“General Butler lamented the use of propaganda in World War 1, and he pointed out how ‘beautiful ideals were painted for our boys who were sent out to die.’ ” (D6) It would be fair to apply General Butler’s argument about the use of propaganda in World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. Propaganda can be used to influence people’s beliefs or ideas by making negative things appear to be positive. Not only is propaganda able to unite a nation during war time, it can also be used to undermine the morale of the enemy. Unfortunately, while propaganda can make things appear to be good the reality is often quite different. This can be demonstrated by examining World War 2 and the Vietnam War. General Smedley Butler was a highly decorated Major General in the Marine Corps who went on to become very critical of war after serving in WWI. He witnessed young boys eagerly signing up for the war with aspirations of being a celebrated war hero, but quickly becoming jaded once they realized the reality was far different than what they had been told. The Government used propaganda to reel in recruits by making war look exciting, promising medals and instant “hero” status. Essentially, war would be fun! Those who chose not to sign up were made to feel ashamed as though they were not fulfilling their duty as a good citizen. Unfortunately, reality was quite different and once these new recruits arrived on the front, they were greeted with swampy trenches, food rations, and the
The United States government has historically used propaganda to entice, encourage, and even shame a person into enlisting in to the uniformed services and/or supporting the war effort. The effective use of propaganda does not only affect the American public’s opinion of a war and its leaders, but also affects their commitment to the war effort. Ineffective use (or lack of) of propaganda can lead to resentment and undermine public trust in its leaders and their ability to lead the nation. This essay will show how the use of media has either supported or hindered the effective use of governmental propaganda in influencing the American public during times of war and why is it sometimes not important to know what is the “whole truth.” The areas that will be covered will be the propaganda used during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I-II, the Cold War/Vietnam, and also it’s affect on public opinion.
Following the United States’ entry into World War II and with national governments battling for the hearts and minds of the people, propaganda became an industry of war just as “important as producing bullets and planes.” In the words of Archibald MacLeish, assistant director of the Office of War Information and librarian of Congress, “The principal battleground of the war is not the South Pacific. It is not the Middle East. It is not England, or Norway, or the Russian Steppes. It is American opinion.” Thus, propaganda was the most effective resource in securing the American victory in World War II, as it caused an increase in
It must be emphasized that the ultimate object of propaganda in war is the destruction of enemy morale, and its corollary, the strengthening of friendly morale. “It consists of the dissemination of ideas, designed to react in different ways upon their various recipients. The enemy must be made to feel that his cause is hopeless from the start, has no chance of ultimate success, and is based upon delusive ideals.” It is usually impossible to convince the responsible organizations of the hostile nation, such as the government or the army, though it may be advantageous to hinder them in their decisions. But it is comparatively easy to influence the rank and file, civilian as well as military, and to produce an atmosphere of hopelessness fatal to success.
Within the context of the United States, wars, atrocities, and widespread violence has plagued our nation’s history. Although we go through periods of revolution and pride, a more critical and overarching perspective of American history reveals a common theme of war. Since the American Revolution of 1776, major wars like the Civil War and the Vietnam War have broadly changed the American landscape. In particular, the Vietnam War solidified widespread distrust in the American government because of the drastic disparities between political rhetoric and reality. The pervasive propaganda in the rhetoric of American politicians created an inaccurate portrayal of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, influencing the imaginations of the American public. In
“Propaganda is the art of persuasion - persuading others that your 'side of the story' is correct. Propaganda might take the form of persuading others that your military might is too great to be challenged; that your political might within a nation is too great or popular to challenge etc.”
The purpose of my study is to provide a defence of US propaganda in the Vietnam War. Historians, such as Caroline Page are particularly negative about the campaign, but fail to sufficiently take into account the magnitude of the task of maintaining public support for a War where American involvement was open to significant question. They also struggled as the progress of the war made it difficult to point to regular victories, and the Tet offensive was particularly destructive. Such losses were well reported by domestic and foreign media.
war the enemy would be in uniform and it was clear who to kill who not
Villagers flee for their lives, as tanks advance behind them. Among the villagers are Americans lugging heavy equipment. These Americans aren’t here to fight, though -- at least not in the traditional sense. They fight with audio and video, instead. (Rewrite Hook) This was live coverage of the Vietnam War, a long, bloody, unforgotten, and unappreciated war. Once these horrifying images were cast onto American screens, United States would find itself covered in ruins. Ruins that would cost years and years to rebuild. (Fix Transition) Media coverage of the Vietnam War ignited a new era of journalism and served as a driving force in the public’s perception of United States involvement in foreign affairs. (Fix/Revise Introduction)
Through six presidential administrations, The Vietnam War is known as America’s longest conflict. Between 1955 and 1975, a war rampaged between North Korea, a communist government and South Korea, an authoritarian capitalist (Jones, Wood, Borstelmann, May & Ruiz, 2014). Billions of dollars were spent, millions of Americans served, and it was the first televised American War. The United States supported South Vietnam because they too hoped to stop the spread of communism. By the 1960’s the American government increased their troops in Vietnam and in 1965, the first combat units were sent (Jones, Wood, Borstelmann, May & Ruiz, 2014). Today many of the American troops share their experience in relation to The Vietnam War. This paper will explore
In the United States during World War II, propaganda was everywhere. There were posters with Uncle Sam on them telling young men to enlist in the military and go fight. There were posters with American soldiers and American flags, with the words ‘Buy War Bonds’ at the bottom. The Japanese Navy devastated Pearl Harbor, and in its wake it left the American people with a passion for vengeance. The Empire of Japan was violating widely accepted human rights in eastern Asia, and its government had been seen by the oppressed as a monster that needed to be stopped. The world was divided between two sides, the majority of the nations of the world supporting the Allied Powers. If propaganda had not been used to rally support for the war, it is possible that the war effort would not have been as powerful. Perhaps it could have been weak enough for the Axis Powers to continue building up strength all over the world. However, this does not justify propaganda as something that is absolutely ‘good’.
The fact that wars give rise to intensive propaganda campaigns has made many people suppose that propaganda is something new. The truth is, it is not. The battle with persuasion for power and men’s minds is as old as human history (Casey, 1994d)
Using the media as a weapon is not new, as well as the use of deception operations, deception operations have been used both politically and militarily throughout history.
Mass Media and the Vietnam War Many people at the beginning and before the Vietnam War were in confusion on whether going to war was such a good thing; this mainly consisted of the American public. By the time it had reached the peak of the war much of the American public had swung towards being for the war. This was mainly due the mass media at the time, one integral part of the mass media that often swayed public opinion was television, it proved to be such an effective method of communication, that it often shocked and consequently altered public opinion. Television wasn’t the only form of mass media; there were magazines and the radio.
The paper focuses on the on the input side of the Vietnam War Memory in Tim O’Brien’s on how to tell a true war story. Ideally, the performance of the war is a representation of an important part of the human life as he tries to work through the traumas of life as well as the creative process during the occurrence of the war. The main question that is raised by the story is how the writer uses the memories of the war as the primary tools of the actualization. The other matter which is posed in the story is how can one achieve the suspense that is based on the detachment as well as why is it imperative for the author to the author of the story to do that in a war-related piece of work. The story by O’Brien shows that this can happen by the use of the per formative side of the war through three important episodes that are based on the Vietnam Conflict. There is the Rat Kiley’s letter, which was written to the sister who is known by the name Lemon and who was his war friend after the death of lemon. Additionally, the narrator is telling the story of Lemons death as well as the story of Mitchell Sanders as he does the analysis of the versions that the war had and the experiences of the victims of the war. The characters in the war story do not deal with the favoritism that is attached to the emotions as well as the failure of the memories of the war that echo the Nietzsche’s point which is based on the life after the war that needs one to have an avoidance on the wrong things
There are two types of propaganda: sociological propaganda; the spreading of an ideology through the mass media, and political propaganda; efforts that are sponsored by governments and political groups that alter a persons’ interests. All propaganda has a direction, and the overall quality determines whether it will have a positive or negative effect over the masses. Our entire nation is a vast propaganda operational system that is greatly linked to education, consumerism and politics. A great deal of what makes up propaganda and how it is placed among the masses lies in understanding the overall emotional and physical states of these groups of people and in finding a way to draw a persons’ attention to capture their hearts, breaking down