How Did The Tet Offensive Influence American Politics

However, this was not exactly the whole truth. "This is no joke! This is real war!"(58) An anonymous radio host wails these words from a radio station located in Honolulu during the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese air force. This disclosure of information shows how the media affects the American people as they started to go into a patriotic hysteria right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Pearl Harbor and the attacks on the world trade centers on September 11, 2001 also known as 9/11 were both events where thousands of innocent lives were taken at the hands of foreign attackers that entered our country. In both of these events thousands of lives were ended by foreign terrorists. Pearl Harbor and the attacks on 9/11 are both very symbolic in our nation’s history. First, on December 7, 1941 one the of the nation’s largest naval bases stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii called Pearl Harbor was attacked by surprise by the Japanese in hope of eliminating a large amount of our fleets so Japan could expand. The Japanese destroyed almost 20 American naval vessels, including eight huge battleships, and more than 300 airplanes.

The Vietnam war took a major death toll in Vietnam, United States, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. Just in the U.S., “more than 58,000 American soldiers were killed while more than 150,000 others wounded”. On both sides, there were almost 2 million civilians dead and 1.1 simply on the Vietnamese side. The My Lai Massacre, where soldiers brutally killed Vietnamese children and mothers, presents an example where the war mentally changed the soldiers in the war in a very horrendous way. On the other hand, the United States took brutal losses in the Tet Offensive, where the Vietcong slaughtered over 100 towns and twelve United States air bases.

That is how it was back then, when war was, when the Pearl Harbor happened. The reason why political is more important than economical, and cultural is because there is more evidence that the causal factor is Political. If not for political this probably would have not happened, like if the American did not stop giving the Japanese supplies. Well it can help us by checking if people are spying, before we put them in an internment

One huge thing that the Vietnam War helped create the heated political parties of our time. At the start of the Vietnam War, two groups of student societies began to form. One was the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). They were formed in the house of staunch conservative, William F. Buckley

In order for them to support the war, the government used propaganda to evoke feelings of nationalism. While the United States joined the war as an opportunity to get revenge on Japan, propaganda was often censored to guarantee that Americans only saw the damage Japanese soldiers had done to Americans. To insure that Americans would not be put off and maintain the desire for war, images of dead Americans were prevented from being published to the public. (“Supporting Evidence”). Government officials knew that citizens were unable to withstand the gruesome photos taken of the realities of the war.

Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of Sources The purpose of this investigation is to explore the question: How did the Tet Offensive change American public opinion on the Vietnam War? The focus of the investigation will be on the years 1965-1970 in order to allow for analysis of American public opinion from the beginning of American involvement to the years following the Tet Offensive. Sources analyzing the Tet Offensive as a whole and American public opinion on the Vietnam War will be used to accurately determine the effects of the Tet Offensive on American public opinion. The first source that will be evaluated is the book “The Tet Offensive,” which was written by Marc Gilbert and William Head in 1996.

The development against U.S. inclusion in the Vietnam War started small–among peace activists and liberal intelligent people on school campuses–but increased national noticeable quality in 1965, after the United States started bombarding North Vietnam decisively. Hostile to war walks and different challenges, for example, the ones sorted out by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), pulled in an augmenting base of backing throughout the following three years, topping in mid 1968 after the effective Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese troops demonstrated that war's end was no place in sight. The counter war development started for the most part on school grounds, as individuals from the radical association Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) started sorting out "instruct ins" to express their resistance to the route in which it was being directed. In spite of the fact that by far most of the American populace still bolstered the organization arrangement in Vietnam, a little however frank liberal minority was making its voice heard before the end of 1965.

This campaign and attacks would have the US citizens question President Johnson’s claims of victory against the communists. In 1968 the Vietminh started a military campaign which would later be called “The Tet Offensive”. During the Lunar New Year the campaign would launch a series of devastating attacks on major cities in French-Vietnamese territory. In an article published by National Geographic, it states “Although a military loss, the Tet Offensive was a stunning propaganda victory for the communists. In fact, it is often credited with turning the war in their favor.

This was because everyone in America was caught by complete surprise. Doing things by surprise is a common thing, but brings out the worse in everyone. When this happened, there were over 3,000 U.S. Casualties, over 300 U.S. Aircraft damaged/destroyed, and over 20 U.S. Ships damaged/destroyed. This was also a big reason for the A-bomb because it was unnecessary for Japan to kill so many American lives and property, all because they were upset that former president Franklin D. Roosevelt interfered with Japan’s internal affairs. If that was their main reason, they could have figured some thing out through words, not actions like this one, It was necessary for the dropping of the Atomic bomb because the attack on Pearl Harbor needed to be payed back.

Throughout the ages, wars have wreaked havoc and caused great destruction that lead to the loss of millions of lives. However, wars also have an immensely destructive effect on the individual soldier. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, one is able to see exactly to what extent soldiers suffered during World War 1 as well as the effect that war had on them. In this essay I will explain the effect that war has on young soldiers by referring to the loss of innocence of young soldiers, the disillusionment of the soldiers and the debasement of soldiers to animalistic men. Many soldiers entered World War 1 as innocent young boys, but as they experienced the full effect of the war they consequently lost their innocence.

“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor.

The war in Vietnam to do this day has gone down as one of the influential and controversial wars in United States history. The war lasted from 1955 to 1975.The nation as a whole began to uproar over the war and the major consequences of the war. There were many reasons why so many Americans were against the war. Public opinion steadily turned against the war following 1967 and by 1970 only a third of Americans believed that the U.S. had not made a mistake by sending troops to fight in Vietnam (Wikipedia). Not to mention, many young people protested because they were the ones being drafted while others were against the war because the anti-war movement grew increasingly popular among the counterculture and drug culture in American society and

McCarthyism, a broad political campaign during the mid-twentieth century against suspected Communists in influential positions throughout America, had severe implications on the American political landscape. In what ways did McCarthyism impact politics during the time period of 1946-1953? McCarthyism impacted politics during 1946 - 1953 by allowing politicians to run on claims without evidence, the use of legislative actions, and through the rise of Nixon. Politicians and political groups were able to run on claims without evidence, a core principle of McCarthyism.

The absolute truth may not always be known. Another culture’s history may tell a varied version of an account that differs from the ones that exist in the textbooks in American classrooms. To every war, there is the triumphed and the defeated. Each side walks away with a drastically different outlook on what has occurred. By only hearing one side, individuals are there by limited and constricted to a less knowledgeable idea of the truth.