ABSTRACT
For the fi rst time in modern history, the outcome of a war was determined not on the battlefi eld, but on the printed page and, above all, on the television screen. Looking back coolly, I believe it can be said (surprising as it may still sound) that South Vietnamese and American forces actually won the limited military struggle. Th ey virtually crushed the Viet Cong in the South . . . and thereaft er they threw back the invasion by regular North Vietnamese divisions. None the less, the War was fi nally lost to the invaders aft er the US disengagement because the political pressure built up by the media had made it quite impossible for Washington to maintain even the minimal material and moral support that would have enabled the Saigon regime to continue eff ective resistance.
