In comparison to this the influence of the anti-war movement also resulted in the failure of the US. This was because many citizens in the US were against the war and wanted the US to withdraw from Vietnam. The Presidents and senators had to consider the views of the voters, but attitudes for the war were always mixed. Therefore the consensus in favour of US policy had broken down but it was not replaced by a new agreement against the war but by division. In addition, events such as the protests over the invasion of Cambodia in 1970 added to the pressure on the congress to limit the powers of the president to send more troops to Vietnam without their consent. Hence it can be argued that the anti-war movement caused the failure of political will to pursue the war to victory by making a full commitment. Although this could be a possible reason for the failure of political will, the sequence of the US involvement in Vietnam, from Kennedy onwards, indicates a lack of political nerve even before anti-war sentiment was apparent. Therefore we can conclude that the anti-war movement was a minor factor which added to the pressure that caused uncertainties in the government whilst making decisions.
Additionally, another factor which also resulted in the failure of the US to win the war was the role of the media. This was primarily because the media undermined the war efforts for which Johnson criticised them for this. In August 1965, the CBS news showed a marine setting fire to peasants’ huts with a cigarette lighter. Therefore Johnson accused the media of having “shat on the American flag.” After this in 1969, there were constant reports of deaths and causalities, which produced a war-weariness that led to a decline in the support for the war. Consequently the military accused the media for “stabbing in the back,” although this thesis ignores the substantial degree of freedom Westmoreland was given to pursue counter-insurgency measure. On the other hand, opinion polls showed that television coverage may have reinforced attitudes in favour.
Another factor includes the failures of the military. Many writers have blamed the military rather than the government, most notably William Colby. Westmoreland pursued the wrong tactics of conventional warfare and showed, like the French before him in Diem Bien Phu that a conventional war could not win Vietnam but the US military failed to appreciate its significance, therefore, they had little understanding of how to counter guerrilla tactics. Thus US counter-insurgency tactics, for instance Search and Destroy missions, didn’t work. Additionally, air bombing campaigns such as Operation Rolling Thunder were ineffective against the rural based economy and lacked specific military and industrial targets, like that in North Vietnam. The only way to defeat guerrilla tactics was to win the support of the local population upon whom these tactics depended for their successes. But the US high command failed to appreciate this, instead relied too heavily, on superior military technology. Hence the use of napalm and incidents such as Mai Lai simply alienated the Vietnamese people.
Finally the US failed to understand the Vietnamese context, which further resulted in their defeat. The US government failed to see the National Liberation front as anything other than a Communist organisation. They should have seen it as a powerful home of nationalism which in practice, was. In addition, the US government also ignored the attraction of Communism mainly from people who had previously been exploited economically and were living in unendurable conditions. Furthermore the US failed to win the support of the South Vietnamese people and, in many respects, fuelled their nationalism and support for the Vietcong. They ignored the Vietnamese culture and past traditions by placing too much emphasis on the Cold War, which was an issue of little importance or understanding to the majority of the population. This resulted in the USA not being able to win the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese people.
The failure of the US to in the war in Vietnam were therefore due to various factors such as the failure of the political will, influence of the anti-war movement, role of the media, military failure and the failure to understand the Vietnamese context.. But none of these can be taken into account on their own in order to say which was the most important as the amalgamation of all these factors led to the defeat of the US in Vietnam.