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Why did some Americans oppose the War in Vietnam?1. The ‘credibility gap’ – seeing doe themselves the failures and atrocities on TV, and how awful the South Vietnam government was, people stopped believing their government's assurances that the war was a good war.. 2. Anti-war beliefs – Hippies wanted to ‘make love not war’/ some Christians said that all war was wrong/ 170,000 Conscientious Objectors. 3. The unfairness of the draft system – the rich were able to avoid the draft. 4. It seemed a waste of money which was preventing Johnson’s Great Society programme against poverty. 5. It was a Civil Rights issue; black young men were called up and died disproportionally. 6. Vietnamese Veterans Against The War – ashamed of atrocities they had witnessed. 7. Some Americans sympathised with the Vietnamese, saying that they ought to be able to do as they wanted in their own country. 8. National loss of confidence in America’s moral right to impose its democracy on others. 9. Many people said that Vietnam was not worth the deaths of young Americans. 10. When the protest marches were attacked by the police it gave the movement more determination.
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Going DeeperThe following links will help you widen your knowledge: Basic accounts from BBC Bitesize and Clever Lili on opposition to the War
YouTube Opposition to and support for the War - Mr Cloke
Source AGallup Polls of the percentage of people who thought the war was a mistake: 1965: 24%
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Timeline of Opposition to the War
Source E
An American cartoon published in May 1970, a few days after the events at Kent State University.
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Source BWhile bankers and businessmen are making huge profits out of the war, the ordinary working people are made to pay. Young men, who are forced to join the army, pay with their lives. Our friends, brothers, sons are dying. And if dying isn’t enough, ordinary people are also forced to pay more taxes. The Vietcong have won the war but the US government still intends to stay in Vietnam for a long time. From a newsletter published in 1969 by a campaign group opposed to the Vietnam War.
Source CMore than 50,000 anti-Vietnam demonstrators marched down Fifth Avenue in New York all afternoon yesterday, before going on to cheer speakers at a Central Park rally. The demonstrators were pelted by eggs and occasionally punched. Thousands of spectators had lined the route to heckle the marchers as ‘communists’ and ‘cowards’ and to show their support for President Johnson’s policy in Vietnam. From a report in an American newspaper in March 1966.
Source DAfter 20 demonstrators were able to get into an entrance hall, soldiers used their gun butts to force them out. There were spots of blood on the floor. Outside the building, the big crowd surged forward and began throwing protest signs, leaflets, sticks, and at least one rock which crashed through a window. Throughout the afternoon there were violent clashes between small groups of demonstrators and the soldiers. Several protesters were clubbed when they pressed too close to the soldiers or refused to move out of forbidden areas. From a report in an American newspaper in October 1967 describing attempts by anti-war protesters to break into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US military.
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Why did some Americans support the War in Vietnam?1. Fear of Communism/ defence of freedom and democracy – belief in the ‘Domino Theory’ 2. Patriotism: Many Americans, especially working-class draftees and their families, saw serving in the war as a duty – many viewed protesters as unpatriotic or even traitorous. 3. Christian fundamentalism; they believed that America was defending Christianity against the Godless Communists, and that the war was a Crusade. 4. Some Americans – particularly in industries tied to defence – supported the war because their jobs depended on it. 5. For many, the antiwar movement was associated with drugs, rebellion, and anti-Americanism; it was an attack on their government, to which they rallied. 6. The Nixon government sponsored ‘Astroturf’ groups such as the ‘Tell It to Hanoi Committee’ who were organised by the government, but pretended to be genuine ‘grassroots’ groups who supported the war. 7. A number of right-wing groups supported the war, but could not support the government because they did not think Johnson & Nixon were doing enough.
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Source F
Fundamentalist Christians march at the Washington Monument in support of the Vietnam War in Apr 1970
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Pro-War Highlights
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Source GThe anti-war movement failed to gain the support of most American people. Protesters were easy to label as communists and the majority of Americans thought they were traitors. In 1964, 85% of Americans supported government policy in Vietnam. Even in 1970, polls found that 50% of Americans still approved. There were many enthusiastic supporters of the war. For example, in May 1970 over 200 construction workers were cheered when they attacked a group of peaceful anti-war protesters. President Nixon praised these ‘hard hats’, claiming they were supporting ‘freedom and patriotism’. From Vietnam 1950–75, published in 2010.
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The Role of the MediaIn the early years of the war, the American media was supportive. In 1961, for example, Time magazine praised the war as ‘a remarkable US military effort’. As the war went on, however, doubts began to creep in. In 1965, CBS showed American soldiers setting fire to the thatched roofs of Vietnamese houses. In February 1968, the journalist John Wheeler wrote an article called ‘Life in the V Ring’ – a description of a day during the battle of ‘Hamburger Hill’ – revealing the fears and resentment of the US soldiers. The turning point came during the Tet Offensive when moderate and respected TV anchorman Walter Cronkite asked his famous question: “What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning this war”. President Johnson was deflated by Cronkite's report, saying: “If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America.” It is consequently sometimes claimed that it was the media coverage which turned public opinion aganst the war. This is probably not true – up until 1968 most news reports had been generally pro-American. TV reporting of the war only became hostile AFTER public opinion began to turn against the war – ie TV reporting followed public opinion, rather than leading it. But it has to be remembered that public opinion had been substantially formed by the images and reports they had been seeing for the previous four years; they had watched the TV and made up their own mind. In 1971, journalist Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers – the government's secret history of the War – to the New York Times. It revealed that the government had systematically and knowingly lied, not only to the public, but also to Congress. Furious, President Nixon ordered the White House Special Investigations Unit to burglarise the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist to find evidence to ruin Ellsberg's reputation; they found nothing, but the break-in came to light during the Watergate Scandal, and helped to ruin Nixon.
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Source HAmericans increasingly believed that the Vietnam War was wrong. Many said that the USA had no right to force its views on a poor nation like Vietnam. However, it was extensive media coverage in the USA that was mostly responsible for encouraging opposition to the war. The war was the first to be covered every night on television. It made people viewing at home realise what was being done by American soldiers under orders from the American government. Photographs and magazines had a similar impact. US Army commanders blamed the media for weakening the war effort. From Vietnam, published in 1997.
Source IVietnam was one of the battles of the Cold War… The US was trying to stop the invasion the same way they stopped the Russo-Chinese takeover of Korea. That was how I saw it in the late 1960s. Rick Gauger, US Army officer in those days (2024)
A lot of people bought into the idea that supporting the war was the patriotic thing to do. They just could not conceive that what they considered “their government” would do something like that unless it was absolutely necessary. Robert Martin Pollock (2020).
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Consider:1. Study Source A. 2. Using the Timeline of Opposition above, make a list of all the different strategies usd by oppoents of the War. 3. The Vietnam War was the first war to be extensively televised. How important, do you think, was this in the development of opposition to the War? Explain your reasoning. 4. Both at the time, and subsequently by historians, there has been far greater recording of those who Americans opposed the war than those who supported it. Suggest reasons why. Explain your reasoning.
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