Media's Role In The Vietnam War
The media played a critical role in the ending of the Vietnam War. With television rising in popularity at exceptional rates, the media quickly began to be the most efficient method of gaining knowledge of the world. Due to the “The Buddhist Crisis” in 1966, America already had a negative opinion of Vietnam. “The Buddhist Crisis” was the result of the South Vietnamese political leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, imposing his Catholic government. This resulted in the public suicide of Buddhist monks, which turned the citizens against Diem for his embarrassing insensitivity and intolerance. Since the way the monks committed suicide was by burning themselves in the middle of streets, this caught the attention of American reporters. Soon the pictures of burning bodies horrified the public and instantly gave Americans a negative view of Vietnam.
When North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, who planned to unify Vietnam , American government leaders feared the Domino Effect would occur. The Domino Effect is the fear that if one counter communist country falls to communism, then many other neighboring countries would follow one by one in a domino-like fashion. In South …show more content…
Vietnam’s case, Cambodia and Laos would fall shortly after Ho Chi Minh’s victory in South Vietnam. In response to Ho Chi Minh’s aggression America decided to train soldiers in South Vietnam. Eventually, the plan was unsuccessful and America was forced to send troops to South Vietnam. Since the government was monitoring the media’s coverage of the impending war, the war went mostly unnoticed.
As the war escalated into full scale warfare, America had increased its soldier count to 500,000 by 1967. With this massive increase of troops, Americans grew uneasy due to their sudden call to arms. This caused a massive amount of young adults to be sent to war. This uneasiness transformed into outrage years later when the Selective Services began to send teenagers as young as eighteen to war, in the draft. As the moral of the American citizens dwindled into uncertainty, the Tet Offences occurred. This was a fatal blow to each side of the war. The Tet Offences were a compilation of terrorist attacks by Ho Chi Minh’s forces that targeted military cities, civilians, and the American Embassy. The American forces absorbed the desperate attacks by North Vietnam and many enemy soldiers were captured or killed. Though this crippled Ho Chi Minh’s army, the media coverage triggered by the acts of terror appalled the American citizens. When the media covered that the enemy infiltrated the American Embassy, Americans were horrified and began protesting for the war to end. Regardless of the advantageous position of the American army, the media continued to frighten the citizens.
President Lyndon Banes Johnson, hastily approaching the end of his term, decided that he was not running for a second term of office because he too intensely invested into the war to forfeit his pride and far too negatively regarded by his people to continue the war. This paved the way for President Nixon, whose aspiration was to end the war with the Nixon Doctrine, to win the election in 1969.With Nixon in office, the war began to rapidly decline and the draft was ended.
After the war ended, people grew anxious to know the fate of the many soldiers who did not return from the war. This apprehension rose into accusation when the Pentagon Papers were leaked from the American government. The Pentagon Papers included a collection of incidents that the government censored from the media such as the MY LAI massacre and missing prisoners of war.
The My Lai Massacre in 1968 began as William Calley led his platoon into My Lai, South Vietnam in an attempt to find the 48th Viet Cong Local Force Battalion.
When they failed to find their target this resulted in the horrific slaughter of many civilians. According to History.com, “Frustrated by unanswered losses due to snipers and mines, the soldiers took out their anger on the villagers, indiscriminately shooting people as they ran from their huts and systematically rounding up the survivors, allegedly leading them to nearby ditch where they were executed.” When the public was made aware of this occurrence, it “sparked a wave of international outrage and led to a special investigation into the matter.” On September 5th 1968 William Calley was charged with the deaths of 106 Vietnamese
civilians.
Even though America had made the grave mistake of waging war with a terrorist run country in the past, the same mistake was made in the Iraq war. President Bush feared Iraq possessing “weapons of mass destruction” and decided “to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger." Curiously, only old chemical weapons were found in Iraq. Even though the weapon technology could be smuggled into other countries, the world was not in “grave danger.” This paranoia was widely criticized by the media. According to CBS News, “Just 18 percent of Americans think the result of the war in Iraq was worth the loss of American lives and other costs of attacking Iraq, the lowest percentage ever recorded in CBS News Polls.”
As a result, the media ended the Vietnam War by informing the public of the occurrences overseas. The Buddhist Crisis was the revolting first impression the people witnessed of Vietnam. This was followed by the escalation of the war and the Selective Services’ draft. As the draft spawned protests in America, the Tet Offensive was the finishing blow to the moral of America. The outrage of the Americans discouraged President Johnson from running for a second term, changed the direction of the war, and elected a President Nixon to end the war. All of this was done because the media informed the people of the situation in Vietnam. After the war, the media released leaked information about mass killings during the war with the Pentagon Papers. This started controversy over whether or government was trustworthy or not. Years later, this doubt was rekindled with the fear of “weapons of mass destruction” and the Iraq war. The media has served as a valuable tool in deciphering the true situation of the world. It has also notified people of occurrences that were intentionally ignored by the government. Consequently, it ended the Vietnam War.
When North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, who planned to unify Vietnam , American government leaders feared the Domino Effect would occur. The Domino Effect is the fear that if one counter communist country falls to communism, then many other neighboring countries would follow one by one in a domino-like fashion. In South …show more content…
Vietnam’s case, Cambodia and Laos would fall shortly after Ho Chi Minh’s victory in South Vietnam. In response to Ho Chi Minh’s aggression America decided to train soldiers in South Vietnam. Eventually, the plan was unsuccessful and America was forced to send troops to South Vietnam. Since the government was monitoring the media’s coverage of the impending war, the war went mostly unnoticed.
As the war escalated into full scale warfare, America had increased its soldier count to 500,000 by 1967. With this massive increase of troops, Americans grew uneasy due to their sudden call to arms. This caused a massive amount of young adults to be sent to war. This uneasiness transformed into outrage years later when the Selective Services began to send teenagers as young as eighteen to war, in the draft. As the moral of the American citizens dwindled into uncertainty, the Tet Offences occurred. This was a fatal blow to each side of the war. The Tet Offences were a compilation of terrorist attacks by Ho Chi Minh’s forces that targeted military cities, civilians, and the American Embassy. The American forces absorbed the desperate attacks by North Vietnam and many enemy soldiers were captured or killed. Though this crippled Ho Chi Minh’s army, the media coverage triggered by the acts of terror appalled the American citizens. When the media covered that the enemy infiltrated the American Embassy, Americans were horrified and began protesting for the war to end. Regardless of the advantageous position of the American army, the media continued to frighten the citizens.
President Lyndon Banes Johnson, hastily approaching the end of his term, decided that he was not running for a second term of office because he too intensely invested into the war to forfeit his pride and far too negatively regarded by his people to continue the war. This paved the way for President Nixon, whose aspiration was to end the war with the Nixon Doctrine, to win the election in 1969.With Nixon in office, the war began to rapidly decline and the draft was ended.
After the war ended, people grew anxious to know the fate of the many soldiers who did not return from the war. This apprehension rose into accusation when the Pentagon Papers were leaked from the American government. The Pentagon Papers included a collection of incidents that the government censored from the media such as the MY LAI massacre and missing prisoners of war.
The My Lai Massacre in 1968 began as William Calley led his platoon into My Lai, South Vietnam in an attempt to find the 48th Viet Cong Local Force Battalion.
When they failed to find their target this resulted in the horrific slaughter of many civilians. According to History.com, “Frustrated by unanswered losses due to snipers and mines, the soldiers took out their anger on the villagers, indiscriminately shooting people as they ran from their huts and systematically rounding up the survivors, allegedly leading them to nearby ditch where they were executed.” When the public was made aware of this occurrence, it “sparked a wave of international outrage and led to a special investigation into the matter.” On September 5th 1968 William Calley was charged with the deaths of 106 Vietnamese
civilians.
Even though America had made the grave mistake of waging war with a terrorist run country in the past, the same mistake was made in the Iraq war. President Bush feared Iraq possessing “weapons of mass destruction” and decided “to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger." Curiously, only old chemical weapons were found in Iraq. Even though the weapon technology could be smuggled into other countries, the world was not in “grave danger.” This paranoia was widely criticized by the media. According to CBS News, “Just 18 percent of Americans think the result of the war in Iraq was worth the loss of American lives and other costs of attacking Iraq, the lowest percentage ever recorded in CBS News Polls.”
As a result, the media ended the Vietnam War by informing the public of the occurrences overseas. The Buddhist Crisis was the revolting first impression the people witnessed of Vietnam. This was followed by the escalation of the war and the Selective Services’ draft. As the draft spawned protests in America, the Tet Offensive was the finishing blow to the moral of America. The outrage of the Americans discouraged President Johnson from running for a second term, changed the direction of the war, and elected a President Nixon to end the war. All of this was done because the media informed the people of the situation in Vietnam. After the war, the media released leaked information about mass killings during the war with the Pentagon Papers. This started controversy over whether or government was trustworthy or not. Years later, this doubt was rekindled with the fear of “weapons of mass destruction” and the Iraq war. The media has served as a valuable tool in deciphering the true situation of the world. It has also notified people of occurrences that were intentionally ignored by the government. Consequently, it ended the Vietnam War.