Why The Vietcong's Who Tried To Receive Prisoners In Vietnam

The introductory attack began spectacularly during celebrations of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year and left global lungs breathless (Farber and Bailey 34-54). Widely seen as the turning point in the Vietnam War, the NLF and PAVN won an enormous psychological and propaganda-associated victory, which ultimately led to the loss of popular support for the War in the United States and the eventual withdrawal of American troops. Additionally, the events surrounding the Tet Offensive piloted American citizens to increased polarization. Attracting members from college campuses, middle-class suburbs, labor unions, and government institutions, the anti-war movement was swollen with aggrieved affiliates (Farber and Bailey 34-54). The observable pathos of the protesters delivered the distrust of a growing population to the White House doors; the budding doubt in governmental affairs was difficult to discard and impossible to ignore. Indisputably, the Tet Offensive of 1968 cleaved the fragile harmony of the public and birthed a political skepticism that continues to subsist in modern American minds.

The public was on board the war train for the first few years of the war, until they found out what it was actually like in Vietnam. Public view of the war immediately changed negatively. When the news reached the soldiers in Vietnam, reactions were mixed. While they could understand why the people didn't like the prospect of war, they were still killing-even when they didn't want to-for their country. Some soldiers didn't know how to respond. One solder wrote to his mother and told her that for one second he felt as if he was on vacation because it was so beautiful in Vietnam. Another one told his mom “not to worry, there is nothing I can't handle”. While the soldiers could handle the physical horrors happening to them, it was the mental stuff that was breaking them down.

The Vietnam War's contraversiality spurred a great many sources of protest, against our government's use of power, how far we could stretch the rights of free expression, and primarily against the violence of the war itself. These changes in the behavior of society have

They would tie their hands with rope and turn a wheel that stretched their back. The worst part was coming off and getting the rope off of you. Soldiers were placed in handcuffs and leg irons and were left that way for sometimes many years. Mr. Ralph Gaither was a navy ensign when his plane was shot down. He was immediately taken to one of the thirteen vietnamese prisons. He would spend the next seven to eight years of his life in an 4.5x9 cell with another man. From the cell he watched many of his friends lives get wasted, because they talked back to the Vietnamese. There was no love in these camps between the Americans and the Vietcong. Soldiers were told that they were not prisoners-of-war, but mere criminals. A war had not been declared by the United States Government so therefore they could treat their advisaries as murderers and thieves. The prisons that they were being held in were built by the French in the latter parts of the nineteenth century. The same times when the Geneva Accordance came around. This was the law on treatment of all foreign prisoners of war and civilians. It stated that humane treatment of civilians, prisoners, and wounded persons in wartime must be adhered to or a war crime indictment would be issued. Colonel Bud Day whose f100 was shot down in Vietnam stated "I was hung by my feet like a side of butchered beef for many hours because I refused to answer my captors questions." Beatings were uncontrollable and sometimes resulted in death.

The Vietnam War was undeniably huge loss for the United States. This is confirmed by the tens of thousands loss of American men, the excessive period of time it occurred, and it being seemingly unwarranted. The general public protested against the United States’ participation in the Vietnam War. A multitude of people, even those who had participated had frowned upon their involvement. People indicated their antiwar sentiments through different means of expression including music, art, writing. A particularly successful example of said antiwar sentiment includes the letter written by Sandy Kempner. Through the use of sarcasm, Kempner is able to effectively convey his particularly negative view of the war.

Vietnam was an entirely new type of war for the United States. It still remains morally and historically problematic in today’s society. The Vietnam War had a tremendous impact on American society and culture, primarily because it was the first war to be televised. The American press played a significant

The reason why the MIA/POW topic was so dangerous after the end of the war was the idea and hope to many Americans that the soldiers who were shot down over North Vietnam and labeled as missing during the war may be in a prison camp somewhere in the country (Herring, 370). While soldiers who were shot down or remains were not accounted for were automatically labeled as Missing in Action, this gave hopes to the soldier’s families that they could be alive causing the issue to become controversial and emotionally charged. Though the POWs were released in 1973, the government helped to heighten this troublesome issue after the war by making comments like “the total accounting is not possible,” by the House Select Committee or Reagan who said, “the return of all POWs is the nation’s highest priority” (Appy. 244). With These suggestions by the government spurred this controversial topic on by the American public. While Vietnam’s government advocated that they had released all prisoners, Regan continued to suggest there could still be many MIAs that were still alive. While this initiated the public’s efforts for the government to take action, many felt that if Vietnam was covering the POW issue up, that this would bring a negative view towards the country (Rosenthal, The Myth of the Lost POWs).

The mass disapproval of the Vietnam War arose on the account of Americans losing faith in the government. Americans began condemning the war based upon the moral implication of the military conducting chemical warfare and the unnecessary interference of the United States in foreign affairs. Due to these ramifications, the public upheaval resulted in a massive social movement against the entirety of the war. However, the brunt of the public’s outcry was felt by the returning soldiers. The primary source is of a young draftee Sebastian Ilacqua, who recounts his experiences in Vietnam and his unforeseen homecoming from the war.

Problem that the Vietnamese war veterans faced was the psychological effects which was very common for Vietnam veterans to have. The main cause of this is because it was different compared to other wars in the past like the condition that the soldiers were in. Studies has shown that a World War II soldiers experienced up to a total of 60 days under combat like conditions. A Vietnam infantryman endured on a comparable basis 300+ days therefore Vietnam veterans have more likely to develop psychological problems than a World War II veteran. (POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD), 2001)

It was 1965 the president was Lyndon B Johnson , Kennedy was killed two years ago but none of us have gone home the vietcong has captured me. But  i’m friends with others here. The vietcong are keeping us prisoner and some vietnamese are helping us and I don’t know why they is giving us extra bread and water he says he is going to help us escape this horrible place.

Deploying a propaganda technique that would be honed to perfection during the Gulf War thirty years later, Nixon began to redefine the war. From the spring of 1969 on, the war was going to be first and foremost about the men who were being sent to fight it (and not, mind you, about the people who sent them there). In the first instance, this meant prisoners of war. The administration’s clever campaign to muster public opinion around the POW issue was launched on May 19 at a press conference held by Defense Secretary Melvin Laird. Enthusiastically promoted by the media, the POW issue soon dominate war news to such an extent that the writer Jonathan Schell observed that many people were persuaded that the United States was fighting in Vietnam in order to get its prisoners back.

The Vietnam War certainly left a distaste in the lives of many who have been affected by the war; scholars have become increasingly interested in the interaction between war and public opinion. There have been many scholarly works published on the Vietnam War, but the issue that will be analyzed here is how public opinion changed the course of the war. The first article by Scott Gartner and Gary Segura is titled, “Race, Casualties, and Opinion in the Vietnam War,” it examined how the diverse races within America in combination with the atrocities in the war led to the formation of opinions that were similar in one race but were different in another race. The second article by Paul Burstein and William Freudenburg titled, “The Impact of

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

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."

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