True to my word we took a break from notes today. We explored the Vietnam war through the voices of those involved in it. Your homework assignment however is to view the crash course video on Vietnam below and respond to the following prompt right here on the blog.
DUE TUESDAY APRIL 4th
Prompt: To what extent was the course of the Vietnam war decided by the everyday American as opposed to politicians?
PPT we did not do if you want to view it:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Br2RBwz0R7dXZEa01wWDdZOE0/view?usp=sharing
With the continued support from the people for the majority of the wars run time allowed the politicians to easily manipulate the media of the war. This led to people knowing false news but accepting it as they believed in the cause. If there was as many people protesting the war efforts from the beginning as there was in the end then it would be safe to assume that there would be a significant decrease in activity. It was due to massive support the people gave to the political powers during the time the war was in action that allowed the continuation of involvement that was based on an irrational fear of communism that many "free" people had due to World Wars II. Overall, if more people threw away their irrational fear and protested against the needless sending of our troops then there would have been a major difference in the U.S.'s actions during the time. J.D. 5th Period 31-March-2017
ReplyDeleteFirst!
DeleteThe politicians of the time were the people with a majority of the power concerning what happened with the whole Vietnam situation. They gained this power by manipulating the public into supporting the cause through false news and straight up lies. This information paired with an intense fear that the domino effect would continue leading to a world full of commies made the American people very vulnerable to manipulation. As the war continued more and more people learned the truth about what was happening in Vietnam and public support began to dwindle. If the American people had put their fear of different people aside and actually looked at the war, they would have had more power over the situation and probably would have saved many lives.
ReplyDelete- Crystal Stidham 3rd
Over the course of the war, Americans were deceived by the Politicians. The people thought they had a say in the events that occurred in the war. Yet, little did they know, the government had been altering the actions of they war, even before it was presented to the public. The government gained support of the war from the Americans because of their fear of communism. Communism rattled them to their core, and they would support anything that would halt the course of communism spreading. The Politicians would cover the ugly of the war with news that American people wanted to hear. If the citizens had known that many innocent lives were killed, resources and money was being consumed at a fast rate, and the conditions their sons were fighting in the war then the pubic would have not supported it. The politicians had the power of manipulating the truth, and the citizens were gullible and desperate enough to listen to anything that was pleasing to the ear. The truth shall be set free, and it did. The public became aware of the Government's doing, and they began anti-war campaigns. They protested to bring the troops home, and protested the war itself. If we had not had the wool over our eyes, then our support would have not grown to the extent it was at. The course of the Vietnam war decided by the everyday American was very limited as opposed to the politicians.
ReplyDelete-Kayla Sanchez: Period 4
Politicians can politick and legislate all day long, but if the men and women they rule over dislike what they are doing, they run the risk of losing votes in the next election or, worse, being recalled. Yes, men continued to be drafted for the War, and yes they fought with bravery and valour, the best they could, but the people at home were done fighting this war, done losing their youth to a country that isn't their own, and this lack of patriotism in the United States began to make its way into the hearts of our soldiers, through letters they received from home. Yes, some were all for containing the "Commies", but with the advent of televisions and the reveal of what war was really like to those at home, the normal citizenry began to lose sight of the original glamour of the fight against another peoples. No, the citizens of the United States could not themselves have stopped the Vietnam War with anything short of an all-out rebellion against their government, but the leaders of the time heard them and, despite their political needs to contain an opposing ideology, they had to fulfill the moral needs of their country first. Sadly, the delay in that fulfillment on the part of the politicians was taken out on the returning soldiers, those who had to return home before the War officially ended, through a lack of respect for they who would have gladly given their lives, and who gave something immense to be brought home before the War had ended. This act in turn diminished the passion of the militants still participating in the War, and led to that delayed fulfillment of the moral needs of the people.
ReplyDelete-Morgan Wyatt: Period 3
American’s fear of communism brought our support to other countries, such as France in the 50s, as an attempt to stop the spread. One of the biggest factors that set the Vietnam War apart from any other war the U.S. had been apart of was that it had more broadcast coverage than ever. The war place was extremely brutal seeing that it was often fought in jungles and large amounts of bombings and Americans were able to witness this due to TVs. Because of such exposure of the war, protests started, but the majority of Americans still stood with support. Great misunderstanding of the Vietnam War caused U.S. civilians’ trust in their government to waver. Once the public realized that the government was deceiving them, their confidence vanished.
ReplyDeleteGrace Davila, 2
Americans were misinformed about the war. The government would tell them one thing about the war and not what was really going on. Americans thought they had a say in the war bu really didn't. Once the war came on TV Americans saw how horrible the war really was, as they saw this they started protesting against the war. Although this is true MOST Americans still supported the war. As Richard Nixon tried to appeal to those who were silent about the war he had an idea to take troops out of the war gradually yet keep bombing them. This however did not work and also destabilized Cambodia. During the early 70's the anti-war protests grew stronger and even Vietnam vets would protest against it. At the end of the war the North captured that South and became a communist country as a whole. Ricky Campos 4th period
ReplyDeleteThe government did a very horrific job at presenting to the public what was going on during the Vietnam War. By 1968 there were approximately half a million American troops in Vietnam. At this tie Johnson was,with confidence, saying that victory was just around the corner. However, soon after the Vietnamese forces launched a counterattack that turned out to be more troublesome than we thought it would be. In addition, the Vietnam War was the first war that would be televised and brought into American living rooms. This is when the people of the United States saw the truth behind the war. As more and more people were finding out what was going on more and more people began to protest the war. However, it is important to remember that most Americans supported the war effort in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteAmericans were so stuck on the idea of getting rid of all communism, they were so scared of it, that they would do anything to make sure the spread of communism stopped immediately.The public didn't at all get what was really happening during the war, the government was feeding them lies to make them think that there was something else going on, until the war was televised and Americans saw what was happening, then they decided to go against it. The people protested trying to get the troops back but there was only so much they could do. If Americans hadn't been brainwashed so early on, maybe things would've gone a little differently.
ReplyDeleteAmerican citizens were very mis-informed when it came to the Vietnam War. They all thought that they were having a say in the decisions being made about the war, but in reality, they didn't. In comparison, the politicians of America had a much larger say, and a much larger in the course of the Vietnam War, due to different factors such as propaganda and the media, the everyday American thought that they did have a say in the course of the Vietnam war, but they actually didn't.
ReplyDeleteAaron Ward, 4th Period
Cheyenne Neitch
ReplyDeleteThe American people support the war in Vietnam for its majority. This made it easy for the president to continue to have complete control over the military. American people were scared of communism, and felt their president knew what he was doing, they believed it was the right thing to do. Now this may be partially due to Americans deep ties to nationalism, we feel our way is the best way. This leads to the desire to make others similar to us. Media played a major role in the president’s manipulation of the country's. When government files were released revealing the cover ups, a large pool of citizens were outraged. Long protests began which lead to congress passing the War Powers Act in 1973, to restrict the president’s power to send troops overseas. The act did not do very well. Finally in 1973 the Paris peace agreement allowed Americans to retract from the war. After the war citizens lost trust in the government.
There was a big difference between what the government was telling Americans about the war and what was actually happening. Americans were told multiple times that victory was just around the corner, but especially after the Tet offensive was launched by the Vietnamese, the hope that this war would soon be won began to dissipate. Television also played a big role in how those at home viewed this war. Because of TV, this was the first war that the American people could really see and experience, and for the most part people did not like what they saw. As more and more were informed about what was happening in Vietnam, many began to protest. On the other hand, the majority of Americans were supportive of the war and ending communism. But even so, these protests continued and even caught the attention of those in the armed forces who also began to protest. Although America didn't completely understand this war, I think the constant anger and disapproval of the people helped push America to get out of the Vietnam war in 1973.
ReplyDeleteMaya Clark, Period 6
During the beginning of the war, the government was easily able to manipulate public media to get the American public in favor of the Vietnam War. Americans were misled on what they were fighting for, and this made it easier for the government to continue fighting it. However, with the reality of this conflict being shown in videos from Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, the public saw how they had been misled and started heavily protesting the Vietnam War. With this, the government lost it's ability to easily manipulate people into being in favor of the war, and they were forced to leave Vietnam and lose the Vietnam War in the following years.
ReplyDeleteSheldon Scholl, 6th Period
During this time many Americans were scared of the "Domino Effect" and because of this they were blinded by what was actually occurring in the Vietnam war. The everyday American along with the government was scared of the thought of the spreading of communism so they were willing to do anything to stop it. Adding to that, the Vietnam war was one of the first wars to display the horrors of an actual war via Television to Americans. This horrified people and made some individuals protest against our brutal actions that we committed due to fear. The majority, however, still continued to support the war. Nonetheless the government hid and released false news about the war which also showed Americans just how little their word mattered to the government. People believed in the president and trusted in him to make the best decision possible, had they been informed of accurate and correct news then maybe more Americans would've realized just how pointless the Vietnam war was.
ReplyDelete-Amber Ramos 8th Period
During the war, there were two different things happening. On one side, you had what the government was telling all of its fellow Americans about the war, then on the other, you have the reality of what was actually happening in the war. Public media was a great source used by the government. It allowed them just to show the parts that they wanted all Americans back home, to see. So, with all of the American support, the government was able to keep fighting through the war. After a couple of the usual unedited videos and pictures, the American people started to realize what it meant to be part of this type of war, so the support given started to decrease and it made the war a lot harder to fight and it eventually lead for the US to detach themselves from the Vietnam war. If it wasn't for the media, then the government wouldn't have had the support they did, and then they wouldn't have lost it a couple of years later.
ReplyDelete-Janet Castillo; Period 3
As a result of technological advances, the Vietnam war was broadcasted into the home of many. Consequently, the horrific scenes caused some of the war support to deminish. What once was the start of the war, containing communism, soon because "not worth it" to many people. Although the majority continued to support the war, medias increased the issues about the war and how we truly felt about it. Without our support, our political leaders were forced to place a gradual end to the Vietnam war. Therefore, we were able to essentially dictate the war by our support behind it and our relationship with this war and our government. As a result, much trust was lost during this period leading to protest and the end of a vast spending spree of our government for the paranoia caused by " the red scare".
ReplyDeleteAmericans were told that the war could be a win for America. However as the media started showing the realities of war the public felt that they weren't told the whole truths of the war. Protests started happening even though there were some who still supported the war against communism. With the growing anger of the public the government finally decided it would be best to drop out of the Vietnam war.
ReplyDeleteMeagan Billings
Period 2
Due to the Red Scare, Americans almost completely supported the Vietnam War to stop Vietnam from becoming a communist country. However, due to television, the Vietnamese war was the first war to be broadcast into people's homes, and the bombing and violence and death disgusted them. Also, the working lower classes was hit by the draft the hardest since being in college got you a free pass. Even despite all this, the silent majority supported the war, and voted Nixon into presidency for his "secret plan" to end the war, which just made things worse. Even though there were protests, the support of the majority of American citizens helped keep America in the Vietnam War.
ReplyDeleteRoman Ruiz, 3rd
Since the Vietnam War was right in the midst of the "Red Scare", at the beginning of the war Americans were very interested and invested in containing communism, already terrified of their own neighbors and miscellaneous celebrities and all too ready to keep the rest of the world to falling to communism like a bunch of red-speckled dominoes. Obviously, the best way to do that was war in a faraway country........
ReplyDeleteAlthough the majority of Americans supported the war right up until the end, they were largely uninformed and misled, particularly by the government, about the details of the war. Due to television and other technologies, the atrocities of the war became known on the home front later on and protest movements became extremely more active up until the US eventually lost the fight in 1973.
Danielle Croll, 8th
Americans were very supportive of the Vietnam War. They wanted to keep Vietnam form becoming a communist country. The Americans later on saw what war was really about and were astonished. They saw all the gruesome details. They saw the violence and all the death that occurred because of the war. Even though they were extremely mislead about what really goes on in war by the government, Americans were still supportive of the war close to the end.
ReplyDeleteVanessa Garza, 6th
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCitizens of America were very manipulated by politicians which at this time had a lot of power in the world ,the government and the public were putting out there this made people support the war politicians were feeding the public lies and false news to have there support. most Americans were all for the war until the end of the war until they realized the truth , propaganda made a big difference on people's views of the war the government used television and the radio and also more tech to change the way people and this was to start movements and thoughts which became more apparent when the US lost the war in 1973 in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteBrian Cash II 8th
During the Vietnam War, Americans were scared of communism and they didn't want to get involved in it, therefore they were supportive for the War. It came to the attention that it was so serious by the use of information given to them by the war becoming a TV wide known thing and they believed everything. So, therefore it gave the government a need to keep fighting. The people thought that they needed to do something in order to prevent the spread of it, not realizing that the government had been misleading the public about the war for years. Due to the false information given this made the public aware of the lies and protests began leading to anti-war agreements and treaties. For this, Nixon and his secretary decided to put an end to the War and prevent further involvement.
ReplyDelete-Elena Rea 3th
At the beginning of the Vietnam war the government did not present the right information to the public. Many of the times the government modified the information that was being distributed so that people could hear what they wanted to hear. Many citizens supported the war because the did not know what was going on in reality. As the war continued to take place and more and more information started to spread out about the war we were fighting, many Americans realized what was really going on. They started to perceive that all this time they had been informed with mislead information. Due to this, people begun protesting and changing the way they felt about the Vietnam war.
ReplyDeleteMaria Flores 4th period
In my opinion, it was not that the government did not present the "correct information" about the war- after all, there were broadcasts of the Vietnam War throughout the United States. It was the fact that the government was hiding information about the war from the United States citizens, and once they found out the government was doing such, the citizens slowly began to lose confidence in their government. The realization that the government took advantage of the Domino Theory idea to justify their presence in Vietnam, when in actuality they had no reason for their involvement, threw the hearts of the United States citizens' into chaos. Furthermore, this was the first war (in a very long time) that the US had actually "lost", and with the majority consensus saying the war was unjust AND that we were losing it, the government had to withdraw from the war to regain the trust that even today, has not been wholly restored. From then on, the US citizens were more self conscious that the global crises does not always mean communism is prevalent.
ReplyDeleteDuring the beginning of veitnam, the public was under the impression that they had a say in the goings-on of our nation in terms of the new war and how it was being fought. Unfortunately, the government hid information on the war from the public, and as national television started showing war in its reality and the wrongdoings of the government by hiding pertenat information from the public on the war were exposed, the power controlling the war started to shift. The public now had more control over their governemt, as seen by the protests and anger at this ttime that forced the government to take actions to try and keep the public happy and win back their trust. Overall, in the course of the war, the national government had the control over the war, but as the war progressed the public started to exert a small amount of control over the war, and as the war drew to a close, the public's negative outlook on nam really was the deciding factor that caused the US to withdraw from the conflict. 2nd period
ReplyDeleteWhen the Vietnam war first began, most Americans did not protest against it because they were uneducated about it. As the war continued on, the media started showing what was really happening in the war and the views of people changed and the protesting began. The politicians were always for the war. They knew what was really going on in Vietnam like with the deaths of soldiers and they would lie to the public about the U.S. winning. But they wanted to stop communism because they knew that as soon as one country fell to it, another one would, the Domino Effect. Once the government felt pressured by citizens they began pulling troops.
ReplyDeleteBraeven Zepeda 3rd period z
Throughout the entirety of the Vietnam War, the course of action, and who decided it, shifted numerous times. This occurred due to the misleading information the US government was presenting to their people. American citizens, however, were under the impression that they were fully aware of the actions their troops in Vietnam were undergoing, when really, the politicians who were actually presiding over those plans were leading them astray. When, because of news broadcasting on national television, Americans realized they had been deceived, they decided that the war in Vietnam was not just. Anti-war protests broke out and the public lost faith in their government. This is when the people began to have more control over what was happening, only because the U.S. government wanted to regain the support and trust of their people, especially with the release of the Pentagon Papers. The politicians who were previously in control then negotiated with each other in an attempt to withdraw their troops from Vietnam and after 5 years, they succeeded. So, overall, the government was in control but as the war went on, the people gained control as their viewpoint of it became negative and angry.
ReplyDeleteGenesis Weitman -- 6th Period
You can not have a war without public support. The government controlled the media agenda to make the war seem necessary. Not everyone was convinced, and everything from marches on Washington to riots broke out. More and more people began to feel lied to and began to distrust the government. Even with the public support of the war in the beginning, towards the end people discovered the way was not necessary at all. -Mekenzie Mangold
ReplyDeleteWar in Vietnam was originally a very popular idea with the people. Everyone was game with preventing communism and stopping Soviet Russia from gaining a greater foothold in the world. But, this viewpoint shifted as the government mislead its peoples, and lost credibility in their eyes. After years of the government saying that victory was right around the corner, the people started to doubt, especially after the Tet offensive. With the advent and popularity of television, this war was the first major covered war, and people were horrified with what they saw. Protests began, asking the government to end the war. The relationship between the government and its peoples was changed after this war. The government was in control for the majority of the war, but there was an increasing influence from the people nearer to the end of the war.
ReplyDeleteBetween everyday Americans and politicians, the politicians were definitely the people in control of deciding people's opinions for them. The Vietnam War was one of the most heart wrenching battles solely for the reason that Americans could sit at home and watch the battle happen on their television, which can be very traumatizing. Outbreaks of riots and protests happened because of this and the Americans didn't even have a good understanding about what they were protesting for, thanks to the government manipulating their thoughts, beliefs, and ideals through false information and propaganda. All of the deceiving that occurred during the war led to Americans becoming more aware in their everyday life, and the Vietnam War coming to an end.
ReplyDeleteThe course of this war was mainly decided by the actions of the American people. The government during the time was hiding military secrets of the war which gave the people a mistrust towards their congressional leaders who were not disclosing the true facts of war tactics. The Americans real purpose was to mainly prevent the spread of communism not knowing what the real purpose of the Vietnam war was leading to their defeat. The American citizens were not fond of the the this war because they were given real footage of the events going on in the battlefield. A financial issue was present during the time as well due to the mass economic consumption.
ReplyDeleteBrooklynn Haecker 2nd
Abbi Hernandez 5th period
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting the other day when I was watching a show called "Sun Records" and one of the main characters was a soldier in the Vietnam war, he loses a fellow comrade and it pulled my heart strings. I could only imagine during the time of the Vietnam war ,how propaganda influenced the hearts of Americans and
the letters they received from their loved ones.
I could imagine the views on war depended on their personal connection to the war. Also, I would assume people would be all for war if our own people were risking their lives for our safety.
Cassandra leal 6th period
ReplyDeleteDuring the war the political leaders had to gain support for the war by the people. They did this by using propaganda, white lies, and switching the factory production to produce war items. The political leaders did this to prompt the peoples mind to start thinking about going to war. That way once they went to war it would not shock the people because they were already exposed to the idea. Because in order to go to war political leaders need the peoples support. The people were mostly behind the war there were some exceptions because not everyone wanted to go to war. Although the majority of the people were behind the war because they wanted to stop the spread of communism (second red scare).
The people of America are known for being easily persuaded, especially during war. During this time, politicians were able to sway the on-lookers eyes so the people could not find the truth of what was truly happening. No one knew of all the deaths, or of the struggles people were facing. Once everyone was aware of how the war was going, anti-war protests started showing up more and more.
ReplyDelete-Magnolia Bornemann 5th Period
Shyann Atchley 5th,
ReplyDeleteEveryday people feared communism, politicians feared communism, we all feared communism. We all wanted to keep communism out of the U.S. the everyday people just did a better job than politicians. In effort to get rid of this fear the people were doing all they could. They had a great impact on the course of the vietnam war as much if not more than politicians. They were supporting our troops, manufacturing/ sending supplies to the soldiers, and building not to mention the thousands of young men who risked their lives fighting during the war. compared to what the politicians did, creating false new by manipulating the media so we wouldn't know the full story/what was really going on in the war, the everyday people (the soldiers) their letters home would reveal what it was really like and how terrible was actually was.
The majority of American's citizen's were fearful of communism spreading all throughout Asia and then jeopardizing their way of life. Though there was politicians that also feared this domino effect the main group of people projecting this possibility onto real life was normal Americans. The war was obviously one that was started not due politicians but everyday citizens. The only way the war as even instated was by passing it on not as a war, because it wouldn't of gotten approval by Congress. Then ended when the war lost popularity from common citizens.
ReplyDelete-Lauren Price 5th period
Ashley Burnett 6th
ReplyDeleteBecause of the ever-growing fear of communism, the American people could easily be persuaded to go to war with whoever they need to to stop the spread of it. This got Americans fighting in the war originally and most of the population supported it. But soon many people started to support the anti war. This was the first war that had been brought into the homes of the people. They saw the horrors and reality of war which swayed them to not want the war. But at this time the politicians were still deciding every move not really taking anything from the citizens. But when the news got out that the government had been misleading the public, more people supported the anti war than the war itself. People were confused about our reasons for being in Vietnam in the first place. From this point the politicans started listening to the people and pulling American troops out of the war (but not without meddling with Cambodia). Finally the war ended in 1973 but not without unneeded casualties and wasted money. Overall the people thought they knew what they wanted and thought they had a say in what was going on but in reality the politicians controlled more of the war then what was needed.
Most American citizens at the time were in favor of stoping the spread of communism, and supported the war. Politicians didn't think it'd be very hard war to end as we were technologically more advanced. However, they never really took the time to strategize, and figure out Vietnam's motives. American Politicians thought they were defending communism when in reality they were really just defending their country. This lead to a harder war to win, and many more Americans getting sent to fight. Families back home were falsely told that America was close to victory, but in reality we were far from it. The Politicians needed the support of the citizens (or what was left of it) so they continued to deceive them.
ReplyDeleteNormally politicians and the people of the US shared an opinion on going to war. In the beginning of the Vietnam war both the general public and the politicians wanted to go to Vietnam to stop the spread of communism further into the free world. However once troops were deployed on the ground it became very clear that the US was not going to emerge from this war as victorious as we had the previous wars. The public began to withdraw support for the war when they saw this. The public was able to see this because during the war film and news crews were showing the harshness of the conflict. Even though the government was determined to win no matter what in order to contain the communism the public was no longer in support of it. After protests and rallies the public won, the government could no longer continue the war and they withdrew american troops after enormous casualties. Vietnam was not lost, it was abandoned.
ReplyDeleteThe people of this time period were very much persuaded by the politicians. With the spread of communists, Americans and politicians both decided that going to war was the best way to end it. Americans back home knew little to nothing about the terrors of the war, and were horribly surprised when they saw coverage of it through the media. This caused many Americans to start anti-war protests to bring back the soldiers that were lucky enough to survive that long in the war. In conclusion, politicians did not stand a chance to send more soldiers into the war because the citizens of America did not agree with continuing it. With no one to stand behind the politicians on continuing the war, the Vietnam war ended.
ReplyDelete- Joshlyn Herrera 6th Period
Many americans feared communism and were wanting to stop the spread of communism. With the help of politicians, media, and propaganda, Americans were persuaded and went to war. This was the first war that was able to be seen on television. Many americans were watching it and paying attention to the war which caused them to want to end the war because they were now seeing the truth about war. They were able to see how terrible the conditions the soldiers were fighting in and how gruesome the war was. Once noticing how terrible war was, Americans wanted it to end. Many protests on anti war started and people began to realize that they really shouldn't trust the government as much as they have been. The U.S lost the fight in the Vietnam War due to false representations of war by politicians, propaganda, and media.
ReplyDelete-Brooke Mueller 5th period
Okay so Americans feared communism and thanks to the government and all the propaganda they believed the right way to stop the spread of the red was to start a war. Propaganda, media, and politicians showed American war was the only way. Americans believed it and BOOM Vietnam War has started. Americans soon realized they done goofed. As the war was fought, they could see it. It was televised. They all realized the government fed them a bunch of bologna. You start seeing anti-war protests in communities and such. Because the government lost support we lost the Vietnam War. - Miss Royal 8th period
ReplyDeleteWhen the Vietnam "conflict" began, there was a wealth of support from the American citizens. This support mainly came from a fear of communism, and the belief in Domino Effect, which made communism a impending danger to the democracy that major world powers depended on. Our people were also very confident because of our "win" in Korea, where we stopped communist North Korea from taking over South Korea which was a democracy (really we just ended up where we started so it wasn't really a victory but oh well), and we believed that we could do the same thing in Vietnam. The support remained well into the war, but after our people saw that the American victory was not as imminent as the government was saying it was, there was a large counter culture movement and the war rapidly lost support from the people. As well as a loss of support from the civilians, there was a lot of dissent among our troops; they were tired of seeing their friends and family die in a war that was not theirs to fight. With massive protests and a general dislike of the war amongst the people, our government finally took a hint and the war ended. We saw it as a conflict that was not ours to fight in, that killed too many of our men, and once the public's support was lost, the war had to end.
ReplyDeleteIn the eyes of the Americans, Vietnam was another "domino" subject to tip over and fall to communism. Both the American government and its people feared what the spread of communism would bring, so they got behind the movement to represent democracy and protect the free world. However, when it came to intervening in Vietnam, the citizens of the United States had very little say in the matter. At first, this was not a big deal because the American people trusted and respected their government, and in the face of fear, it was widely accepted that the government knew how to make the right decisions to ultimately protect the country. It was not until the public found out that misleading information was being disclosed to them that people started to question and even protest the war effort. Instead of advising Vietnamese troops as initially intended, American soldiers were authorized to fight without the knowledge of the American people. The government started to lose credibility and the vision of why we got involved eventually became fuzzy. Although the government could get the American people behind the idea of fighting for freedom and containing communism, their continual disclosure of misguided information during the Vietnam War caused a great rift between the government and the public. They could not justify their intentions and the people felt betrayed by their own leaders. With the growing anti war movement, the government essentially backtracked and removed American troops from a war we were not fit to fight in from the start.
ReplyDeleteBasically the American political leaders persuaded the citizens of American to support the war against stopping the spread communism happening in Vietnam. Later on the American public saw how the government misled them into thinking this was a good war to fight for but it really wasn't and ended up being a total waist of resources. Many men died for something they couldn't fix and many Americans took that to heart and thought the government was sketchy. -Tucker 2nd
ReplyDeleteThe everday American didn't have as updated info on what was actually going on in Vietnam as some of the politicians. As a result of this misfourtune, the politicans had some room to "stretch" the truth so that the everday American would respond how the politians wanted them to. With this in mind, the course of the Vietnam War was very deliberatly decided by the politicans and what they thought the every day American would need to know about the war to "sway" their opinion and their money. If the politicians could make the people believe that the soldiers were fighting a very noble war (even though it wasn't a necessary war to fight) so that the average American would buy war bonds and help the soldiers over seas with supplies. So, the politicans had more of a hand in the course of the Vietnam War, even though the average American thought that they were changing the course of the war by helping.
ReplyDeleteWhen America entered the Vietnam War Americans fully supported it. With the height of the red scare and the cold war aiding in the push back against communism Americans were ready for another "win". Citizens, and politicians alike, never really looked at the war more than just a way to fight back against the communist party. With a lack of information, citizens supported the war becuase they were told it was going to be an easy win by the government, even though the government knew that what they were saying wasn't the complete truth. The government withholding information resulted in nation wide protests against the war. Although these protests' were in the last years of the war it signaled a turning point in who was running the war itself. The government was technically running it but the citizens were really the ones showing actual interest in things other than the domino effect. With such wide spread dissagreement the government finally listened to its people and pulled out of the war. Hailey Villanueva, 5th
ReplyDelete"The Declaration of the French Revolution made in 1791 on the Rights of Man and the Citizen also states: “All men are born free and with equal rights, and must always remain free and have equal rights.” Those are undeniable truths.Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow-citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice.In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty."-ho chi minh
ReplyDeletethe goverment wanted to get our say in asian affairs and we wanted the people to know that we are winning in a fight against with what we dont like. But we wernt really at war, because we never declaired war. During the war many men were suffuring and the goverment wanted it to seem glourias just like ww2. Plus majority of people didnt even want to go to war and it was pointless.
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Due to the fear of communism, Americans were willing to do whatever it took to prevent it from spreading. This meant they were easily manipulated by the government. This resulted in a huge support system from the public. It wasn't until the truth behind the war started to be show on TVs that the pubic saw the actual meaning. They had been lied to by the government this resulted in confusion to why they were even fighting in the Vietnam war in the first place. The politicians had controlled more of the war then they really needed to without listening to anything the public had to say. In the end, the politicians continued to try to manipulate the people so they could have support for the war.
ReplyDeleteDesiray Rodriguez 8th
Vietnam was a war that showed how much the people of the US had a sway in the political affairs. To start from the beginning, Vietnam was fought in the hopes of following the containment theory known as “Truman's Doctrine". This containment theory allowed for America to step in and stop the fall of countries into communism. After the success of Korea, America was ready and over inflated for Vietnam. That in turn allowed our Government to slip straight into the war. As the war continued, wartime media became extremely popular. This allowed for American citizens to see the true horrors of war from the safety of their homes. With people watching boys younger than 21 die in a foreign war, people began to question why we were even fighting this war. This began the change in public opinion, which led to protests... in turn, these protests of the public ended the war. A war the politicians think they controlled, when in reality, it was the American People.
ReplyDelete-LeAllan John. Buerger III
-3rd Period
When the US government entered the Vietnam "conflict" politicians and citizens thought alike. They both thought they can end the spread of communism by fighting in this "conflict". Throughout the course of war the citizens found out that many of our boys were being sent to their death because we were not winning. The citizens of the country started to have protest and riots. They got so much out of control the US government had to pull out of Vietnam because our country might go into shambles if they didn't. That's how much power the citizens had in this war.
ReplyDeletejordan herbold
ReplyDelete4th period
In the beginning of the Vietnam war American citizens and Politian's were both scared that the world would fall to communism. they thought that if they entered Vietnam it would stop the spread of communism and it did, to a certain extent. However towards the end, the people realized how hard this war really was and that we weren't just going to win it without consequences. The Politian's then seen the fear in all the citizens eyes and listened to what they had to say and with all that, they puled out of the Vietnam war.
While the fate of the Vietnam war was ultimately decided by the American public, the course it took to get there was decided by politicians. We see that the American government, much like Nazi Germany in World War II, was blatantly lying to the American people; telling them that victory was just around the corner when in all actuality, it was anything but. The reason the war ended up they way it did, was because of American people seeking the truth, who wanted nothing more than for their fellow citizens to see what atrocities were taking place just across the ocean.
ReplyDeleteWith the fear of the red scare in America, the public was easily influenced to go to war to stop communism. Everyone was ready to jump into the Vietnam War and fully supported the war effort. The government deceitfully told American citizens lies continuing their ongoing support for the war. When the actuality of it was televised into every American home and they saw the reality of war, many Americans soon began to protest against the war. Politicians quickly stood no chance to continue sending troops into Vietnam as the vast majority of the public was opposed to continuing the war any further. The American people had little say of how the war should have went as compared to the politicians who basically manipulated all decisions concerning the war to their liking.
ReplyDeleteGarrett Luensmann
6th Period
Politicians saw the war as a way to contain or stop communism. They also knew that they could persuade the american people into going for the war so they took a shot and scored.America supported the was due to the fear of communism and the domino effect. And as the war waged on americans started to hate the war and bloodshed. Eventhough they supported it when they first entered.
ReplyDeleteNaomi Gomez
5th Period
During the Vietnam war the actions that we took as "a country" were only controlled by the politicians walking around.This is because the people were not being told the truth about why the war was actually being fought, they were being fed false information.The government was actually trying to contain the spread of communism because of the theory of the domino effect. This war was the first to be broadcasted, and when the American people realized that they only knew half of the story about the war they began to form anti-war protest. With the realization of having an untruthful government, the American people began to lose their trust for them. It was as if the people had no power.Even after all the riot the government tried to manipulate the people for support, but failed due to the uneven power,and lies so the war ended as a loss.
ReplyDelete--Hugo A. Ortiz
--3rd
Grace Gabriel
ReplyDelete8th period
Government has the overall say as to if a country goes to war; however support from the public, or everyday citizens, makes the decision to declare and go to war easier. The American government wanted to contain the spread of communism and promote democracy. The idea of helping and interfering with others' wants to be free from the subordination of a harsh, authoritative rule was that they would gain a position as an alley (and/or increase their imperialistic rule internationally). Deceit was used through the use of different mediums of propaganda, in order to gain support from the US citizens. Propaganda glorified war and emphasized/exaggerated the detriments/evilness of the enemy(ies), evoking citizens to join the war efforts. American citizens were able to bring awareness to the need to the war in Vietnam, by those deployed sending home letters in complete detail of the gore they had experienced, as well as released video footage of the dead. The government is a manipulative system, which is generally run by those who make decisions that will benefit themselves instead of the greater good; therefore, the government has the greater ability to stop/prevent/run a war effort than average citizens of a country.
With the fear of communism spreading, Americans and politicians joined up to help support the war effort. While this goal of stopping the spread of communism was achieved, the politicians failed to inform the Americans the extent of the horrific nature of the war. With the help of television, the war can now be broadcasted to Americans right in their home, so they are able to see what is really going on. As people find out the truth protests to stop the war arise. While some people protest the war, many others still stand behind it with support. As the Americans found out the truth of the war, their trust in the government ultimately weakened and caused them to try to resolve issues in the form of protest.
ReplyDelete-Chloe Rincon, 6
Americans were extremely determined to get rid of communism that at the first sight of it they were ready to pounce and obliterate it. Although the average american citizens were being told that victory was near, politicians soon came to realize that after the tet offensive victory was no where near. Television and Movies stated to open up the war to the typical american so they could see what was going on which caused an outbreak of protests in both communities and in the armed forces. The disapproval of the war from american's eventually persuaded the government to get out of the war in 1973.
ReplyDeleteColton Williams 4th
Joshua Valdez
ReplyDelete3rd period
While it may be true that the politicians did have a role to play in the vietnam war, mainly lying to the american populous, the everyday american citizen played an even bigger part. Take for instance how American’s opinions of war and trust for their government changed over the period of this war, ultimately having the biggest impact on the war itself. Thanks to technological advancements, the everyday American was able to view the vietnam war from the comfort of their home on their television, and they were horrified. Not only did Americans witness innocent vietnamese casualties on a regular basis, they also saw America drop more bombs than what was used in world war two. Rightly so disgusted, many Americans went to the streets and protested, and while majority of Americans didn’t, their message was still heard. After thousands of American soldier and vietnamese citizen casualties, Americans began seeing the war as pointless and saw slim chance of actually being successful. A silent majority had grown in America with the idea that we might actually be the bad guy and we should put an end to the war and admit America's first defeat. After the Pentagon papers were released to the public, and everyone learned about the Truman administration giving military aid to France in its colonial war against the communist-led Vietminh, thus directly involving the United States in Vietnam, Nixon finally gave in to the American Citizen’s wants and ended the Vietnam war. Because of the everyday American citizen, and their growing disdain for the Vietnam war, they effectively decided the outcome of the war. For if the citizens of America still believed in the war, then the politicians would’ve let it go on because of fear of losing the cold war.
Flor Ramirez
ReplyDelete4th period
Throughout the war Americans supported it because they wanted to keep communism contained. Although politicians and every day Americans were both for the war, the politicians were deceiving the Americans. Politicians fed them lies to continue having their support in the war. The every day Americans believed that the war was going to be won soon and that it wouldn't be much of a problem because of what the politicians told them, but as it always does, the truth came out. With the Vietnam War being the first to be shown on TV, the Americans began to see what was really happening and starated to lose their trust in the government, which led to the Americans leaving the war.
While greedy politicians were brainwashing the patriotic minds of innocent Americans, they were also busy sending hundreds of thousands of troops over to fight to end communism. Since society was not able to experience what Vietnam was really like, the government used that to their advantage by shoving television, newspaper articles, magazines, billboards, posters, and numerous propaganda tactics into the hopeful faces of Americans. The government was so focused on trying to hide the tragedies of the Vietnam war that they selfishly chose not to express the severity of the very long, hard war ahead, and the low of confidence they had in winning. Yes Americans did want their country to make an effort to end communism however, if they had known how many of their loved ones they were losing, the cost, or the reality of the conditions of Vietnam the war would've been approached a much different way .
ReplyDeleteAmericans during the Vietnam war were mainly focused on getting rid of communism, that's all the Americans were worried about. They didn't realize that the Vietnamese were just fighting for communism but for Vietnam. The propaganda the citizens of America saw of the Vietnam war of a defeat to America and Americans don't like to loose. And the Americans realized that the government has been deceiving them,making them believe that Americans were unbeatable. After America was defeated due to the lack of money, men, and weapons Americans lost trust in their government.
ReplyDeleteBailey McAnulty
ReplyDeleteDuring the Vietnam war and World War 2 the public society (home front , average everyday Joe's) wanted to help support the war whatever way they could. Some people wanted to REALLY help the war by have public protest. All of these protest used social media coverage in ways such as Billboards, Newspaper articles, poster hung around town, gossip on the streets, and a few others as well.
Just as the politicians support their points on the news or radio, the public did it also. However the politicians had to follow certain rules that the government won't allow them to say Infront of the public or on the air.
The soldiers who returned home from the war were often times brutally treated and called "Baby Killers", when they were only doing their job. They were doing what they were told more specifically what the government told them to do.
Americans were not accurately informed about the exact happenings and occurrences of the Vietnam war. Their main thought was that communism was a monster that would dig its claws into a country and spread that terror to every other country until the whole world was suffering from the beast known as communisms wrath. That news made the American people frightened, they didn't want to undergo the pain of communism so they worked hard to make sure the war was properly funded since they wanted to win to make sure Democracy and freedom remained. The government made the war seem sweet by showing propaganda to our public that advertised American soldiers trying their hardest with little trouble. They purposely cut out the gore as to not scare the public, because who wants to fund a war where our troops are dying left and right for no reason?
ReplyDeletepeople who lived in America was manipulated by the government or politics which controlled alot of things and had power ,the government and the public were putting out fake news to the people who lived in the US. most Americans were all for the war until the end of the war until they realized the truth , the propaganda, posters and news papers made a big difference on people's views of the war the government used television and the radio and also more tech to change the way people and this was to start movements and thoughts which became more open when the US lost the war in 1973 in Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteAmericans were not accurately informed about the exact happenings and occurrences of the Vietnam war. Their main thought was that communism was a monster that would dig its claws into a country and spread that terror to every other country until the whole world was suffering from the beast known as communisms wrath. That news made the American people frightened, they didn't want to undergo the pain of communism so they worked hard to make sure the war was properly funded since they wanted to win to make sure Democracy and freedom remained. The government made the war seem sweet by showing propaganda to our public that advertised American soldiers trying their hardest with little trouble. They purposely cut out the gore as to not scare the public, because who wants to fund a war where our troops are dying left and right for no reason?
ReplyDeleteBailey McAnulty absent
ReplyDeletemany everyday Americans supported the efforts to contain communism so they supported the war even though they knew they could not win it.
ReplyDeleteDuring that time, the american people wanted the u.s to go because of the fear of communism spreading and making it to the U.S. The media started to put it on the tv and everywhere else and people started to see how bad it was and opinions started to change.
ReplyDeleteThe course of the Vietnam War was decided by the everyday American because it was only with their support that the war could be won. The people were affected by the media because it made them see the tragedies of war and it portrayed communism in a way that made the average american hate it and want to put it to an end. Because of the average americans support, they were able to send more men to war and send supplies for the troops. But after awhile the war lost support of the american citizen.
ReplyDeletethe american people had this constant fear of communism spreading. they didnt want it to affect the U.S. this caused them to send way more men to war because they wanted to see america succeed. a big part that made this happen was the way the war was portrayed. this made the americans fear communism. after sending more men to war they were able to send more supplies but the war soon lost the interest of the americans.
ReplyDeleteThe american people were fed false information about the war through the media, whilst the media was also helping in contracting more young american men into the war and sending them out. The americans were falsely supporting a war that they really knew nothing about. The media showed the way communists were which sparked outrage in the american people to which therefore led more support but after a while with continuing war efforts people lost interest therefore making the war effort lessen to the point they really couldn't care any longer.
ReplyDelete-Richard Rivera 6th
The politicians wanted to prevent communism from spreading. Which was one of the reasons they started the "War". The politicans had control over just about everything, while the Americans were given some information that wasn't always true. The politicians hid information and lied to the public until it was leaked out to the public by the media. Which was then protested against but was ignored by the government.
ReplyDeleteAlondra Quezada
Delete6th Period
By the middle of the 1960's television was the most important source of news that everyday Americans had. Majority of the information that the Americans received came from the media. This impacted Americans opinions greatly. The government used the media such as television, propagandas and newspapers to show the Americans what they wanted them to see. They weren't receiving the full story about what was happening during war and how many people were being killed in attempt to end communism. When the Americans found out the whole story and saw the tragedies that were occurring in the war, many stopped supporting the war although they wanted communism to end.
ReplyDelete-Kaelin Casey 4th
Up until 1968 and arguably 1970, Americans completely supported the war. They had been tricked about what was actually occurring because of what was being broadcasted on television. There was a lot of support from the people back home up until the 1970's when the people realized there was some type of corruption going on in the government. It wasn't until the Government released a document that openly stated that they had been "lying" to the people of America about the Vietnam war. After that, the relationship between the citizens and the government changed. While the people thought we were at war to spread the American way and end communism and Vietnam was the bad guy, Vietnam was fighting for a different reason than what we thought.
ReplyDeleteDuring these times people were afraid of the spread of communism so they went to war with Vietnam to try to contain it. In the beginning of the Vietnam war the people were told that the win was around the corner so the people supported it. After the tet offensive and the tv's playing clips from Vietnam the people started to be against the war. When some military papers were released to the public showing that they were being lied to they completely turned against the war which made the war slowly come to an end.
ReplyDeleteWhen the war first started, politicians would tell them America would win, but as the war went on, the media would show effects of the war and how many American citizens that were fighting in the war were getting killed. As people were learning what was actually happening during the war, the people would take more control and not support the war, but they still did not support communism as well. When the media started showing the reality of the war, was when people stopped supporting the war.
ReplyDeletePoliticians believed that we would win the war in a matter of time; In that they would tell the citizens of America, "to not worry" that "everything would be okay." As the technology improved in America, it brought the Vietnam War into the homes of America Citizens. This led to the realistic vision that we are not winning and that thousands of Americans are dying. This made the American citizens start to lose the trust in the American Government. So this also led to protest and people to stop supporting the war.
ReplyDeleteThe people believed that they were fighting for a cause and that it was necessary to fight the war as the politicians said but they were actually scared of communist spreading and tried to keep it from spreading. It ended up drafting men from youngest at 19 scaring people to be drafted in a war that killed thousands, later finding out that they weren't fighting for a cause but because they were scared of communist winning. That's when people protested against drafting and the war when they found out that they went to a war they couldn't win. With the media being more involved because of technology they showed images and clips about what's happening in the war changing people's minds about supporting it.
ReplyDelete