Vietnam War Leaflet Analysis

Source C: Leaflet by the Seamen’s Union of Australia

Source C is a segment of a leaflet which highlights the perspectives of three individuals from the ‘Seamen’s Union of Australia’ on the issue of cargo handling during the Vietnam War. The leaflet is an official primary produced in 1966, incorporating a mixture of images and written text by William Flint, Basil Box and Raymond King.

The perspectives of the three authors on the issue of cargo handling and the Vietnam War seem fairly clear in this source. All three writers were against cargo handling for South Vietnam and refused to take part in the process as they believed that it was simply a ‘war against women and children’. The writers agreed that their involvement was not helping
This source itself seems to inform people of Menzies reason for action rather than to directly persuade people to take a side. Menzies also states valid reasons for the objectives in Vietnam, covering a wide range of reasons for Australia’s involvement. Although all four aims seemed unbiased and believable, two of them (points 3 & 4) seemed to be key points for War in Vietnam. The first was to stop the spread of communism; the second was to support its allies i.e. United States and South Vietnam. Historical content also support the idea that communism was feared by many countries at the time, believing that it was a dangerous party which would do nothing but create harm to the world. Australia in particular feared communism, as being a capitalist country, the majority were not keen on following the ideas of Communists, especially the idea of being equal. Therefore, I believe that Australia’s role in Vietnam was to prevent the spread of Communism towards the south, helping Vietnam overcome Communism rule (supporting points 1&2), while also protecting itself at the same time. For Australia, supporting allies was a priority as countries like the United States have helped us in the past and maintaining a good relationship with allies is important for Australia as we are an isolated country and may need further support from them in the future. As a Prime Minister, it is crucial
The Liberal Party, under the leadership of Robert Menzies, helped out the South Vietnam Government by predominantly providing troops and weapons, especially bombs. Menzies sent personnel and aircraft of ‘RAAF Transport Flight’ to Vietnam, as well as war ships to support the war. Military equipment at the time was extremely important as fighting in the war did not necessarily depend on one-on-one combat, but rather using bombs and aircraft to hit the areas of target more faster without sacrificing soldiers. As there were not enough Australian soldiers taking part in the war at the time, compared to the Communists, Menzies decided to introduce conscription in Australia for the war. Therefore in 1964, it was compulsory for all 20-year-old males to join the National Service under the National Service Act of 1964. The selection of conscripts was based on date of birth, and conscripts were obligated to give two years’ continuous full-time service, followed by a further three years on the active reserve list. The main objective for Australian’s involvement in the war was to stop the Communists moving further south, and taking over the world. There was a genuine fear of communism in Asia spreading to Australia. The entry of Australia into the Vietnam conflict was the