Читать книгу Anglo-American Cultural Studies - Jody Skinner - Страница 65

powerpower of the media, American loss(es)In one word: traumatic were the effects of the war on American cultureculture. Photos of the public execution of a North Vietnamese soldier and of naked children running away from an American attack were iconic images that began to turn public opinion against the war. Americans were shocked by the details of the My Lai MassacreMy Lai Massacre, during which American soldiers killed hundreds of civilians in the village of My Lai. Student protests increased, and in 1970 students were killed during a demonstration at KentKent State UniversityKent State University. Americans across the nation began hearing the thick GermanGerman accent of Henry KissingerKissinger, Henry, President NixonNixon, Richard’s National Security Advisor and later Secretary of StateSecretary of State, who represented the Americans in the ParisParis Peace Talks. Although Nixon won a landslide reelection in 1972, as details about what would become the Watergate ScandalWatergate Scandal were becoming known, resistance to further funding of the war in CongressCongress increased. The last US troops left Vietnam in March 1973, and in less than two years, the North Vietnamese had attained their goal of uniting the country. The video clips of US Marines being evacuated in helicopters from the rooftop of the American embassy in Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, while leaving behind those who had worked for the Americans, provided a final image of humiliation. The cost in lives and in money was enormous, Americans and their military [53]officials learned that the powerpower of the media to turn the tide of public opinion was paramount, American veterans were not welcomed home as returning heroes as in previous wars. The healing process between supporters and opponents of the war took years. The Vietnam Veterans MemorialVietnam Veterans Memorial with its black polished stone wall with the names of those Americans killed or missing was conceived as a wound in the process of healing. In spite of the controversies surrounding the original conception of the Memorial, which is starkly unlike any other memorial in Washington DCWashington DC, millions visit the Memorial each year.