PUBLIC OPINION OF WAR

The Role Of Public Opinion In The Origins, Conduct, And Conclusion Of Wars

The Role Of Public Opinion In The Origins, Conduct, And Conclusion Of Wars

Introduction

The nature of American democracy has conceived an inextricable connection between public attitude and foreign policy. From the soonest days of the republic, the makers of foreign policy have discovered their ability to make war guarded by public opinion, and the public has often discovered itself the goal of myriad groups searching to manipulate its outlooks for or contrary to war.

In the run-up to conflict with Spain in 1898, public attitude exercised a resolute influence. The yellow press biased public attitude against Spain, as did the publication of the de Lôme note, an intercepted correspondence by the Spanish Minister mocking President William McKinley, and the decimation of the USS Maine in the harbor at Havana, Cuba, with the decrease of 266 lives. The heady blend of indignation and annoy conceived by these incidents swamped McKinley and compelled him to bow to congressional force for $50 million in military appropriations and the issuance of an ultimatum that left Madrid little alternative but to affirm war on the United States on April 24, 1898 (Spiel, 1968).

Discussion and Analysis

Public attitude can be utilised to force withdraw of armies from overseas. By 1973 there was a consensus that Americans wanted the troops to be dispatched dwelling, even with the risk of communism in South Vietnam. In a Gallup poll in September 1965 only twenty four percent of Americans said the Vietnam War was a error, by May 1973, sixty per hundred sensed it was a mistake. After the cease-fire in January 1973, there was an even stronger sentiment for armies to be completely withdrawn from South-East Asia than before. Even in 1974, when there were proceeded North Vietnamese improvement, the American people did not support reintroduction of United States infantry action. All United States ground armies had been dragged out of Vietnam by March 1973. The people in the U.S. utilised their voting power to get Congress to take armies out of Vietnam. Citizens appreciated the power they held and how to get their voices learned in Congress. Any Congress constituent running for another period did not desire to proceed contrary to the sentiment of the American persons, because that would be lethal for his vocation at the voting booths. This scheme of power of the people is often utilised on numerous matters, not just war. During this time the Post-Vietnam Syndrome was formed. The U.S. did not desire to get engaged in another land war in South-East Asia, particularly one highly unpopular with the public. The Post-Vietnam Syndrome was exceedingly limiting for future activities of the government. Interventions in Angola, Lebanon and Central America were awkward because of Vietnam. The public was inclining towards anti-intervention, nearly isolation sentiments. “The public's ultimate denial to support an elongation of the U.S. military activity in Vietnam was a mighty reminder to policymakers and the infantry that public support was in ...