How coverage of Vietnam in the USA led to demands for peace

by laila_rizvi1997 (student)

Media coverage of the Vietnam War was completely different and unlike any other war coverage as it brought the war to the homes of American citizens; allowing them to see things like never before due to the major growth of technology all over the USA. However, at the beginning of the war, public opinion and the attitude of the government towards journalists was significantly different in comparison to the last few years of the war. The relationship between the US military and government and the media was had always been reasonably good in any conflicts before Vietnam in which America had been involved in; such as the Korean War where US actions were always presented in positive light. This method of reporting and forming happy enthusiastic stories to keep the American public optimistic and panic free was similarly used at the start of the Vietnam War. The US Army also created MACV, also known as Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, to form a link with the journalists. In the early 60’s, at the beginning, the MACV would help the journalists gain transport to areas of conflict, interviews and frequent reports and the journalists were expected not to reveal any information to help the enemy or report negative stories. The media coverage of the Vietnam was like no other war mainly due to the fact that journalists stopped accepting press releases from the government like before, and a major factor which really changed how everything was portrayed was the introduction of the television. Television allowed the horrors of the war to enter their homes and in the USA in 1950, only 9 percent of homes owned a television. By 1966, this figure rose to 93 percent resulting in the majority of Americans watching the reality of the war. Another type of technology that rapidly improved was the camera. During the first few years of the war camera’s were fairly heavy, however towards the late sixties, when the journalists started revealing the horrors of Vietnam, cameras had become much lighter allowing TV crews to get closer to the conflict zones allowing them to get more frequent and detailed footage and this was when the manner of reporting completely changed.

The media portrayal of various events in the Vietnam War were somewhat different as the war went on, and the number of casualties increased causing media to report back depressing stories and horrifying pictures. The Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred in 1964, fairly early on in the war, and it led to America’s ‘open entry’ into the Vietnam War and led to the escalation of US involvement in the war. On the 2nd of August 1964, the Maddox, the American destroyer, was attacked by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The Maddox defended itself and fired back and hit all three boats and caused one to sink. The next day, the Maddox was commanded to go back to the Gulf of Tonkin after sailing back into international waters and during the night of 3rd August 1964, the commander of the USS Maddox, Captain Herrick, claimed that they were being attacked again by four torpedo boats and for four hours that night and they began firing into the night rapidly with American warplanes supporting the showcasing of the American firepower. However, a few hours later the captain concluded that there had not actually been an attack and many sailors and jet pilots reported that they had not actually seen any evidence of the enemy. This false ‘incident’ was mainly influenced by Johnson’s need to prove to the public that he was not ‘soft’ on communism so that he could gain votes. The second false incident was portrayed by the media as a ‘further’ act of aggression towards America, therefore eliminating any doubt in the public’s mind about whether the first incident was a mistake by the North Vietnamese. This led to America ‘retaliating’ and hence beginning their involvement in Vietnam with relatively little opposition by the public at home. Johnson was supported by the media who helped him convince the public that this was indeed a deliberate attack on the US forces and that he was going to teach North Vietnam a lesson. The ‘New York Times’ carried the headline, “US planes attack North Vietnam bases: President orders limited retaliation after communist’s torpedo boats renew raids. Reds driven off.” The media coverage of the Gulf of Tonkin incident was therefore in support of Johnson’s and the government’s actions and this media coverage of the incident resulted in the public to be in favor of Johnson and the idea of stopping and ‘crushing’ communism.

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The Tet Offensive was an event which the Americans, militarily, clearly succeeded in and were seen to have gained a strong victory over North Vietnamese troops and the Vietcong whose plan had gone terribly wrong and resulted in great losses for them. However, due to the media portrayal of the Tet Offensive, it eventually came to be known as one of the major turning points of the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive occurred on 31st January 1968, breaking the ceasefire that had been called for the Vietnamese holiday of Tet. Previously the year before in September, the communists had launched a sequence of attacks on American garrisons causing the Americans to think that the communists were finally engaging in conventional warfare. The Americans were sure to crush the communists in open combat and sure enough they did resulting in the loss of 90,000 men on the communist side. This led to the certainty that the war was soon to end and consequently American troops were removed from cities and towns; which was exactly the purpose of the US garrisons attacks. The Communists then went on to attack approximately 100 towns and cities around South Vietnam, hoping for there to be an uprising and a mass gain in support. It in fact went terribly wrong for the Communists resulting in the loss of 37,000 North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers in comparison to the 2,500 Americans. Although the US forces clearly gained victory over the Communists, the event that shocked the US public the most was the communist attack on the US Embassy in Saigon. Even though the Communists did not succeed as they had hoped, only killing five people, it was the capture of Saigon’s main radio station building, which they only held for a few hours, that shocked the nation as they could not understand how amateur communist soldiers were even able to enter and capture the US embassy which was one of the main symbols of the presence of the USA in Vietnam. This was televised to 50 million homes in the USA and suggested to the public that the Communists were much stronger and determined than they had expected causing the American public to question whether their US troops would be able to win this war if they don’t have the ability to prevent such a basic attack from Vietcong guerrillas entering the US embassy in Saigon. The media portrayed the Tet Offensive as a major defeat for the US and it was the media that was constantly putting forward the idea of America losing this war, not the military and this was the beginning of the public doubting their troops and the start of a change in reporting, "Before Tet, journalists described 62 percent of their stories as victories for the United States, 28 percent as defeats, and 2 percent as inconclusive. After Tet, 44 percent of the battles were deemed victories, 32 percent defeats, and 24 percent inconclusive." (Hallin, 1986, p.161-162). The Tet Offensive was probably instrumental in causing a major reassessment of U.S. policy, given the official perception that the offensive had caused a shift in public opinion. In other words, It helped push the American public toward a deepening pessimism about the war and America's role in it; this pessimism, then, was instrumental in causing an alteration in U.S. policy.

The Mai Lai Massacre was probably one of the most significant events in the Vietnam War in terms of media coverage as it resulted in a dramatic change of how the media presented the Vietnam War. They went from leading the public opinion to following it, making the public feel as if they had been lied to by the government about the horrors of the Vietnam War. The Mai Lai Massacre took place on March 16th 1968 under the command of Lieutenant William L. Calley in the morning where soldiers of Charlie Company, a unit of the American Division's 11th Infantry Brigade were on a search and destroy mission to root out some Vietcong which were thought to be in the area. Mai Lai had approximately 700 inhabitants, and many claimed that none were seen to be of the age to actually fight. Nevertheless, 504 civilians were killed including 50 aged 3 or younger, 69 between 4 and 7, and 27 in their 70s or 80s. If the reason of the killing of these innocent people had been to increase the body count, such a big fuss most likely would have not been made, however it was the mutilation of the bodies afterwards, and how they had killed them ruthlessly and raped the women unnecessarily. It was said later on by a soldier whom was convicted, "I cut their throats, cut off their hands, cut out their tongues, scalped them. I did it. A lot of people were doing it and I just followed. I lost all sense of direction." The televised media coverage of the Mai Lai Massacre was the most damaging to the reputation of the US soldiers and it especially had such a big impact on public opinion as the first reports claimed that 128 Vietcong were killed and only 22 civilians. General William C. Westmoreland, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam commander, congratulated the unit on the "outstanding job" and the media towards the beginning just went along with what they were told. However, when the real figures of the deaths were released the media instantly reported on them and as they were so different to the previous figures, much of the public felt lied and cheated on. The media reported the horrific truth on Mai Lai and reported what they found and saw with their own eyes rather than what they were told.

The evacuation of Saigon took place in 1975, and was the event that marked the end of the Vietnam War as North Vietnamese troops attacked the city of Saigon, which had been fairly difficult to reach before as it was so far down South, however once the US troops had started to withdraw the remains of the South Vietnamese army were unable to withstand the strength of the North Vietnamese. Millions of refugees had fled to Saigon after their homes had been taken over as the North Vietnamese proceeded to take over the whole country. One of the biggest difficulties that occurred during the fall of Saigon was the evacuation of the US Embassy on the 29th of April where approximately 7,000 Americans and South Vietnamese were evacuated via helicopter and eventually the next day North Vietnamese Army tanks drove into Saigon unopposed and the city was then known as Ho Chi Minh City from then on. This was all shown by the media and the images of people desperately hanging on to one helicopter destroyed any hope that the Americans ever had for the war and it gave the impression that the war did more harm than good. The Vietnam War was portrayed by the media as pointless as America withdrawing completely from Saigon left the non – communist capital to fall to the North Vietnamese which was what the reason for the war; preventing Vietnam from becoming communist.

The Kent State University shootings took place in May 1970 where the Ohio National Guard fired at a group of protesters whom were protesting against the US invasion of Cambodia as President Nixon, when elected in 1968, had promised to end the war. Following the election of Richard Nixon the TV coverage shifted from combat related stories to the anti-war movement and the political scenario. From 1970 excluding US withdrawal only 14% of stories about the war related to combat. Four Kent State University students were killed and nine were injured and some students whom were fired at were not even involved in the protest but merely walking to their next class. The shootings led to protests on college campuses throughout the , and a – causing more than 450 campuses across the country to close with both violent and non-violent demonstrations. A common attitude was expressed by students at with a banner hung out of a window which read "They Can't Kill Us All." Just five days after the shootings, 100,000 people demonstrated in , against the war and the killing of unarmed student protesters. Ray Price, Nixon's chief speechwriter from 1969–1974, recalled the Washington demonstrations saying, "The city was an armed camp. The mobs were smashing windows, slashing tires, dragging parked cars into intersections, even throwing bedsprings off overpasses into the traffic down below. This was the quote, student protest. That's not student protest, that’s civil war."Photographs of the dead and wounded at Kent State that were distributed in newspapers and periodicals worldwide increased the response against the United States' invasion of Cambodia and the Vietnam War in general. In particular, the camera of Kent State photojournalism student captured a fourteen-year old runaway, , screaming over the body of the dead student, , who had been shot in the mouth. The photograph (shown on the right), which won a , became the most enduring image of the events, and one of the most enduring images of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The Kent State University shootings were the arousing of people protesting and the beginning of the ‘civil war’ between the media and the public and the US troops and the government.

Many different types of people such as students, black people, veterans, musicians and actors were brought together in the Peace Movement as they all protested against the war in Vietnam. Muhammad Ali was probably one of the most important black figures during the protests against the War in Vietnam as he refused to fight in the war which caused him to lose him heavy weight champion title. Ali even said, "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?" Many groups, especially blacks as they were the ones whom suffered from poverty the most were protesting against the war mainly due to the cost of it which was almost 66 million dollars each day by 1968 and wealthier white people would be able to go to university therefore not having to fight making it twice as likely for a black man to be killed. Martin Luther King, also a key black figure who was a Civil Rights activist said, "that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor as long as Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube." Eldrigde Cleaver, whom was similarly a Civil Rights activist like Martin Luther King, made the point that in many states in America blacks were not being allowed to vote for the government that they wanted so why should they fight in Vietnam as blacks were fighting in Vietnam "for something they don't have for themselves." Another incident, similar to the Kent State University shootings took place, on May 14, at Jackson State University, an all-black school in Mississippi. During a student protest, police and state highway patrolmen fired automatic weapons into a dormitory, killing two students and wounding nine others. No warning had been given and no evidence was ever found of student sniping that might have justified the shootings. Nevertheless, unlike the Kent State episode, this incident evoked little national attention, embittering many blacks who felt that the killing of black students was not taken as seriously as that of whites.

Massive demonstrations were also held throughout the US against the war. Protestors in Central Park, New York City burnt 200 draft cards. “Vietnam Veterans against the War” was also formed, and proceeded to demonstrate further. Many of them were in wheelchairs or on crutches. People watched on television as Vietnam heroes threw away the medals they had won fighting in the war. One shouted: "Here are my merit badges for murder." Another apologized to the Vietnamese people and claimed that: "I hope that someday I can return to Vietnam and help to rebuild that country we tore apart." The media provided coverage and publicity for these demonstrations, which they hoped would lead to further protests. These demonstrations and publicity made the public feel as though the war was wrong, and it was time to stop it, I feel that the majority of the war support stopped around this time, due to the amount of publicity and demonstrations against the war. People especially felt the war was wrong due to the protests of the war veterans, which showed that not even the ones who fought were in favour of the war, which was probably the first time in American history that soldiers were not proud to have fought for their country. The media portrayed the government as the only people who wanted the war to occur.

Music was a major part of the Peace Movement and was one of the most used non violent methods of protest during the time of the peace movement. Music was no longer a form an entertainment anymore; however it was a method of communication that united the nation through the lyrics of musicians. An example of a protest song was “Ohio” by Neil Young which was a response of the Kent State University shootings.

The Fulbright hearings took place between 1968 and 1971 and they were a set of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings. J. William Fulbright was a U.S senator who started to question the US involvement in Vietnam and carried out a number of hearings. In 1966 Fulbright testified at Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on U.S. policy toward China and Vietnam. Fulbright, who was chairman of the committee, warned that U.S. engagement in Vietnam could lead to a war with China. The most influential hearing was in 1971 which included John Kerry’s testimony which caused a huge stir and protests. John Kerry was a veteran of the Vietnam War therefore his word was trusted by many as it was unheard of any soldier speaking ill of a war that they had patriotically fought in. John Kerry’s testimony consisted of a description of the horrors of the Vietnam War and the terrible things that the veterans were made to do by their country and the mental health of some of the veterans after and during. This is a extract of what Kerry stated in his testimony about the Winter Soldier Investigation which took place previously in Detroit, "...I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to committed in , not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.

"It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit, the emotions in the room, the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam, but they did. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do."They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of , shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country." John Kerry then later went on to describe his thoughts on the whole political situation in Vietnam and how he felt that there was no global threat of communism to the USA and that it was more a civil war between the Vietnamese.

In conclusion, I think that the media had the biggest impact on the Vietnam War as it was probably the biggest factor that led to America’s defeat – not militarily on the battlefield, but socially and politically. The US troops failed to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese civilians, as well as failing to win the hearts and minds of their own people.