Us Governmental Distrust in the 60's and 70's Essay

The late 1940′s were a time when much change happened to the American society. As a result to the expanding threat of the Soviet Union, or its Communistic ideals, America took a stand that lead it to the Cold War.  Although the war didn’t involve fighting directly with Russia, it still affected the American society and domestic policy. The war affected America so much that it lead to a fear of livelihood; precisely when Joseph McCarthy began his “witch hunt”. The Cold war lead to an enlarged fear of nuclear war; as well, it affected many of the domestic policies.

The Vietnam War was the first war that allowed uncensored media coverage resulting in images and accounts of horrific events that served to shape public opinion of the war like nothing that had been seen before. This portrayal by the media led to a separation between the press and the U.S. government, as much of what was reported defied the intentions of government policy. The media has fell blame by many for the result of the war, as it is widely believed that the war could not have been won under the scrutiny that came from the American people as a result of the media

In 1950 the emergence of the Second Red Scare’s driving force, Senator Joseph McCarthy, appeared and gave a speech proclaiming that America will soon be lost to communism if the people do not stand up to combat it. He revealed that night a list of 205 people working for Soviet Russia in the United States’ State Department whose intentions were to mold America from the inside to become a socialist nation. (Fitzgerald, p. 14) It was thanks to this newfound hysteria that began to break out thanks to McCarthy’s claims that the HUAC and other like-minded organizations began to gain momentum during this time period.

In the duration of one year, 1968, the American national mood shifted from general confidence and optimism to chaotic confusion. Certainly the most turbulent twelve months of the post-WWII period and arguably one of the most disturbing episodes the country has endured since the Civil War, 1968 offers the world a glimpse into the tumultuous workings of a revolution. Although the entire epoch of the 1960's remains significant in US history, 1968 stands alone as the pivotal year of the decade; it was the moment when all of the nation's urges toward violence, sublimity, diversity, and disorder peaked to produce a transformation great enough to blanket an entire society. While some may superficially disagree, the evidence found in the Tet

During the Vietnam War, Americans were greatly influenced by the extensive media coverage of the war. Before the 1960’s and the intensification of the war, public news coverage of military action was constrained heavily by the government and was directed by Government policy. The Vietnam War uniquely altered the perception of war in the eyes of American citizens by bringing the war into their homes. The Vietnam War was the first U.S uncensored war resulting in the release of graphic images and unaltered accounts of horrific events that helped to change public opinion of the war like nothing it had ever been. This depiction by the media led to a separation between the United States government and the press; much of what was reported flouted

American did not have the people of Vietnam backing them. To the Vietnamese they were intruders who murdered their families forcing the people of Vietnam to fight back. The Vietnamese’s refusal to cooperate with America prompted backlash from the solders. The Vietnamese’s responded with even more resistance to the US. This chain reaction fuelled the hatred the Vietnamese had for America.

The United States paid a high cost politically for the Vietnam War. The war weakened many American’s faith in our government, and the public also doubted the honesty and competence of its leaders. Americans were skeptical, if not cynical and held a high degree distrust and suspicion towards authority of any kind. This pretty much described the views of an increasing number of Americans following the Vietnam War (Chambers II, 1999).

The American involvement in the Vietnam War was a very controversial decision, with many people being for the war, however many people in the United States were also against the war. The Vietnam War was the longest lasting war in the United States history, before the Afghanistan War, in which most people felt strongly about, be them United States citizens, Vietnamese citizens, or just the global population. In order to better understand the ideas of those American citizens that are either for or against the war, one would have to look at the reasons that the United States was involved in the war, the impact of the Vietnam war on the American society, and the impact on the United States foreign policy.

When most people are taught about U.S. history, we think of mostly the bad times like the wars, the civil rights movements, President Kennedy’s and M. L. King Jr’s associations, just to name a few. In this paper I will discuss those and more going into the start of the 21st century. The previous five decades consisting of the 1950s into the millennium happened during the U.S. History equally turbulent, but exciting. There also were numerous transformations within social, governmental, plus technological sections, but the WWII era currently seems rather prehistoric. Since the 1950s America has experienced major cultural transformations, starting with four main

Many men were harmed, and many AMerican citizens felt it was a waste of forces. The American involvement in the Vietnam War sparked controversy that left an unsettled American society, and resulted in a more cautious foreign policy. A major reason for U.S. participation in the Vietnam War was the need to constrain communism. If France were to lose Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, a leader in Vietnam

This thematic standpoint in return provides ground for a second major theme; the 1960s was home to the birth of civil rights movements and forever changed the American idea of the status quo. To a large extent, it is agreeable that that the 1960s serves as the era that led to activism in the US. Anderson is able to confirm and strengthen his standpoint by the fact that it was during one of the greatest milestones of the 1960s, the Vietnam War, that for the first time in the history of the US, the government was subjected to criticism and attacks against their “ways”. This can be evidenced by the fact that Americans, which were majority college students, took to the streets to protest government action. At the time, the policies and actions put forth by the government were seen to be very secretive and wrong. Citizens were hastily informed about the need to stop the spread of communism at the expense of capitalism. Not only were government policies seen as corrupt, the government had kept the American society in the dark concerning the actual situation in Vietnam. There seemed to be no cost that was worth retreating from Vietnam. Draft calls were constantly increasing and the war itself began to result in federal expenditures, deficits, and inflationary pressures ( Anderson 90). For some Americans, the war not only damaging, but unfair. Mexican Americans were the poorest and

The decades of both the 1960s and 1970s were tumultuous decades. Protests, violence, activist movements, war, and more marked these decades, and within this time period and lingering still after, the American people grew to distrust their government. While there were many factors that led people to distrust the government, a few very important factors to this distrust were the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, and President Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon. The Vietnam War was a devastating affair.

The Vietnam War affected greatly the media. This is because the media was mainly used to communicate and spread word about protests and social gatherings. The media was also used by Americans to ensure that their views were heard. This ensured the protest outcome was better. The productivity of protests became increased as more media joined in to relay messages during the protests. In such protests, the government would violate the constitutional rights of the American citizens by preventing them from speaking their minds. This, as stipulated by the constitution on the bill of rights, barred them from enjoying the right of free speech. At that point, the Americans realized that the constitution was bigger than the administration of the government, and they protested even more to ensure that their constitutional privileges were not

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".

This time in history was the upbringing of modern politics. The resolution of WWII resulted in another, less violent, international crisis, the Cold war. This new war was a battle of ideology leaving virtually no nation neutral, having the U.S. and U.S.S.R. helping (or forcing) other countries into either capitalism or communism. However war wasn’t just on the battlefront, new forms of technology and advocating made it more than easy to share a political platform, spreading either idealistic social movements or the everlasting problem of conservationalism and hate speech. This set of developments and events allowed for the making of a more tolerant america, without this crucial social and economic standpoint we wouldn’t have our innovations