The Galway American Studies Forum Presents...

Destroying the ‘silver linings’:
The American media and the Vietnam War, 1968-71

With guest speaker Gavin Wilk, University of Limerick 

Tuesday, 5th June, at 12.30pm

in

The Moore Institute Seminar Room

Abstract: This paper will demonstrate through relevant examples how the American media, from the 1968 Tet Offensive to the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, offered a subjective and unfiltered view of the Vietnam War to the American public. During this period, the American media abandoned a previously close connection with the military and government and instead moved independently through various mediums to denounce the Vietnam War. This dramatic period transformed the way American journalists cover conflicts and also significantly altered the relationship between the American media, government and military officials.

About Gavin Wilk: A Visiting Lecturer in History at the University of Limerick, Gavin recently completed a PhD in History and was an IRCHSS Postgraduate Scholar from 2008-11. His thesis examines the militant Irish republican movement in the United States from 1923 to 1939 and focuses on the important role of Irish Republican Army (IRA) veterans in the US-based Irish republican movement. Gavin has completed a number of articles for reference works in American history, including a recent contribution of fourteen articles to the M.E. Sharpe publication, America in World History, an encyclopaedia which presents American history through an international context.