
Judging by the reactions of the people they
felt that the soldiers sent to Vietnam were not
ready for war.

“North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate
the United States. Only Americans can do
that” (Nixon).

The war has caused many problems between
the relationships of the U.S., the people, and
their enemies.(Nixon)

The people of the U.S. did not react well to
their family being sent to war and that cause
many problems between them and the
government. This did not help the war effort
and made America weak as a country by not
having the support of their people.

Nixon believed that the U.S. needed the
support of the people to win the war. The
army of North Vietnam could not beat the
U.S. unless their people don’t support the
war. (Nixon)

“Television brought the brutality of war into
the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was
lost in the living rooms of America -- not on
the battlefields of Vietnam” (QTD in Hailey
Alfred).

The Vietnam War was the first war truly seen
by the public. They saw everything without
anything blocked out and when the public
sees everything they start to get confused
about the motives of war. (QTD in enquiries)

The people of America did not understand
the war and thought there was no reasoning
behind it. They believed that their family and
friends were being killed when they were
getting nothing out of it. They saw what was
happening at the war and that made them
truly go against it.

The TV showed coverage of what was actually
going on in the war. The generals were telling
the people that the war was under control
and they were winning, but that was not
actually happening. The government showed
a credibility gap by not telling the people
what was actually happening. They still saw
the deaths of the soldiers and knew that this
violence had not good result to it.

“No event in American history is more
misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was
misreported then, and it is misremembered
now” (QTD in Greg Barber).

We are not going to send young soldiers to a
far away land to fight in a war for an issue
that the country should be solving
themselves. They have to learn to solve their
own problems by using their own soldiers.
(QTD in millercenter)

The reason the U.S. was in Vietnam was to
stop the spread of communism and a lot of
people felt that they had no business being
there. The U.S. got involved to aid South
Vietnam, but that led to the deaths of many
American soldiers. People thought that the
country of Vietnam should be solving their
own problems and that led to many protests.

“We are at war with the most dangerous
enemy that has ever faced mankind in his
long climb from the swamp to the stars, and
it has been said if we lose that war, and in so
doing lose this way of freedom of ours,
history will record with the greatest
astonishment that those who had the most to
lose did the least to prevent its happening”
(Ronald Reagan).

America felt that they had the most to lose in
the war. They had many soldiers fighting in
the war and if they lost the war then all the
deaths of the soldiers would have been in
vain. America was still a growing country and
losing this war would have sent them a huge
step backwards.

America’s reaction to the war was really
overwhelming. Some people felt like they
were doing the least to make sure they won
the war. On the other hand the Vietnamese
were fighting for independence and were
willing to fight for it until they died. Many
American people did not even want to go to
war and that gave them a less of a motive to
fight.
Alfred, Hailey. "Lessons Learned in Vietnam Have Helped to
Soften Modern News Reports." American Journalism.
simpson street free press, n.d. Web. 6 Jun 2012.
<http://www.simpsonstreetfreepress.org/archiveeditorial/war-andjournalism>.
"A TIME FOR CHOOSING (The Speech – October 27, 1964)."
reagan utexas. utexas, n.d. Web. 6 Jun 2012.
<http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/time
choosing.ht ml
Center, Miller. "Lyndon Baines Johnson." American President: A
Reference Resource. Miller Center, n.d. Web. 6 Jun 2012.
<http://millercenter.org/president/lbjohnson/essays/bi
ography/5>.
College, Vassar. "President Nixon's Speech on "Vietnamization,"
November 3, 1969." The Wars for Vietnam. Vassar, n.d.
Web. 6 Jun 2012.
<http://vietnam.vassar.edu/overview/doc14.html>.
Learning Site, History. "General William Westmoreland." history
learning site. History Learning Site, n.d. Web. 6 Jun 2012.
<http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/william_westmore
land.htm>.