Abstract
The election of Ronald Reagan to the Presidency in 1980 did much to challenge the "Vietnam Syndrome," a phrase which when used by conservatives meant that America's defeat in Southeast Asia and the nation's reaction to it were largely responsible for a malaise that purportedly "reduced the United States to a state of impotence in a menacing world." Those afflicted with the "Vietnam Syndrome" rejected the notion that communism should be contained at any cost, but President Reagan and other conservatives believed that this isolationist bent was an unacceptable constraint on foreign relations and an obstacle to what they viewed as a necessary increase in defense spending. To overcome the post-Vietnam mood of retrenchment and revitalize the cold war policy of containment Reagan invoked the specter of a growing Soviet military threat. One way in which the President attempted to justify his proposed policy of peace through strength was by rhetorically transforming the Vietnam War. According to Reagan, Vietnam was a "noble cause" and not an ignominious failure. He claimed that, "We dishonored the memory of 50,000 young Americans who died in that cause when we gave way to feelings of guilt as if we were doing something shameful.” Although this persuasive endeavor for resuscitating support of anti-communist containment proved ineffective, Reagan did succeed in provoking a reexamination of the meaning of U. S. Military intervention in Southeast Asia. Twenty years after the fall of Saigon the "lessons" learned from America's entanglement in the Vietnam War remain a subject of heated debate and continue to influence U.S. foreign policy decisions.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
28
Issue
1
First Page
3
Last Page
20
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
McGrath, Richard B.
(1996)
"The Role of Historical Revisionism in Public Dialogue: The Pentagon Papers and Post-Vietnam Containment Policy,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 28:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol28/iss1/3
Copyright
©1996 Iowa Communication Association
