Military and Media Role in Vietnam War

Paper Summary:

During the course of this essay the writer evaluates and examines the legitimacy of the claim that the US media had a role in the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War because it turned public opinion against the war and thus made the war unwinnable. The writer maintains that this claim has to some extent been allowed to cloud the discussion over why the US were unsuccessful in Vietnam. The writer maintains that the media role was an extremely influential element in the eventual US withdrawal, but it was by no means the most important component. The writer begins by examining the role of military factors in America's defeat, ranging from flaws in the overall policy of containment to the military ineptness of US forces in the field. The writer maintains that these factors played a pivotal role in the US's inability to successfully prosecute the war. The writer then moves onto the media impact, which in itself was a tremendously important factor.

From the Paper:

"As is often the case when an enemy lives and survives within the wider population, the US forces found it virtually impossible to distinguish between Vietcong fighters and South Vietnamese civilians; they simply could not tell who the enemy was. The chemical defoliant agent orange was used to destroy forests or anything else that might give cover to the enemy, very often accompanied by the explosive jelly napalm. This military strategy produced few favourable results for the US and the effect it had on anyone caught in its path was devastating. Therefore, what these types of attacks did serve to do was to alienate US forces from the wider population and therefore destroy any possibility of winning 'hearts and minds'. Furthermore, although bombing intensified and the number of troops and equipment grew rapidly, US forces still found it impossible to halt the movement of Vietcong troops and supplies from North to South along the Ho Chi Minh trail."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ambrose, Stephen and Douglas Brinkley. Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938, 4th edition. London: Penguin Group, 1997.
• Amter, Joseph. Vietnam Verdict: A Citizens History. New York: Continuum Publishing Company, 1984.
• Carruthers, Susan. The Media At War: Communication and Conflict in the Twentieth Century. London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 2000
• Hellman, John. America and the legacy of Vietnam. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986
• Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Penguin Group, 1991

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