The Vietnam War (1955-1975) is probably the most problematic of all American wars. First, it is morally ambiguous. It was both a war against communism and a war to suppress nationalist self-determination. Second, it can be (and was) very confusing. American objectives were not always well defined. As a result, US policy often meandered: the US would "Americanize" the war only to "Vietnamize" it five years later. Third, things in the Vietnam War were often …showed first 75 words of 1065 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1065 total…a loss for the US. Because of this media portrayal, the Tet Offensive ended up being a decisive victory for the Vietnamese communists. In 1971, several prominent newspapers published the pentagon papers, top-secret documents that proved the government had lied about Vietnam operations. As a result of the Vietnam War, the relationship between the media and the government changed profoundly, and the government lost a considerable amount of public trust that it may never entirely recover.