Pages

0

Media Type

Moving Image

Physical Location

D023.4A

Copyright Statement

WGBH Educational Foundation

Number of Media

1

Language(s)

English

Format

VHS

Time - Hr:Min:Sec

60:00

Digitized in HD?

No

General Note

A significant but little known turning point in the Vietnam War occurred in August, 1967, when a public opinion poll showed, for the first time, a majority of Americans considered U.S. Participation in the war a ^D<'mistake.^D>' As Senator William Fulbright (D., Arkansas) observed then, ^D<'I don't recall^DELas strong a division of opinion ^DELas now exists with regard to the Vietnamese War. That's true, I believe, in the [Senate Foreign Relations] Committee. I think-from the reports in the newspapers and magazines-that exists in the country.^D>' Focusing on the hearts and minds of Americans as they tried to evaluate an undeclared war whose origins and objectives were unclear, and whose costs were growing, Fulbright is one of a gallery of Americans, both for and against the Vietnam War, who appears in ^D<'Homefront, USA.^D>' The episode opens with President Johnson's somber Christmas Eve address five weeks after the assassination of John Kennedy. Johnson appealed for ^D<'peace on earth, good will toward all men^D>' in the spirit of slain Presidents Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln. It continues, offering a clear and measured overview of the subsequent domestic upheaval: the waves of anti-war demonstrations; the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy; the rhetoric of the 1968 Presidential candidates; the Nixon administration attacks on the press; the shooting of students at Kent State University; the ^D<'hard hats: marching in New York City; and Vietnam veterans throwing their medals away on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. As the country's longest war continued and casualties mounted, Americans in the cities and the heartland searched their souls, as a slowly widening credibility gap separated them from their leaders.