Vietnam.

Essay by Anna1388High School, 10th gradeA+, May 2003

download word file, 15 pages 4.0

Downloaded 166 times

**note: the "#" stand for footnotes, please refer to the seperate footnote list for details.

The Affects of The Vietnam War on U.S. Foreign Policy and The Media

As men were gruesomely slaughtered and women and children savagely massacred in Vietnam, the citizens of the U.S. sat cozily in their chairs watching these atrocities on their TVs. The Vietnam War changed the U.S. so much and in so many ways, that we are still feeling the tremors of its aftermath today. Two things largely affected by the War were U.S. foreign policy and the media. The U.S. military swore to never again use its military to become the "International Policeman"# in times of world crisis, even though one may look at the current war and question their continued effort to this concept. As stated in A People and A Nation, "America's ignoble failure in Vietnam undermined the nation's credibility and tempted enemies to exploit opportunities at the expense of the United States interests."#

Besides U.S. foreign policy, media and journalism were more than significantly affected by Vietnam; they were completely revolutionized. In fact, the media held a huge role in affected the war and how everyone felt about the war also.#

To understand how and why the U.S.'s foreign policy and media were affected so greatly, one must have a greater knowledge of what the Vietnam War was all about. Much of the conventional wisdom associated with Vietnam was highly inaccurate for many years afterward. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines the Vietnam War as:

(1955-75), a protracted and unsuccessful effort by South Vietnam and the United States to prevent the communists of North Vietnam from uniting South Vietnam with North Vietnam under their leadership.#

Far from an inevitable result of the imperative to contain communism, the war was only made possible...