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The World Of The Vietnam War

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The year is 1965: the skate board is the latest craze in kids toys; the miniskirt makes its appearance; hypertext is introduced for linking on the Internet; Kellogg 's Pop Tarts pastries are created; Sonny & Cher make their first TV appearance in "American Bandstand”; rights activist Malcolm X is shot dead; the Gemini 3 launched the first US 2-man space flight; and the first United States combat forces arrive in Vietnam. This was not the start of the Vietnam War since the war actually started in 1955, pitting Communist North Vietnam against anti-Communist South Vietnam. The United States believed it had to protect South Vietnam from Communist take-over and is the reason the U.S. supplied South Vietnam with millions of dollars in military aid as well as with military advisors from the start of the war. Eventually, the US had no other choice but to send troops to war and it became the first war Americans opposed publicly and passionately, making the US involvement in the Vietnam War a shameful venture rather than a noble cause. Although the Vietnam War was the first televised war, it is unclear if Vietnam War films are able to give an honest portrayal of the Vietnam War experience, or if truer reality of the war can be found only in textbooks. The Vietnam War was so much a part of American life that it could not be ignored, and with war films losing their appeal after World War II, it’s hard to know if the Vietnam War would be actually portrayed on the big screen. The

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