Paper Summary:

This paper questions whether the anti-war sentiment in the US shortened the Vietnam War. The author contends that protesters succeeded in creating a certain consciousness of war activities within the American public. It is argued that the public had only begun to question the war once it was apparent that it had continued for many years, and that there was some feeling that once committed, America could not withdraw without achieving victory. By analyzing the government's reaction to several anti-war incidences in US, the paper argues the government did not have a deep understanding of the anti-war sentiment. Therefore, the anti-war movement could not have impacted the war to such an extent as to shorten it.

From the Paper:

"Vietnam was a situation that seemed to develop slowly in the consciousness of the American public so that much of the country seemed to discover rather suddenly that the nation was enmeshed in a growing war to which there seemed no end. In truth, America had been involved in Vietnam for many years before the issue became the catalyst for social protest and political reprisals in the U.S., and for much of that time the public ignored what was taking place. American involvement actually started in 1954, and at that time it was the French who had been caught in the Vietnamese quagmire (Chafe 259). Full American involvement was contemplated prior to 1954 and rejected, in part because Eisenhower did not believe that a military victory was possible because of the political situation in the region, since the people supported the Viet Minh and identified Ho Chi Minh as the leader of their independence movement (Scheer 274-275)."

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