The impact of television viewing on public opinion and foreign policy during the Vietnam War.

摘要

The Vietnam War's portrayal to the American public was unique in many aspects. Certainly one important aspect was the introduction of the war to the American public through television viewing. War broadcasts posed a challenge to several government administrations (Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon) in having to deal with controlling the events and their perception in Vietnam, but also having to handle the public's changing attitudes toward the war. This study examines how television news influenced public opinion which, in turn, shaped American foreign policy with respect to the Vietnam War.; I chose three key events in the Vietnam War for this study: the battle of the la Drang Valley in November 1965, the 1968 Tet offensive, and the American incursion into Cambodia in 1970. My investigation suggests that television news media had an impact on the American public's attitudes and actions regarding the Vietnam War.