United States' Involvement in the Vietnam War

United States' Involvement in the Vietnam War

Source Based

Source one tells us that the American Anti-war movement was small in

1964 and was the view of the minority of people. The writer splits the

population up into three groups, neutral, pro-war and anti-war.

Pro-war was the biggest group as American patriotism appealed to the

public at this early stage.

Source two tells us that support for the war declined between 1964 and

1971. It tells us that even at its lowest level support are still at a

relatively large 25 per cent of the population that were polled. As

support declines, opposition naturally increases.

Question 2: How reliable are sources 1-4 as evidence of American

attitudes to the Vietnam War?

Source one tells us that the AWM was a minor factor in American

opinion at the time. This evidence is limited as it is a neutral

source and excludes the plus or negative views. We must ask whether

this was an American or British man or what nationality he otherwise

was. If he was American then we should more than likely expect a

biased view. However, this source is mainly factual so I would expect

the author to be British or of another such neutral nationality.

Without all these facts my opinion would be different and without all

these facts I may not be able to make an accurate judgement of a

source.

Source two tells us a little about how some Americans thought about

the war. This source is factual and therefore neutral. It is a

statistical source also. Before we assess the reliability of this

source we need to know why the poll was taken, who took it, what

question was asked and could the person being asked have given the

answer that the interviewer expected etc.? What we do know about

opinion polls is this: they are commonly neutral sources and are

factual pieces.

Source three is probably part of a speech given to the American

public. It was more than likely a morale talk to the public (or the