Social, cultural, and political fissures that opened or widened in the course of the Vietnam conflict continued to reverberate for decades and are evident even today." .
Unfortunately, the negative image of the Vietnam War is greatly influenced by Hollywood's portrayal of the war. Movies such as "Apocalypse Now", "Platoon", or "Forrest Gump", are all considered good depictions of the Vietnam War. While these movies may have some accuracy, they are based primarily on the war recounts provided by the United States news and media. In the book A Vietnam War Reader: A Documentary History from American and Vietnamese Perspectives, author Michael Hunt stated that, "Since 1977, Hollywood has been succeeding where Washington consistently failed: namely, in selling Vietnam to the American public."3 Hunt is referring to the fact that the government did a horrible job gaining the support of the American people during the war, and as a result, Vietnam was a failure for the United States military. Hollywood recreations emphasize the military aspects of the war and neglect to include the political details.
Most American people had very little knowledge of the Vietnam War and the complete underlying reasons for the US involvement. The conflict between the United States and the North Vietnamese nation began long before the first US troops arrived in Vietnam in 1965. The Vietnam War began in the early 1950's between the French and the North Vietnamese. In 1954 the French were defeated at the Dien Bien Phu post and decided to pull out of Vietnam.4 That same year the Geneva Conference was held. Multiple nations assembled in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss a strategy in which France would peacefully withdraw from Vietnam. The final terms are known as the Geneva Accords.5 In fear of another communist leader, President John F. Kennedy and the United States representatives did not agree with the idea of letting the nation of Vietnam hold a democratic election.
