The New York Times has an archive that provides access to their past news articles (TimesMachine). This archive contains information regarding the views on the Vietnam War, and the public’s knowledge of the historical event through a section labeled Letters to the Times. The role that the United States played in the Vietnam War is sketched into history, and by looking at the letters that the New York Times received there can be a narrative established about the American public’s part in this war.
The New York Times seems to lack information regarding the Vietnamese perspective in the United States’ interference in the country’s politics, and this supports the newspaper’s focus on the Western perspective of the war. This Western perspective is important, but simultaneously prioritizes American citizens; Americans were affected, but it was primarily the Vietnamese people that were changed by the war (Carter). Through the New York Times’ it can be seen the ideas that permeated through the United States consciousness, particularly since the editors of the newspaper chose to display these letters.
The Vietnam War was, for the United States, a fight against Communism, and a fight considered important enough that President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration started a draft. Prior to the Vietnam War, there were two letters published in the newspaper that center on Communism in Vietnam. In his letter, Roskolenko labels the Vietnamese government as Communist and argues for the U.N. to discuss the France’s relationship to Vietnam. Communism is again addressed in Vangly’s letter to the newspaper, a week prior to Roskolenko’s letter, that states, “Communism has no place in Vietnam”. It seems that these two letters were important enough to be published by the newspaper, which could mean that the editors believed the ideas expressed in these letters to be generally held. These letters are especially important because they were written before the start of the war in Vietnam. These letters provide a glimpse into the reasons that the United States government believed interfering was paramount. The letters are indicative of a recurring fear of Communism, a fear that was later used to explain the increasing support that the U.S. gave to the anti-Communist forces.
The TimesMachine is interesting in that it provides perspectives from reports and the public, which can be useful sources when researching public knowledge. Although helpful, the archive gives a relatively limited view of public thinking since it seems that the newspaper had a specific audience in mind while writing. While considering the views of American citizens, it seems that the Vietnamese narrative was pushed aside, and that the paper did not later remedy this issue—the archive does not refer to other articles or other stories about the Vietnamese (Carter).
