The Man who Embraced his Call of Duty

Chapter 12- Vietnam War

“Bringing the battlefield into the American living room

“As long as a free press remains fundamental o the democratic form of government,  the news depiction of reality- no matter how vivid or horrifying that reality may be- is a positive contribution to that country.” – Dean Rusk, secretary of state in the 1960’s

The pinnacle of journalism lies within this quote spoken by   Dean Rusk, and it could not be more applicable to the Vietnamese war that was fought in the 1960’s. The news media during the war played such a crucial role in reporting the war, digging out the truth, and influencing the point of view of the American public. At a time were television were still fairly “new”, most Americans relied and trusted this new reporting style and technology to bring them their daily news feed. But the public at the time got to experience something that even the American people today don’t get a chance to. The Vietnamese war was the first and last war to ever be televised live, and it had an effect whose magnitude was too much to take in. Beliefs shifted, presidents agendas were shattered, and a way was subsided. All this was one by the immeasurable power of the press.

                                                                                             

credit to www.911review.com for the image.

                In the 1950’s the French were having a huge struggle keeping control in their colony of Vietnam. So once again the U.S. was invoked itself to help the French with military because, the U.S. felt threatened by the force of communism in the area. When in 1964 a turning point occurred which changed the course of military action in the area. American military announced that North Vietnamese vessels had fired upon U.S. destroyers that were stationed in the Gulf Of Tonkin. With no other choice President Lyndon B Johnson requested a war be declared on the North Vietnamese, and the Congress obviously agreed when they passed the “Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution.” The troops were on their way, and the public believed that an easy victory was in  near sights. This was the common concept of the time because at first the war was portrayed as something that should not present a challenge to the mighty United States, and that’s how it was reported upon as well. ABC, CBS, and NBC were the news networks that at the time the people depended on most for their news. They networks combined would draw an audience of 35 million nightly to get informed about the war and what was occurring. CBS in its ranks, had an anchor that could be characterized as the voice of news of the period, this man was Walter Cronkite. Cronkite “Had shepherded the nation through many momentous events- including the 1963 Kennedy assassination.”  Most of the public embraced Mr. Cronkite who was a proud supported of the war. Even president Johnson knew the influence that Walter had on the people, that he even called him in for private meetings early in the war. The president was well aware of the power of the media, and he was also well aware that if he wanted the public on his side and his agenda to go through. He needed that power of the Fourth Estate on his side.

                The Press’s duty is to remain honest and truthful but also to inform the public in an honest manner as well. So when the harsh realities of the war were being experienced by the reporters, they had nothing else to report but the truth. At first it was the images of U.S. soldiers burning down villages with Zippos that churned the stomachs of the American public.  The war wasn’t going as planned because they U.S. military was accustom to the Guerilla warfare the Vietnamese strived on. So when the Tet Offensive happened in January of 1968, the U.S. public was slapped in the face by the heavy hand of reality. The Tet offensive was a strategy of war that the North Vietnamese presented to the unprepared United States. The North Vietnamese targeted every military base in South Vietnam and even made it to the United Stated embassy stationed there; this is when it hit home. The Tet offensive was “America’s first TV superbattle. The story had drama, suspense and enormous public interest.” But at first this battle was portrayed as a success for the U.S. by all three major news organizations mentioned earlier, and this is when the press started failing the public. It wasn’t until the major cataclysmic event happened that was by all means considered “the shot felt ‘round the world.” A North Vietnamese Commander of a Viet Cong Commando unit was captured by South Vietnamese troops, and executed by a Brigadier general of The South Vietnamese battalion, and this was all captured live on camera. Now war is something that results in a huge number of casualties, so one might ask what the big deal is? Well the fact that prisoner was executed without trial might be it. But when this was actually shown and reported on in every living room in America, it had a drastic shift of the point of view of every American who watched it. “It was the strongest stuff American viewers had even seen.” We were allies with the South Vietnamese and this clearly went against every rule of war in the book, so how did this make us look? This didn’t only disturb the American viewers, but supporters of the war quickly shifted and opposed it. Upon .these changed supporters was Walter Cronkite. Cronkite was not afraid to set the agenda and stand alone when exposing what was really happening in Vietnam, despite of what might happen to President Johnson and his agenda. “Cronkite decided he owed it to the people who watched him every night to find out what, indeed, was going on in Vietnam- it meant shedding his mantle of impartiality and sharing his personal impressions about the most important story of the era.” Cronkite made it clear to the public that the only way out will be by negotiating, and that for the first time in 200 years the U.S. were not clear winners of a war.

Credit to www.infomobile.com for the image.

After this President Johnson realized “if I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost the war” and this is probably why he did not run for reelection next term.  The New York Times wrote: “Cronkite’s reporting changed the balance; it was the first time in American history a war had been declared over an anchorman.” After Cronkite decided to step forward, other news organizations quickly followed his momentum to open the eyes of the American Public. Journalist eventually made it clear that “military action had not been guided not by humanitarian concern but by political benefit. Cronkite stuck to his journalistic principles and shaped the way the Vietnamese war ended all by the power f the pen, the Fourth Estate and his judgment to stay true to the people, which at the end is what exactly his occupation is based on. Well done Mr. Walter Cronkite.