What are some similarities and differences between the public's and government's views at the beginning of the Vietnam War?

Answer 1

During the early 1960's the US public was generally unaware of the Vietnam War; some had heard the name, but didn't know where it was. Or, for those that knew where it was, didn't know if there was a war going on, or if possibly some sort of "military advising" or other military "business (as it was sometimes referred to)" was happening; such as was occurring in Santo Domingo, parts of Central America, or even South America. The build up to Vietnam was slow. The US citizens knew of the (cold war) Nuclear "threat", as public sirens were installed in cities. When they sounded, school children would "duck and cover" during school drills. US school children watched films in school that instructed them to, "...seek the shelter of the nearest object, which might often be the cement curb while walking home, if they saw a BRIGHT LIGHT, WHICH WAS A BALL OF FLAME IN THE SKY, from an atomic bomb going off...". This was how the US children of the late 1950's and early 1960's were brought up. So, at the time, there seemed little connection between the "atomic fireballs" and Vietnam, until you listened to the grown up's talking. Then, could bits and pieces of what was happening in the world, begin to be put together. The actual effects from Vietnam began when the children who were raised under the "threat" of the atomic fireballs, were now of the age to be drafted into the military to fight communism, which was synomonous with the word Vietnam.