This war was different from all other wars that had been fought, it was uncensored and nearly everything that took place in Vietnam was shown on US television, which had a profound effect on the American public. To begin with, the United States media were in favour of the war. The chief editor of Life Magazine in 1965 wrote that ‘the war is worth winning’. Gradually though, attitudes began to change. Two years later, that same editor wrote in October 1967 that the United States was not really threatened by the communists in Vietnam and that the war was not worth the lives of young Americans. In December 1966 the North Vietnamese finally permitted an American journalist to visit North Vietnam. Harrison Salisbury was from the respected New York Times. He reported on the destruction to civilian areas and the many civilian casualties caused by American bombing raids. This would have had a very negative impact upon US society as it represented the war as criminal and evil. The United Sates military had always denied that their bombs hit civilian casualties, they claimed, then there weren’t many of them. The journalist’s reports widened still further the ‘credibility gap’. This is the difference between what the American military and government said and what the American people believed. The wider the gap, the less the people believed.
Actions by opponents of the war in the United States were supported by the news media. The media, no doubt, helped to back up the message that the war was ‘illegal’ and ‘immoral’ 3
This source most definitely shows how the war affected US domestic politics and society. The people relied heavily on the media to provide it with all the news. If the media portrayed the war as ‘illegal’ and ‘immoral’, then the people at home would develop negative feelings about the war. Hatred grew among the people of the US as they started to realise that the US was acting like a bully of the world. As the war drew on the worse the situation got and more and more anti-war movements started to evolve. We also learn from this source about the importance of the media in affecting society and public opinion. If the war was censored, like previous wars, then the war would have had a very different affect on US society and public opinion would have been very positive. The media played a crucial part in the war as it showed the American people the truth and made them realise what their government was doing.
By 1968 the United States military in Vietnam had become very suspicious of the role of the American media. They were convinced that they were turning public opinion in the United States against a war that the American and South Vietnamese forces were winning. It is more likely that journalists were only reflecting a change of opinion among the people of the United States.
In August 1967, for the first time, an opinion poll showed that more Americans thought the war was a ‘mistake’ than those who thought it was right. It’s worth pointing out, though, that this poll was taken just after President Johnson had announced an increase in taxes to pay for the war. The war was costing American’s $20 billion a year at this time.
On 31st January 1968 70,000 Vietcong launched a massive attack on 100 towns and cities in South Vietnam. It was launched during the Vietnamese New Year or Tet holiday. A 15-man VC suicide squad fought its way into the American embassy in Saigon. Within six hours they were all dead. But the political effect of this daring attack was much more important than the military result. The news film of the Tet Offensive had a dramatic effect. Especially stunning was film of the Vietcong guerrillas fighting in the grounds of the United States embassy. Walter Cronkite, America’s most respected television journalist, saw the news film. ‘What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning this war,’ 4 he said. Cronkite’s opinion would influence millions of Americans. ‘If I’ve lost Walter, I’ve lost Mr Average Citizen,’ 5 President Johnson said.
‘Public ‘support’ for the war had been slipping steadily for two years before Tet. This was a trend caused by the increasing casualties, rising taxes and, especially, the feeling that there was no end in view. For a brief moment after the Tet offensive began, Americans rallied behind the flag in a predictable display of patriotic fervour. But their mood of despair quickly returned as the fighting dragged on, and their support for the conflict continued to fall.’ 6
This source is another example of how the war affected US domestic politics and society. This source sums up, very briefly, the impact of the war on US society. The Tet offensive clearly showed that America was losing the war. The US army was caught by surprise, and even though they managed to stamp down the uprising fairly quickly, many American’s still wanted to know why the event took place in the first place. We learn from this source how agitated the US people had become, they felt very bitter because they had been lied to. The war was costing them money, which they believed the government had no right to take of them, especially when they had been lying to their own people.
By 1967 a national movement against the war had developed. Opposition came from a variety of political points of view. Some were socialists or radicals who sympathised with the struggle of the people of Vietnam to create an independent and unified Vietnam. Others were pacifists who were against the war on moral and religious grounds. They believed that all war is wrong and that this one in particular was against Christian teaching.
7
‘I’m against all wars. I did this as a religious act’ 8
The above sources show that all kinds of people protested against the war and that it affected the Society in general and not just certain parts of it. We learn that religious people actively protested against the war and even went to extreme measures, such as committing suicide, to put their message across. Black Americans were also against it because draft laws hit them hardest. About 12 per cent of Americans were black but the percentage of draftees who were black was 16 per cent. One famous person that spoke out for black Americans was Martin Luther King, he actively took part in protests and believed that young black men were, once again, being treated unfairly because they were poor and so were being targeted by the draft law.
‘We were taking the young black men who had been ruined by our society and sending them 8000 miles away to defend freedom in South East Asia – a freedom which they had not found in their own country, in places like South West Georgia and East Harlem. Instead, we have repeatedly seen the cruel image of Negro and white boys on TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to provide schools in which Negro and white children can sit together’ 9
This source shows how the blacks felt about the war, we can clearly work out that they were very bitter about the war. One of the reasons why black American’s were against the war was because they had to fight for a country that treated them as second class citizen’s. As well as this, black American’s were annoyed at the fact that the plans for a Great Society had been scrapped, because as most black’s were relatively poor the money that would have been invested in the Great Society would have helped them solve their daily problems as they would have received more welfare from the government.
Many middle-class Americans were also against the war. By 1967, the death rate had risen to 160 American deaths a week. American parents did not want their sons to die far from home in a war they did not understand. This clearly shows one negative impact the war had on society as the people of the US fought in a war they did not even comprehend, this shows the carelessness of the US politicians who failed to meet the needs of their own people.
The students of America found innovative methods to protest against US involvement in Vietnam. Apart from mass demonstrations, the nation’s universities were disrupted by students and staff holding ‘teach-ins’ at which normal lessons were cancelled and replaced by discussions on the rights and wrongs of the US commitment in South-East Asia. ‘Sit-ins’ were organised to disrupt the organisation of the war in the USA. Students sat on railway lines to stop trains carrying troops or supplies and in the middle of recruitment offices to upset further induction.
The growing number of protests forced the federal government to increase the number of young men summoned for military service. The draft was necessary because not enough young men volunteered for the army. This led to further chaos for the government as many people dodged conscription by fleeing to neighbouring Canada or by simply burning their draft cards. Some burnt their cards in public, others just refused to report for training. Both were criminal offences and by the end of 1969 there were 34,000 draft-dodgers wanted by the police.
‘My name is John Lacey. I was born in 1945 and brought up in New York. I left America in 1967 just after leaving college. I did this to avoid being drafted. I went to Canada and then to Sweden where I lived till there was an amnesty for the draft-dodgers which let me return to the USA’ 10
Here is another example of how the war affected US society. This source shows how draft dodgers operated. They were forced to go into exile because they believed the US had no right to be in Vietnam. In other words the US government banned freedom of opinion, young men were forced to fight, even if they didn’t want to. We also learn from this source that public support was slipping at a very fast rate and that more innovative kinds of protests were being carried out.
One other way the war affected US society was that it forced famous singers to write songs promoting peace. One famous example is ‘give peace a chance’ by one of the Beatles stars. This furthermore increased the pressure on LBJ and the time came when he was unable to handle it. In March 1968 Johnson announced that he would not stand for re-election as president in November. He realised that the war would cost him any chance of being re-elected. Developments like this encouraged the anti-war movement. Huge protests marches against the war took place in 1969, 1970 and 1971. Perhaps as many as 500,000 took part in the protest in Washington in April 1971. Leading the way were Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
‘Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids you kill today?’ 11
This source shows us how the war impacted upon the American people, we can see that they were clearly very angry as they were chanting indecent assaults at their own leaders who had led the USA into this war. It was protests like these that put Johnson under pressure to solve the problem quickly in South-East Asia. This he was unable to do and the pressure got the better of him, forcing him to quit.
There were, however people in America that supported the war until it ended. They believed that Johnson was doing the right thing, and the US had a right to stop what it thought was wrong.
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Looking at this source, we can clearly see what the banners read. This shows us that the war had both a negative as well as a positive affect on US society. It seems as though the war made the above people feel proud and very patriotic. However it is important to note that the number of people that supported the war was very small and that the majority of Americans were against the war.
After the war, problems continued but mainly for the war veterans. American soldiers returning to the United States may not have expected to be treated as heroes. But they certainly didn’t expect to be treated as criminals or child murderers, as they sometimes were. Medical treatment for the wounded or disabled veterans in the United States was poor. Many found it difficult to find jobs or to get their own jobs back, even though the government law made employers keep their jobs open for them. More American veterans have committed suicide since the war than were killed in the war itself.
‘‘How do you feel about killing all of those innocent people?’ the women asks me out of nowhere.’ 13
The above source is a classic example of the treatment of soldiers after the war. This source shows us how disgusted the American people were at the Vietnam war. They needed to take their anger out on something and they chose the veterans that were returning back home.
In conclusion, I believe that the Vietnam war had a massive impact upon US society and domestic politics. The war bitterly divided the nation and caused protests and political conflict between supporters and opponents. It ruined Johnson’s chances of being re-elected president in 1968 and even damaged Bill Clinton when he stood for the presidency in 1992. It may be that after more than 20 years the war now causes fewer problems in the United States. But some of the effects of the war have remained. The Pentagon Papers proved that American governments had misled the people and even lied to them about the war. As a result, many Americans are much less willing to believe what their government tells them. The governments won’t win back the trust of these Americans that easily.
1 Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco.
2 President Lyndon B. Johnson.
3 General Westmoreland gave his view on the role of the media, Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco,
p.22.
4 Walter Cronkite’s reaction to the Tet offensive, Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco, p.23.
5 LBJ’s commenting on Walter Cronkite’s reaction, Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco, p.23.
6 Stanley Karnow talks about public opinion, Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco, p.23.
7 Peace demonstrations taunt military police, Causes and consequences of the Vietnam War, p.41.
8 Roger LaPorte, member of the Catholic Worker movement, quoted in wire-service story after setting himself on fire in front of the UN building, 1965. Causes and consequences of the Vietnam War, p.40.
9 Martin Luther King speaks out against the war. Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco, p.32.
10 John Lacey explains how he dodged the draft, Vietnam; Conflict and change in Indochina, p.119.
11 Chant of anti-war demonstrators. Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco, p. 32.
12 Supporters of the war. Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco, p.42.
13 One former soldier remembers how he was treated, Vietnam 1939-75 by Neil Demarco, p.43.
