What destroyed American opinion of the Vietnam war?

Answer 1

The Tet Offensive of January-September 1968. Although the attackers suffered substantial losses, it shattered the myth of US control in South Vietnam. Answer: Although the Tet Offensive changes the Military and Gov't opinion about the winnability of the war, the My Lai Massacre where US troops massacred 300 to 500 unarmed civilians (including women and children) turned public opinion against the war.

Answer 2

The Anti war people, or better known as the HIPPIES, were having huge protests about if they should even had started the war. They felt as if the young men were over there losing their lives for nothing. Some of the American public supported the war but the (counter-culture) or hippies as some people would call them did not support it. Overall everyone is entitled to their own opinion and could have chose to support it or no to support it. I suppose it depends on how you grow up and what not what your views on war are. Here are more answers from WikiAnswers contributors: * Students Protested, not the hippies. They were too busy getting stoned to know there was a war and had no permanent address so the draft boards couldn't find them anyway.

Answer 3

American opinion was shocked. Some couldn't believe it or thought that it was a Vietcong plot. Others were prepared to accept the killings and, to them, Lt. Calley was a hero. But the majority of Americans were horrified. it seemed that the inhumane behaviour of the US troops made them no better than the enemy - or the Nazis to whom they were compared to. This was one of the key events that helped to turn the tide of American opinion against the war. Lt. Calley was the only soldier to face charges for My Lai. In 1970, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. He was released in 1974, no one knows why...

Answer 4

The television coverage of the Vietnam War made American civilians much more aware of the conflict than they had been in previous conflicts. Television reporters also made people aware of the Vietnamese civilian massacres and the ever-increasing number of dying Americans.

Answer 5

The military draft. By 1968 40,000 men a month were being conscripted for military service.

The US Army used to be called the "Green Machine." And it consumed men.