Vietnam Political Cartoons

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AMERICAN HISTORY POLITICAL CARTOONS
The Vietnam War
UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL
CARTOONS
Study the political cartoon, and then
answer the questions that follow.
1. What opinion does the cartoonist
have about U.S. involvement in
Vietnam?
2. What image suggests the American
public's sentiment toward involve
ment in Vietnam?
The Boston Globe/Paul Szep
.s
I
3. How does the cartoonist portray the history of U.S. government involvement in Vietnam?
ACTIVITY
Draw a maze similar to the one pictured in the cartoon that shows the timeline of U.S.
8
involvement in the Vietnam War.
■a
American History Political Cartoons
55
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Q Copyright Simon Fraser University
Text:
VIETNAM CAMBODIA LAOS
Cartoonist:
Uluschak, Edd
Date on cartoon: May 20,1970
Published in:
MsC 25.9.63
Subjects:
Backpacking
Nixon. Richard M. (Richard MilhousV 1913-1994
Quicksand
Rifles
Soldiers
Vietnam War. 1961-1975 - United States
Vietnam War. 1961-1975
Size of cartoon: 27.2 cm x 24.9 cm
http://edocs.lib.sfti.ca/cgi-bin/Cartoons?CartoonID=4269
5/9/2011
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foriP* HWiL.rmn im stomach
© Copyright Simon Fraser University
Text:
"Those My Lai atrocities are enough to ... bombs away!... turn your stomach."
Cartoonist:
Uluschak, Edd
Date on cartoon: January 1,1969
Published in:
Edmonton Journal
Subjects:
Bombers - American
Massacres
My Lai Massacre. Vietnam. 1968
United States. Air Force
Vietnam War. 1961-1975
War - Vietnam
Size of cartoon: 27.6 cm x 24.0 cm
Notes:
Approximate date; month and day unknown
http://edocs.lib.sfu.ca/cgi-bin/Cartoons?CartoonID=7851
5/9/2011
Page 1 of 1
oliphant
WpH'Ts GET US,TO;THE, CONFERENCE TABLE.. .^WILfc- THEY?1;
By Pat Oliphant, February 1, 1966
"Pat Oliphant won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1966 with this
cartoon showing Ho Chi Minh, president of North Vietnam, carrying a dead Viet
Cong soldier. By 1966 there were 190,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam, and
North Vietnam was receiving armaments and technical assistance from the Soviet
Union and other Communist countries. Ho had sent a note on January 24 to
Communist leaders denouncing U.S. peace initiatives. At the same time, South
Vietnamese officials had refused to participate in any peace talks with the Viet
Cong's National Liberation Front, the Norm Vietnam-supported Communist
guerilla movement within South Vietnam. A few days after this cartoon
appeared, President Lyndon Johnson, along with key military and political
advisors, traveled to Honolulu for a conference with South Vietnamese Premier
Nguyen Cao Ky, Chief of State Nguyen Van Thieu, and other Saigon government
officials." (from "Pat Oliphant at the Library of Congress,"
httD:/Acweb.loc.gov/exhibits/oliphant/partl.html.
http://www.wellesley.edu/Polisci/wjA^ietimages/Cartoons/oliphant.htm
5/9/2011
n Vietnam
se soldiers
a gross, if
:e in war).
i innocent
: principle
of the war
■nander of
:hem until
ltry to the
ie United
cause the
311th Vietolicy dic! in South
) conduct
*ly unim•gical cru-
Examining Cartoon 1:
"Anyone Care to Give
Again to Vietnam ...?"
"Anyone care to give again to Vietnam . . . ?"
^grettably
mam and
American
legacy of
About the Cartoon
In this cartoon Pat Oliphant reveals the reaction many Americans
had to President Gerald Ford's request that Congress give more
economic and military aid to South Vietnam. In order to save face
in the eyes of the world and keep former president Richard Nixon's
promise to help South Vietnam, conservatives encouraged Ford to
request the aid. However, many Americans wanted to wash their
hands of Vietnam, believing that the United States had already sac
rificed enough. To illustrate this attitude, Oliphant portrays Presi
dent Ford carrying a donation can, asking, "Anyone care to give
again to Vietnam ...?" The expressions on the faces of the group
Examining Cartoon 1:
"We've Got to Operate,
and Fast!"
as a threat to dem
not protect South
Vietnam, commun
beyond. Thus, in
nam. Pierre Belloc
protect Vietnam i
are portrayed as en
—Vietnam. The >
We've got to operate, and fast!"
tumors, presumabl
the urgency of tht
fast!" Beilocq imp]
than the need to s;
are much smaller,
the Dominican Re
can lives," althougl
a Communist take
ministration, the.'
was to deepen as th
About the Cai
French-born Pierr
toonist. Beilocq, fc
cartoonist for the L
1999 Beilocq won;
paper illustration.
Bdlocq. © 1965 by The Phil:)
About the Cartoon
President Lyndon B.Johnson, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and Secretary of State Dean Rusk were the chief archi
tects of the Vietnam War during Johnson's administration
(1963-1969). Johnson, McNamara, and Rusk viewed communism
28
Examining Cartoon 1:
"How Would Another
Mistake Help?"
"HOW WOULD ANOTHER MISTAKE HELP?"
About the Cart<
After World War II,
China began to oppos
sula of Southeast Asi
Thailand, Burma, am
had opposed the Jap:
War II, declared Viet
tionalist government
Minh. With financial
evicted the Vietminh
fiercely, using guerrill
vide additional militar
the Vietminh defeate
hundred thousand sol
during the struggle.
Published shortly af
cartoon by cartoonist
symbol often used to i
ing alone into a dark,
in Indochina." Fitzpa
Vietnam, the United 5
Critics argued that Fr;
that it could not win b<
ticularly its use of gue
Vo Nguyen Giap. Thi
headed down the same
About the Carto
Daniel R. Fitzpatrick
Post-Dispatch for fortyteen thousand cartoot
style, won many aware
and 1955. He died on i
Fitzpatrick. © 1969 by Pulitzer Pu!
Dispatch, 2004.
20
"OUR POSITION HASN'T CHANGED AT ALL"
"Our position hasn't changed at all"
After the State Department announced the possibility of a direct American combat role in Vietnam,
the White House issued "clarifications," insisting that there had been no change in policy. On
June 16,1965, the Defense Department announced that 21,000 additional soldiers including
8,000 combat troops would go to Vietnam, bringing the total U.S. presence to more than 70,000
men. President Lyndon Johnson continued to obscure the extent of American involvement,
contributing to a widespread perception of political untrustworthiness. The Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution, based on a never-verified report of an attempted attack on an American ship, passed
the Senate with only two dissenting votes, and gave Johnson all the authority he felt he needed to
proceed with the escalation.