ABSTRACT
The Second Indochina War had tragic and enduring consequences for the United States. After answering the summons of the trumpet, American soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines experienced a mountain of misery as they fought in and over the jungles and rice paddies of Vietnam. When Ronald W. Reagan became president in 1981, most Americans believed that the United States should never again get sucked into another quagmire as it had in Vietnam. Reagan complained that this so-called "Vietnam syndrome" made it difficult for American leaders to protect the global economic and strategic interests of the United States. While Reagan was exercising American power overseas, Hollywood films and television series in the United States presented varying interpretations of the Vietnam War. During the final months of fighting in the Pacific theater, American military and intelligence officers began helping the Vietnamese communists who were opposing the Japanese occupation of their country.
