Oralhistoryresearch

Topic: The Vietnam War on the Home Front Interview Subjects: John Harvey (My father.) The Vietnam War was a terrifying one; it was a guerilla war, and no one really knew who their enemy was. If you were deployed to Vietnam, you didn’t know what to think. It was a common idea that nothing bad would happen, but who knows? But through all this, what was going on back on the home front? During the beginning of the War, mostly all of America was supporting America’s involvement in Vietnam’s foreign affairs. But as the war continued, people began to turn. They noticed that the more people that were sent out there, the more that came back home no longer alive. People began to think that the War was going to bring no benefit to the US what so ever, and that it was extremely immoral. US citizens began organizing protests against the War. One of the most remembered happenings of the protests were the murders of four Kent State University. Some students were protesting the War on the college campus, and the headmaster called the Ohio National Guard. The students carried on their protesting, but the National Guard panicked, and open fired on the busy campus. A total of four students were killed, and nine were wounded. This occurrence triggered more angry protests. The extensive media coverage of the War was also angering the American people. Frightening images that appeared on families TV screens were showing people the original promise that everything would be all right was not the truth. Even senators and people of higher power were starting to question the War, and the policies that were being made. This would only trigger even more protests. As you can probably see, because of all of the opportunities to discourage the War, there was a lot going on to encourage the War effort. America wasn’t ready to join the War to begin with, and people just didn’t see a reason to help it move along. But America eventually got their wish, and in 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed, and people calmed down.



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