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How Did The Tet Offensive Influence The Vietnam War

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To what extent did the Tet Offensive influence the view of the Vietnam War in the United States? Keman Le

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The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, was both a lengthy and costly war that spanned nearly 20 years, a conflict between the communist forces and government of North Vietnam, and the government of South Vietnam with the United States as their main ally. Both the North and South sides of Vietnam had the goal of a unified Vietnam, though the ideals of both were what separated the two. North Vietnam, under the command of Ho Chi Minh, hoped to follow a similar communist system to that of other countries such as the Republic of China, and the Soviet Union. On the other hand, South Vietnam, …show more content…

As technology began to develop, televisions, video cameras, and audio recorders would begin to spread due to decreasing costs, in turn increasing the spread of the details regarding the Vietnam War across America. With this rise in technology prevalence in the lives of people, also came the challenge for the government to attempt to censor what was put on media was extremely difficult, and as a result of a lack of proper control, uncensored footage and pictures of the war would be presented to the public. The brutality and harsh reality of the war, being seen directly, as opposed to simply hearing of it, would change the view of the war as a whole. Due to the widespread influence that the media had, and the fact that "there were so many media members in country … the chances of keeping anything secret or off limits was virtually impossible." Presenting the Tet Offensive, much of the negatives of the war were revealed, where much focus was on the mistakes and failures of the United States, as opposed to the victories and factors that they had succeeded in, such as the military victory for the Tet Offensive. False information and images shown would create a further negative belief about the war, such as an image of the Viet Cong overrunning five floors of the U.S. embassy, when in reality, they had not infiltrated the building itself. A New York Times newspaper article, published the following day after the beginning of the Tet Offensive, portrayed three military men with rifles seeking for protection near the US embassy, in addition to two American soldiers that had been slain. The media, being extremely influential, portrayed the events of the Tet Offensive as being horrific, terrible, a particular event that appeared to be public of the United States that they should not be involved with.

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The Tet Offensive was a large turning point in the Vietnam War, especially on the American attitude toward the war. North Vietnamese forces and the allied communist forces planned several attacks on targets in Southern Vietnam.

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The Tet offensive, which took place on the 31st of January 1968, had huge significance on the political landscape of America, and public opinion on the war in Vietnam. After the Tet offensive, public support for the war plummeted, and with ever increasing support in the anti-war movement and protests, the war in Vietnam was no longer justifiable to the American public. As a result of this president Johnson stepped down from running for re-election, leaving an anti-war democrat running against an anti-war republican. This meant that Nixon was elected, which arguably ended the Vietnam War, due to his change in tactics.

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There was a variety of ways that American society realized that war was not a fight that the soldiers should not have been there in the first place. Because of the new modern-age televisions, many people and families could see soldiers interviewed in the middle of battle and even killed. The Tet Offensive was one of the main turning points in the war because of the media coverage, because there were traumatic images being shown all across the country, which made the people realize that they should not have been part of this war by showing that more U.S. soldiers were being killed than we could replace. There were many news reporters that were in the jungles of enemy territory (“Media”). These men were not supposed to record the battles themselves, just the “body counts” of how many enemies the troops had killed that day.

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When the public is informed about the shortcomings of war, rarely are they shown lavishly graphic imagery, unless one has personally sought it out. This probable notion of censorship is the issue raised by Torie Rose Deghett in the article “The War Photo No One Would Publish”. Deghett introduces the reader to a potentially unfamiliar and graphic image taken during the Gulf War by photographer Kenneth Jarecke. The mere description of this image is distressing and leads to Deghett’s main argument, where she questions if broadcasting images of this nature are necessary in order to keep the public informed. Throughout the piece, Daghett appears mainly in favor of allowing these images to be present in the media, throughout describing how the

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often, people had a glimpse into the very negative nightly from their homes. Many families with fathers.” When the war was publically telecasted, individuals got the genuine perspective of the truth. After seeing something as traumatizing as that it scared many Americans to not trust the government. In the event that the government had been coming clean, it wouldn't have been such a manipulating occasion since we knew.

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Leaflets were common ways of distributing propaganda to both the Japanese and the U.S citizens along with posters, drawings, and harsh speeches of destruction to come with a constant goal of dehumanizing the enemy. Although both sides used these tactics on each other, the propaganda used by the Americans was more successful in catalyzing the war. Out of this new style of war came three new branches of government clearly aimed at the propagandist war: the Psychological Warfare Branch, the Office of Civilian Defense and the Office of War Information. Both of these branches of the wartime effort were simply aimed at the American people and telling the American people why the country was at war. However, in order to distort the American perception of the war and make the Japanese seem worse than they actually were, corrupt and twisted images of the truth were circulated throughout the country.

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Showing real images that featured the outcomes of war would have caused Americans to become disheartened thus decreasing American morale. To insure victory, the government enforced the use of censorship throughout the nation. In one propaganda poster, the caption reads “Let’s Censor Our Conversation About the War” (“Censored”). The propaganda poster revealed the extent of which the government kept a eye and ear to all American citizens as an attempt to preserve American loyalty. The government was able to use its political power to its full extent by withholding valuable pieces of information, which revealed the extent of its influence.

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Abstract The Pentagon Papers was a top-secret report of the military involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945 to 1967. It was kept hidden until a man named Daniel Ellsberg decided that he did not think it should be kept a secret any longer. He decided to send a copy of the report to the New York Times, which was public to all. The Pentagon Papers had an impact on a variety of things during this time.

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As the war raged on in Vietnam, controversy grew in America. In the years onward from 1950, technology advanced and enabled everyday citizens to be able to own, operate, and observe nationwide news (Kratz 1). Described as “graphic and upsetting,” photos and videos captured on the battlefield were displayed on public news (“American” 1). The government censored all news from the press, and anything the military did not want disclosed to the public was hidden (Kratz 2). As the trial began many Americans began to chant the iconic phrase, “The whole world is watching” (McDowell 2).

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Some believed the war should be fought because of the fight against communism and seen the resisting students and young men as traitors committing treason against the country. The young students that were being drafted strongly believed that the draft was endangering their freedom and Nation’s security. These young people became violent and resulting in violence by the police retaliating back. This was the first major broadcasting of this violence. These shocking videos released showed the country how divided the United States was.

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Also, newspapers revealed stories and government secrets that proved that the American people were being lied to ( New York Times vs. the United States). The Vietnam war is believed by some to be a war deeply rooted in economics. Many aspects of the United States were affected directly. The Great Society programs were suffering because the money that was put towards the war, could have been used to help poverty programs.

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2237 Words | 9 Pages

Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of Sources The purpose of this investigation is to explore the question: How did the Tet Offensive change American public opinion on the Vietnam War? The focus of the investigation will be on the years 1965-1970 in order to allow for analysis of American public opinion from the beginning of American involvement to the years following the Tet Offensive. Sources analyzing the Tet Offensive as a whole and American public opinion on the Vietnam War will be used to accurately determine the effects of the Tet Offensive on American public opinion. The first source that will be evaluated is the book “The Tet Offensive,” which was written by Marc Gilbert and William Head in 1996.

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The Renaissance and the Reformation; some say these movements were when Pandora’s Box was opened, leading to many of the great crises of the present. Others say it was when modernity was born, leading to innovation and progress, and others say it was a time of unprecedented tragedy, Christendom was torn asunder, brother turned against brother, and sister against sister. Despite these extremely varying opinions however, no one denies that the time of Renaissance and Reformation was a turning of the tide, whether for good or for ill. For many at the time this turning of the tide seemed only to have extreme philosophical or theological implications however, in hindsight, the Renaissance and the Reformation or “the Revolt” as its opposers would say, had immense political, cultural, and

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In some World Wars they threaten national survivals and therefore reports and photographs are released and published were they intended to create a sense of morale or to just keep the war effort going. For example, “One answer lies in the contemporary acclaim for photography as a truth-telling art”(Marwil,Jonathan). They say that because some photos of the war tells the truth as to what happen and some photos don’t and with photography you will always know the truth. Some reports and photos that are published from these photojournalists need to carry a certain amount of truth to inform the public in different places so people will know the truth instead of the lies. Some argue that reality is a like a videogame, but in this case it is not and people need to know about the war.

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