The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War affected the American public’s opinion of the United States Government tremendously.  Most Americans supported the war during its early years.  But, as more troops shipped out and the conflict dragged on, a growing number of voices spoke out in opposition.  What began as a student movement against the war became a national protest.  By the end of 1965, most soldiers fighting in Vietnam had been drafted into the war.  Some Americans opposed this draft because they did not believe that the war furthered U.S. interests and believed it to be unfair.  For the first time, the U.S. public was able to watch television news coverage of a major war.  The color images of wounded American soldiers and the horror of war flooded American living rooms. 

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The Watergate Scandal

The Watergate affected the American public’s opinion of the United States Government tremendously.  The Watergate scandal was resulted from a politically motivated break-in and government cover-up that led to the resignation of President Nixon.  Those who even hated Nixon were in shock of the Watergate scandal.  And those were the years when many Americans came to believe that criminals ran the executive branch.