Episode 6: Fighting on Three Fronts

If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read “Vietnam.” - Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., 1967

The American strategy in Vietnam was to suppress the Communist insurgency through the ground war while winning the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese through humanitarian efforts. But it was difficult to build bonds with people whose lives were  upended by the search-and-destroy tactics of the combat forces.

Back at home, antiwar protests mounted. Public support for the war fell below 50 percent for the first time. In October 1967, nearly 100,000 people joined the March on the Pentagon to protest the war. The Johnson administration tried to tamp down dissent with news of progress, going so far as to call General Westmoreland home from the battlefield to present a glowing report to the American people. Military officers were pressured to  overestimate enemy casualties and underestimate enemy strength—a practice that would have devastating consequences for President Johnson.

The “War at Home”

Opposition to the war grew, diversified, and clashed with supporters in a more and more divided nation

For the first time in history, the death and destruction of war was beamed onto television screens in living rooms around the world. This portal into the grim realities of war turned more and more people against it. But many Americans, even some who opposed the war, felt protest marchers were disloyal to American soldiers, further dividing the population in the growing “War at Home.”

As troop levels neared half a million, casualties mounted with no apparent progress, and tens of thousands of young men—disproportionately blue collar and minority—were drafted each month, opposition to the war mounted. Some peace-promoting doves saw the war as a well-intentioned but disastrous mistake. War-minded Hawks blamed the media for turning the population against a winnable war. The bitter polarization of American society begun during  the Vietnam War is still evident today.