How Did The Vietnam War Changed American Foreign Policy

Introduction –
After the swift victories of World War One and Two, the United States has played a dominant role in world affairs, not only through its political and economic policies but through the aura of its seemingly undefeatable military as well. At home, there was a massive trust in governmental institutions and the economy was thriving with a very good sense of peace, security, and prosperity among its people. However, the Vietnam War was not only a military war but a war on the economy and psychology against everyone from the military personnel to the citizens who were watching the devastation of the war through the media, as this was the first ever broadcasted war. It not only changed American foreign policy forever but it also permanently

The broadcasts showed the American people that what the government was telling them was very different from the ground reality, and despite the many promises and assurances from the government on the swift victory, it there was no sign of that happening. This made the public become very skeptical about the statements being made by the government and caused massive damage to its credibility among the public. This started to lead to a disapproval of the war and calls to stop the continuation of the war began coming up. The image of the self-immolation of a Buddhist monk in 1963 to protest Diem government as well as the eight Americans that set themselves ablaze to protest the war within five years from 1965-1970 generated a very strong response and triggered an urgent alarm among the American public about the horrors of the war and they started staging protests to stop it, especially during the aftermath of the 1965 bombing policy Operation Rolling Thunder to blast Hanoi. These protests eventually reached massive numbers with the march on the Pentagon in 1963, the largest protest in decades, drawing up to 50,000 protestors coming from different groups to stop the