Public Sentiment Regarding the Vietnam War

One of the first antiwar groups to come about during the 1960s was the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). This group assembled in 1967 and brought veterans from previous wars to fight against the actions of Vietnam. Unity and patriotism toward the war now shifted to the efforts of the men and women who marched to get out of the Vietnam era. In Andrew Hunt’s book, The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, he discusses how the group came about and how these veterans saw the opposite side of the war. One of the veterans in the group stated, “It’s not democracy we brought to Vietnam- it’s anticommunism…Anticommunism is a lousy substitute for democracy.” Yet again, one could see how the word communism could trigger Americans into thinking that the Vietnam

The Kent State shooting played a major role in Nixon’s resignation from presidency and the public’s opinion of the Vietnam War. The students that were protesting started when Nixon announced intervention into Cambodia. Outraged students met on campus the very next day to show that they didn’t agree with the presidents decision. During the shooting students threw containers of tear gas back at the guardsmen. Some students threw rocks as the soldiers left. Protestors would shout “Pigs Off Campus!” (Axelrod et al. 256) Many of the soldiers sent to settle the frustrated protestors were weekend warriors who chose the guard to avoid ending up in Vietnam. Mandy soldiers lacked training for combat and crowds. Most soldiers were confused by the actions of the students and weren’t sure how to react. The student protestors refused the guards orders to disperse which resulted in the guardsmen throwing tear gas toward the rioting protestors. The protestors consisted of upper class and middle class residents.

The student body at Kent State numbered about 20,000 and had been considered conservative, but not overly political. In fact they were thought of as rather passive politically. The shootings were a culmination of four days of demonstrations by members of the student body. The students were protesting the invasion of Cambodia by American forces.

The longest war in American history, Vietnam, was also the most unpopular war. It resulted in nearly 60,000 American deaths (www.digitalhistory.uh.com). Even today, many Americans still ask whether the American effort in Vietnam was a sin, blunder, a necessary war, or whether it is a noble cause, or an idealistic, if failed, effort to protect the South Vietnamese from totalitarian government (www.digitalhistory.uh.com). The reason the United States got involved was to prevent the spread of communism.

The Vietnam War and Era has been a strange configuration of differing parts. So many differing parts that more often than not Historians struggle to find a way to accurately make sense of this behemoth of history. In an effort to make sense of Vietnam, it must first be segmented. Unlike previous military consumed eras, the Vietnam era has no general consensus for long. It must be fragmented by topic, antiwar, politics, soldier’s perspective, cultural changes on the home front, and military engagements. But then it must also be split based on the years in which change is not occurring.

Investigation of the question is comprised of thorough and careful examination of data and facts from the war ranging from the economic effects, protests in the U.S., use of media, influence on public opinion, and a conclusion on the effects of the Tet offensive. In attempts to understand the influence of the Tet Offensive on america’s societal opinion during the Vietnam War, the data was aggregated in such a way that it would create a coherent understanding of the chaotic effects of the Tet Offensive.

The Vietnam War (1955-1975) was the longest war the United States has ever fought in and also the most controversial. Many Americans protested against sending their children across seas to fight in a war that did not involve the United States. Millions asked for a return to isolationism such as the 1920s. Meanwhile many protests went viral as the National Guard interfered, killing four at Kent State University in 1970. Acts such as these convinced the American Citizens that the government was not to be trusted as anti-war enthusiasts took the advantage to further demonstrate against the government. Issues such as the My Lai massacre also promoted people in the United States to speak out against what they were doing in Vietnam. All forms of culture were changed by the issues in Vietnam. Two of the most convincing cultures that formed at the time were cartoons and music. Music and Cartoons throughout the Vietnam War era reflect the issues brought forth by the war as rock and roll became more popular after massacres such as My Lai, cartoons became increasingly more graphic as anti-Vietnam fighters pushed for an end to the war, and social views of college students were forever changed, they were from then on considered hippies to music which went against the government.

The opinion of the citizens of the United States began to change as time passed and incidents took place. The government misled the people, the people became dissatisfied with the current situation and families were torn apart. As American got sucked deeper into the war, Americans wanted to get out more badly. The growth of anti-war movements was caused by a mixture of different factors.

While America was at war in Vietnam in the late twentieth century, there was a backlash of rebellion from the American people against the war. One particular group of people who protested were the students and these protests often escalated which leads to the investigation of the question, through opposing viewpoints,: To what extent did the National Guard overreact to anti-war protests at Kent State on May 4, 1970? The following sources were analyzed due to their crucial value of providing alternate viewpoints to the investigation. This event contains modern relevance due to the fact it questions to protection of United State citizens and freedom of expression. However, despite the violence portrayed by protesters, the National Guard escalated to counter violence too swiftly against the minute threat of the unarmed students.

Deirdre English, an ordinary American girl, found out about the war in the museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. She did not have an opportunity to learn about the war – in school teachers did not talk about Vietnam and she probably did not have a reason to seek for information about it. However, once she accidently saw a demonstration and she found out that she was living in ignorance. “‘Most American don’t even know that we’re at war in a little Southeast Asian nation called Vietnam.’ And I thought, yeah, I’m most Americans (30).” The perception of Vietnam war seems that it was not as important issue as for example World Wars for Americans. These stories show the ignorance of common people. However, it is hard to say if it was their

In case of the Vietnam war protesting can sometimes patriotic because it’s shows freedom and it’s expressing what citizens believe in.When people would burn their draft cards that was pointless and showing they didn’t want to protect freedom and rights. There is always gonna be stuff that’s not agreed with and protesting is showing that it’s not agreed with. Not standing for the National Anthem is stupid because that is freedom. It’s basically dissing the troops and the flag. The United States shouldn’t of even gone into the war and the U.S had more casualties than they should've. They're are friendly protests and protests that just go awol. Protesting usually a serious/big issue. It’s also patriotic because it’s using your constitutional

American Public Opinion of the Vietnam War At the beginning of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, in 1965, the American Public favored the idea of war because they feared the threat of communism. Polls conducted in 1965, showed 80 percent of the population agreed with President Johnson and were for the war (Rousseau 11). The U.S. got involved with the war to stop communism from spreading throughout South Asia. Americans were afraid if one country on South Asia turned to communism, it would extend to other countries, which is known as the "Domino Theory".

I have always been interested in the Vietnam War and the results of “the longest war in America.” Therefore, I have decided to examine the social attitudes toward Vietnam veterans. Since I feel so passionately about the way that Vietnam veterans are viewed, the purpose of my paper is to inform others about the way that the veterans have been criticized and misrepresented. Personally, I hope to gain a further understanding of the attitudes and views towards Vietnam veterans, especially since my father is a veteran. After reading my paper, I hope that my audience will walk away with more respect and reverence for those that fought in the Vietnam War and gave their lives for their country. My

The last study that will be analyzed however, does not frame their research in that manner, instead, “the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in the U.S.A. on the changes in the American public’s views about the war.” There is general consensus among Verba, Brody and Schreiber that the polls did not serve as an adequate metric for determining whether the war was truly out of touch with many. Schreiber referred to the demonstrations, noting that “many members of the public simply do not mentally join together” This could lead to the formation of two conclusions according to Schreiber; one being that demonstrations had no effect in altering public opinion, and the other being that those demonstrations had great effect in communicating with the public. “The major point to be gleaned from this review is that there is no evidence that shows an effect of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations on reducing American public support for the war in Vietnam.” Schreiber then goes on to reiterate the point

Since the Vietnam War, the public's opinion has played major roles in how policymakers operate. Their opinions may not always support to choices which are best for the country, however they are still factored into the decision making. Richard Sobel discusses several cases on how the public's attitudes have affected policymaker's decisions in his book, "The Impact of Public Opinion on U.S. Foreign Policy Since Vietnam."