Black and White: A Visual Interpretation of Racism during the Vietnam War

In Michael Nelson’s The Presidency, a photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson giving members of the 101st Airborne their service medals for fighting in the Vietnam War is used to describe how he served his term as president (see Appendix 1 for photograph). The photograph was taken during July in 1966 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and it is a black and white picture showing President Lyndon B. Johnson moving down a line of soldiers, stopping at each one to shake their hands while they were awarded their medals. Behind the soldiers, many American flags are hoisted by another row of soldiers. The photograph effectively describes Johnson’s presidential term because Johnson actively supported sending hundreds of thousands of troops to aid the South Vietnamese Army against North Vietnam, and he made many military decisions about actions while acting as commander-in-chief of the United States Army. Shaking soldiers’ hands after fighting symbolized Johnson’s backing of Vietnam because he shows his appreciation for their war efforts, but I believe the photograph has a deeper meaning. Showing racial prejudices still remained in the United States after segregation officially ended 2 years prior, in 1964, is an alternate meaning for the photograph.
One way the continuation of racial prejudices after segregation legally ended shows in the photograph because the black soldiers are separated from other soldiers. Within the photograph, the line of soldiers who are shaking hands with Lyndon B. Johnson are distinctly divided into two sides, the white and the black soldiers. The white soldiers were the first to shake hands with the president and then black soldiers followed. The order in which the soldiers’ hands were shaken demonstrates a belief th...

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...judicial belief that it was proper to separate white and black people for the benefit of white people.
Though the photograph was used properly by Michael Nelson in The Presidency to describe Lyndon B. Johnson’s term as president, the photograph has a deeper and possibly more controversial meaning to show the continuation of racial prejudices after segregation ended. Racial prejudices in the photograph can be seen in the surprised expression of the soldier, larger than normal gap between black and white soldiers, and the white soldiers receiving their medals and shaking hands with the president before the black soldiers. The ending of racial prejudices was supposed to end two years before this picture with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but signs in the photograph shows its continued presence.

References
Nelson, M. (1996). The Presidency. London: Salamander Books.