We won vietnam?

Question

During the vietname war, even though we, as america, were losing the war terrbily, we were being told that we were actually winnin. was this lie told to us by the government or the media.

from what i remember, before that time, the government and media were on the same side. however, the government had decieved the media into believeing we were winning, which, in turn told us (the common people) that we were winning. Is this true because if it is, then the media can't be blamed for that can it? Or was it the media who already knew the truth but they did not convey it to us?

Answer 1

I've been studying Vietnam and the Vietnam war for many years, and I can tell you that what you read in the history books (and the media) is a gross distortion of what actually happen there.

For example: The Tet Offense is taught in most American history books as a U.S. defeat, when it was actually a huge military victory for the U.S. and ARVN.

The Tet Offense was part of a year long campaign by the NVA and Viet Cong to defeat ARVN (South Vietnamese army) and oust foreign forces (U.S., Australians, etc.) in South Vietnam. This campaign lasted barely a day when the Viet Cong and NVA forces failed to gain and hold any ground in South Vietnam except for Hue, which was retaken less than 30 days later.

After Tet, the Viet Cong was destroyed as an effective military force, and would need support from NVA regulars to continue fighting until the end of the war. The NVA was weakened so bad that they would take a couple years to rebuild their forces to an effective level, and South Vietnam realized a significant drop in hostilities during that time.

The media depicted a different story during Tet. The infamous street execution of a Viet Cong insurgent received worldwide coverage and depicted as a cold blooded, merciless killing by an ARVN officer. In reality, the insurgent was directly responsible for several bombings in Saigon that killed dozens of innocent civilian people before he was caught and killed. Adding to this was the attack on the U.S. Embassy by a small band of Viet Cong forces, who were routed and the two Viet Cong officers that organized the attack were killed.

Although Viet Cong forces entered and were fighting in the embassy compound, the Viet Cong never took over the embassy. MP forces held their ground inside the Embassy building until reinforcements arrived. general Westmorland lied to the press about the Viet Cong never entering the embassy, when it was obviously not true as he was standing in front of a big hole in the embassy wall. This lie spun the media into assuming that the Vite Cong did take over the Embassy.

Being the son of a Vietnam Veteran and having a lot of family that is Vietnamese had inspired me to study the Vietnam War to find the answer to the question; "Why did the U.S. loose the war? My recent visit to Vietnam, that allowed me to talk with my uncles who fought in the NEVA during the war for the first time, changed the question.

Now, my question about the Vietnam war is; "How come the U.S. didn't win?" Philosophically, a much different reason for my continued quest to find answers relating to my heritage. I know that I will not find the answer by relying completely on media coverage and history books written by opinionated authors.

In other words, don't believe everything that the media tells you. Go find out the truth for yourself.

Answer 2

Sadly there have been no war that the US has won in the 20th century! The only wars won have been the ones fought in America more than a century ago. One of the them was Civil war & the other was the war of Independence.

An editor once curiously qouted that America has never fought a war, let alone winning it, with a nation that has McDonalds. Beginning with Vietnam, to present day crisis with Afghanistan & Iraq.

Coming to your question now. America sorely lost the war in the Korean peninsula. The 37th parallel was never cross by the US Army in totality. Immense losses were incurred on both sides although America withdrew first, so one may conclude that the US lost the war.

Lastly, the media has a social obligation of transparency. It is also required to be unbiased. The exact position of the US Army in Korea must & should be told to the public. Unfortunately the media blindsided the people & pulled a fast one on everybody concerned. A conspiracy perhaps?

Thank you.

Answer 3

Militarily, the Vietnam war was a success. If you count the number of body bags.

Unfortunately, it was a political black eye to the American government because they did not quickly end the war and totally defeat the enemy (NVA, VC, etc.) which caused division among the American public on their support to the Vietnam war effort. This gave an opportunity for a fifth column (communist sympathizers in the US) to further divide the Americans and placed the American government and soldiers in a bad light.

Yes, the Mai Lai massacre and countless other atrocities were a fact of life, in fact all wars have them. It was just played up to a point where the Americans looked like the bad guys - the media definitely has to own up to that. The US government did try to keep it secret, that's their fault.

Lesson learned here: If you're going to start a war, end it quickly and decisively and the fewer people who know...the better.

Answer 4

We won, the media did not know the truth. I don't know where you get your information about the media being on the same side as the government, but nothing could be further from the truth. The media was glad to see the US loose in Vietnam and was contemptious of our government....to the point that they (the media) was active in under cutting our diplomatic and military position. You can see where we are now with the media, they are on the HATE the US bandwagon. Our mission in Vietnam started out to be a good one but was really confounded by Johnson and was compromised by our own Congresss and the Media. We won that war! Vietnam was ready to fall when we were bombing them into the stone age and was about to fall untill the media stepped in and demanded a stop in the bombing. We won that war!

Answer 5

Really neither side won the vietnam war. The reason the war went on as long as it did was so that America could save face. They weren't about to swollow their pride. The only way the media got their info back then was from the government. We didn't have news reporters over in vietnam so the government could twist and turn the story to reporters all they wanted.

Answer 6

The government censored a lot of info coming out of Vietnam. This way the American public would back the war. But today there are so many camera's around on both sides of the current war that it is hard to hide the truth.

Answer 7

The Vietnam War was the first to be broadcast directly to our living rooms via television. I grew up during the 60's, and remember our nation was divided over our involvement.

I don't remember the media trying to show we were winning. As the war dragged on, it became more and more evident that we weren't winning, and our prolonged role there just didn't make sense.

Answer 8

I Don't Know.......I'd Trust O.J.Simpson With a Knife Before I Trust The Government/Media With Real Information........If It Ain't Declassified, Your Best Bet Is Finding Out With A Legitamate Alternate Source....If It Exists.....

Answer 9

I sure dont know what the media knew or didnt know about viet nam.

These days, i think the media wants to support Bush because he is all about serving the interests of big corporations, and american media is big corporations.

Answer 10

i believe that its true that the govt told the media we were winning and i believe they can still be blamed for not figuring out that we were losing a war if thats the deepest they dug to get their info than can they be trusted with other stories if somethign so huge was misprinted