Television and the Red Menace: The Video Road to Vietnam

'œThis is an important chapter in the history of mass persuasion. The work is comprehensive in its analysis of US television's political role from 1945 to 1965, and the author compellingly bases his case on a thorough investigation of printed materials and audiovisual recordings. Beginning with the alliance between broadcasting media and government during and even prior to WW II, MacDonald shows how TV disposed Americans to accept an undeclared war in Vietnam. It did this on a vast scale with news and entertainment that systematically and uncritically affirmed the superiority of American attitudes and fantasies and presented action as superior to thought in resolving conflicts. Drama and news, even religious and childrens' programming, through stereotypes and simplistic formulas, reduced the world's complexity to a contest between good (US) and evil (communism). This is a history with lessons for the future. The work strikingly confirms Jacques Ellul's thesis that in modern technological society propaganda is relentless and ubiquitous.... With a useful bibliography and index, it is especially valuable for academics and students of propaganda.'' ChoiceFred J. MacDonald is the author of 'Television and the Red Menace: The Video Road to Vietnam', published 1985 under ISBN 9780275901417 and ISBN 0275901416.