War has long stood as a source of settlement between differing nations. Sometimes war is glorified, sometimes it is denounced. Regardless of what stance is taken on war, there is no denying that warfare changes the way people think and act. When war arises, the mindset of a nation completely changes. War has so much influence that society can change through the course of those wars. Although the United States has survived many influential wars, the Vietnam War has created the largest societal impact of them all. Not only did this conflict expose U.S. citizens to war’s brutality through new media coverage, but also led to a general distrust towards the government and incited societal rebellion.
The first major change in the United States was the amount of media coverage during wartime. As main news outlets started printing pictures of the war and showed video footage of the vicious violence, people began to realize how horrible the war really was. With pictures and detailed coverage of the My Lai massacre fueled the discontent and horror of the American people. Up until this point in
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found it harder to trust their government’s decision making. Throughout the Vietnam War, Congress never officially declared war on North Vietnam and none of the presidents in office gave an official statement as to why the war was happening. Although it was widely believed to be fought to prevent communism from spreading, the unfortunate lack of information to confirm this gave U.S. citizens reason to be doubtful about their government’s abilities and motives. This distrust was fueled by Nixon’s sudden resignation due to his involvement of the Watergate Scandal. Although the government has always been a source of ambiguity, to a certain extent, the lack of clear facts about why the government was sacrificing thousands of lives for an undeclared war created a widespread wariness of governmental