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ABC News: Public reactions to sending troops to Vietnam War

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Journalist talks to woman in street for vox pop
ABC News: Public reactions to sending troops to Vietnam War

SUBJECTS: History

YEARS: 9–10


Do you think Australian governments have always acted wisely when deciding to send young Australians to wars?

Does the public usually know enough to support such decisions? On 29 April 1965, Australia's prime minister, Robert Menzies, announced the decision to send Australian troops to fight in Vietnam.

In this clip, filmed shortly after Menzies's announcement, discover what the 'man and woman in the street' thought about this.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Do you think governments always tell the truth? Australia's Liberal-Country Party government sent troops, including conscripts, to fight in the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1972. The government claimed to be helping to defend free South Vietnam from communist North Vietnam. But even in 1965, the war's opponents argued that Australia, the USA and other countries were supporting unpopular South Vietnamese dictators against a popular uprising.
  2. 2.The ABC reporter asks 11 people what they think about the decision to send Australian troops. Ten of their answers can be heard clearly. For each of these responses, note the gender and approximate age (young, middle-aged, elderly) of the interviewee and any reasons given for supporting or opposing the decision.
  3. 3.What percentage of the responses supported the government decision? What percentage opposed it? What can you say about the age groups of supporters and opponents? What appears to be the majority attitude? Do you think such a small sample of answers provides enough evidence for a general hypothesis about public opinion on the Vietnam War at that time?
  4. 4.By the early 1970s, as people became aware of atrocities committed by US and South Vietnamese troops and as the death toll mounted, the worldwide anti-Vietnam War movement grew from small minorities to many millions. Imagine you are a reporter in the early 1970s. Draw up a list of questions you would ask people in the street to investigate how and why public opinion had changed.



Date of broadcast: 30 Apr 1965


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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