and a lot of other factors were the main reason of the war coming to a halt. Sources 12 and 13 also show how media was a big factor as it gives the gore that words and banners didn’t give. The media was very close to the front line and brought all the action straight to your television set. I believe the media was a vital part of putting an end to the war. Source 15 is ‘Telltale Hearts’ again by Adam Garfinkle, this time he put s forward that the AWM didn’t help stop the war but helped to prolong it. He says they had a large image of irresponsibility and anti-patriotism.
I think at large the Media and the AWM had a joint effect to stop the war as in the end they did so. The media helped back up the AWM in their campaign to stop the attacks on Vietnam. Without the help of both of them there could have been another decade of lives lost and money wasted…Even a Nuclear attack on Vietnam that would have effected us all.
