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The Towering Influence of Media:
The Viet Nam War
Amanda Ellis
English 101 – 35
Professor T. Chocos
08 December 2011
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America has always been a nation that strides to constantly be up-to-date on the
latest news, everywhere. In the 1960s, as television was becoming more of a household
item, families were drawn to their radios and TV-sets as the news broadcasters announced
national breaking -news reports. Perhaps the most anticipated news reports were those on
the status of the Viet Nam war; as it later became known as the first “television war”. As
non-communist South Vietnam was invaded by communist North Vietnam, the United
States came to the aid of the regime in the South in support of their democratic legislature.
Mass propaganda, largely TV broadcasts and radio announcements, led to the widespread
believe that the U.S. had rightly entered into this war on communism. The very real horrors
of war captured in images, newspapers, and television entered the homes of millions of
Americans for the first time during this war. Though initial coverage generally supported U.S
involvement in the conflict, television news dramatically changed its frame of view in the
mid-sixties. Media coverage of soldiers’ grisly combat followed by interviews where they
expressed their frustration with the progress of the war led to the large majority of the
public recanting their initial support. Draft-card burning and demonstrations began to fill
the screens of the audiences and, with the massive loss of domestic support for the war,
politicians’ campaigns and policies were greatly impacted. Public opinion regarding the war
in Viet Nam was dramatically influenced by the propaganda, social media, and politics of
the time.
News coverage of the presidential debates changed the face of politics in a single
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evening to what it is today. As television coverage of JFK's assassination brought news of
the event to nearly the entire American public in the space of an hour, pictures from
Vietnam accelerated the erosion of domestic support for the war which severely challenged
American political institutions. The Presidents in power during the ‘60s were engrossed in
the portrayal of the war as well as assuring the public that it was both just and essential to
the stop of widespread communism. In a PBS article on the events leading to the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution, it is affirmed: “President Eisenhower had argued that the U.S. had to
make a stand in Vietnam, or risk the fall of Asian countries to Communism like ‘a row of
dominos.’ Ike committed hundreds of millions of dollars each year in aid to the government
of South Vietnam. And President Kennedy increased the aid and began to commit American
‘advisors’ to assist the South Vietnamese army. By mid-1964, more than 20,000 of those
supposedly noncombatant soldiers were in Vietnam (PBS).” The belief that stopping
communism was a moral and social responsibility of the U.S was widely accepted; thus,
most Americans were initially in support of President Johnson’s decision to declare war on
Viet Nam. However, things changed as news broke of the President’s fabricated story of an
attack on an American ship, leading him to press Congress to pass a resolution granting him
power to do as he sees fit in Vietnam (PBS). Coverage of actual events in Asia’s battered
war-torn country; live shots of American-soldiers mass-murdering civilians; and images of
body-bagged combatants being sent home began to cause an uproar in viewers and
ultimately led to the President’s decision not to run for re-election. Social media single-
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handedly stimulated the change in opinion on U.S. involvement in the war in Viet Nam.
Being the spearhead of public opinion, media broadcasts largely depicted both the
soldiers and civilians of Vietnam erroneously. Vietnamese civilians were viewed by the
media with the condescension, contempt, and disdain that branded the American attitude
towards them. American journalists arrived in Vietnam with nearly no awareness of the
culture, history, society, or language, nor did they attempt to learn. It was not just the
civilians; however, that were the target of scrutiny; American soldiers became seen by the
public as “monsters.” Americans began seeing soldiers’ gruesome, ruthless attacks on
television and started to condemn their acts. To see such horrible atrocities right in front of
your own face, with your own two eyes is hard to discount. Millions of Americans gathered
in their living rooms and witnessed the bombings of villages filled with women and children
and the disorderly conduct of the soldiers. There was a significant increase in coverage on
interracial enmities, the collapse of morale, drug abuse, and disciplinary problems among
American troops. The number of similar stories began to increase largely due to soldiers’
beginning to worry about being another casualty in what they started to call “a lame-duck
war.” In response to the negative media attention, both the government and the military:
“resented the attention and at first refused to believe that the problems were as bad as
correspondents portrayed them. The media demonstrated, however, ‘that the best
reporters, by virtue of their many contacts, had a better grasp of the war's unmanageable
human element than the policy makers supposedly in control (googlebooks).” As media
portrayal of the war came to be negative, the soldiers themselves questioned their actions
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and orders. Having their home country’s strong disapproval was disheartening for the
soldiers. While not all the soldiers were beginning to question their involvement, the media
certainly pressured the troops. Television coverage, newspaper articles, and radio
broadcasts led to the collapse of morale within the troops, and the misportrayal of the
Vietnamese civilians.
Protests in opposition of the American involvement in the Vietnam War began in
1964 and grew in strength throughout the 70s. These “Peace movements” consisted largely
of college and graduate students, mothers and wives of soldiers, and "hippies". Their
demonstrations ranged from peaceful and nonaggressive, to radical displays of violence.
Opposition to the war increased during this time of unprecedented student activism which
followed the free speech movement and the civil rights movement; and, was partly
attributed to greater access to uncensored information presented by the widespread
television coverage of the atrocities in Vietnam. Opposed to the U.S. political leadership
and disgruntled with America’s immersion in Asia, student Vietnam War protest-activists
held demonstrations across the nation and promoted lifestyle changes in the hopes of
effecting fundamental change in American values. As an article on the history of the student
movements of the 60s declares, “The largest antiwar demonstrations occurred during the
fall of 1969, as part of the national "moratorium" campaign. In October and again in
November, thousands of students gathered on campuses across the state to remember
those killed in Southeast Asia (encyclopedia).” Movements all across the globe began in
efforts to end the war. Newscasters captured every moment of the demonstrations and
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riots that erupted. Having been a generation growing up watching the atrocities on
television constantly, this generation of protest evolved into a worldwide movement to end
the Vietnam War.
From protests to prominent news media coverage, the sixties was a decade of
monumental divisions in opinion among the nation. Continuous, uncensored coverage of
the violence on the ground led the American people to alter their support dramatically;
they no longer saw the necessity of U.S involvement. Had the media not been so closely
engrossed, some argue, there would not have been a shift in public opposition. As a driving
force behind how people form their opinions, the media will forever be a part of American
culture. As to how viewers interpret the information relayed through the news is left at the
hands of the viewers.
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Works Cited
Bringham, Robert K. "Battlefield:Vietnam | History." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Public
Broadcasting Service. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/history/index.html>.
Miller, Donald L., Waldo E. Martin, Jr., and Virginia Scharff. "A Bio. of America: The Sixties Transcript." Learner.org. WGBH Educational Foundation. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog24/transcript/page04.html>.
The Vietnam War. Google Books. Google. Web. 08 Dec. 2011.
<http://books.google.com/books?id=wagFn5_czOwC>.
Whiteclay II, John. "Vietnam War." Encyclopedia.com. Web. 9 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Vietnam_War.aspx>.