Hazy Lies

The Sixties rang through the country and through the world, it ushered in skepticism and rebellion throughout the nation. Citizens began to revolutionize within themselves and realize that the government was not what it seemed to be. The lies the government told the public began to crumble in the late sixties, early seventies, the public no longer wanted to fight war that seemed to have no end game or real benefit. Women no longer conformed with the outdated social institutions placed upon them and African- Americans were fed up with the way the government turned a blind eye towards the police brutality inflicted on them.
The letter I read that was sent to Harold “ Biz” Johnson’s was written in the late 60’s, among the time when political protests were becoming more prevalent. When I first read the document I was inclined to think that the author of the letter was a more eclectic protester but as I watched “The Sixties” I realized that the author of the letter was the beginning of a wave of citizens writing letters to their elected officials asking why our soldiers were fighting an unwinnable war. However, the government’s involvement with the war or rather their lack of transparency during the war that led protesters to revolutionize against the government prompted me to see Mr. Johnson in a new light, citizens were being lied to and were desperate for answers yet the government did not think it was in their best interest to be truthful. I realize now why the author of the letter to Mr. Johnson was vague; when the letter was written the public was still unaware of many incriminating factors about the United States military and how a war with no real end game could have been prevented.
President John F. Kennedy was and is still seen as one of the agreeable president’s but even President Kennedy was at fault for giving the Department of Defense carte blanche, it did not help though the the next president, Lyndon B. Johnson, did not reign in the Department of Defense but in fact gave them more leverage. The way the Vietnam War was handled drastically skewed the outcome in the wrong direction. The war lasted over a decade and killed thousands of people on both sides, the letters written to Harold T.Johnson exemplify the mixed feelings the public was having at the time, most letters spoke about the war as a bad dream that needed to end. The sixties brought in revolutionary political groups and an era of unconformity for the people, women and men alike no longer blindly believed what the media and government decided to let the public know.