Ethos In The Vietnam War

The Vietnam war was the only war that the United States lost. The United States tried to help South Vietnam become free from the communism of the North; however, North Vietnam's guerilla warfare proved to be too advanced. People's reactions to the war were definitely mixed; some liked the war and agreed that we should help the South, but many did not like the idea of helping the South and thought the United States should not get involved. The Vietnam War is the subject of a PBS 13 part mini-series released in 1983 titled Vietnam: A Television History. In the mini-series, directors Andrew Pearson and Elizabeth Deane effectively use ethos, pathos, and logos in the documentaries "Homefront USA" and "America Takes Charge," to show how the war negatively affected both the Vietnamese and the United States' citizens and their countries as a whole. Directors Pearson and Deane use ethos throughout the documentaries by using soldiers' recollections of their war memories and news clips of major historical figures making speeches about the war. Both directors use interviews with soldiers, army

David Ross, an army medic during the war, states, “They [the villagers of Ben Suc] were going to be taken out of their homes. I'm sure that deep down inside they knew that that was the end of Ben Suc as a village -- that we were going to destroy the village. They seemed to accept it with a very special kind of strength” (Pearson). The director decided to use this quote from the army medic to show the other side of the war. The side that not a lot of people in America would take into consideration or even think twice about during the war. He shows what was happening to the Vietnamese during the war and how they were affected. Americans tend to lack empathy towards others and Pearson used the quote to open the eyes of Americans to get them to empathize a little more for the other