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Comparing Kent State And The Living Room War

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The Shooting of Kent State and The Living Room War The shooting of Kent State University on May 4, 1970 marked a point in the war that divided the nation and brought attention to the war on a scale never seen before. Fighting on the battleground was brought to America’s soil through the power of television and as the battle continued, emotions on the homefront intensified. The executive decision of President Richard Nixon initiated the protests and swung the opinion of the use of military force in Vietnam by his “April 30 announcement that he had sent American forces into Cambodia” (Reichard). President Nixon’s decision of sending forces into Cambodia sparked the protests on many campuses, one of them being Kent State, leading to the shooting and killing of four students, however only two of the students shot and killed were involved in the protests. “The killing… was another important turning point for many GI and veteran activists” (Moser 108). The Living Room war also …show more content…

During this time period, the use of television boomed, and for the first time was depended on and trusted significantly more than newspapers. “[Even though] the coverage of the war was significant, a relatively small portion of the coverage was actually combat footage (Anderson). Although producers captured thousands of hours worth of combat footage, they could not push out all of the coverage they captured, “The purpose being not to avoid showing the ugly side of war, but rather to avoid offending families of war victims" (Hallin). The media did not intentionally try to turn america against the war, to the contrary the media saw the war necessary to national security. However, as the war continued on in vietnam and watched daily in living rooms across the country, both the american soldiers and the public became disillusioned as they did not see an end to the war

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