Riley Kramer

Dr. Aaron Kashtan

UWRT 1102

04/20/17

Pop Culture Significantly Impacts American Political Views During Times Of War

At the turn of the 20th century, pop culture became more unified with the rise of

the mass spreading of information. Through the outlets of television and music, media

soon became a powerful tool for progressing political agendas and adversely for being a

broadcasted voice for protest and sharing non-mainstream views. Some have the

opinion that the impact of pop culture only affects the younger generations, but by

looking at a few cases and comparing the opinion of the people during the Vietnam War

and currently on the hostilities the United States has with Syria, there is a sufficient

argument to oppose those views. I intend to look at the impact of pop culture specifically

surrounding political issues and focus my examples in the timeframe of America being

in combat or on the brink of it from World War II to the present.

Since the creation of moving pictures, people everywhere have been fascinated

with movies and television. To prove how watching programs increases in value to the

viewer, how much television Americans watch per year needs to be looked at. In 2014,

Netflix released to investors that members streamed 29 billion hours. In 2015, Netflix

released that members streamed 42.5 billion hours, which is roughly 12 billion up from

the previous year (This Is How Much Netflix, 2016). Another statistic showing how

exponentially television and movies became a part of the typical American life is the
number of televisions in American home. During 1945 and earlier, there were fewer than

10,000 television sets in homes throughout the entire country. By 1950, this figure

reached 6 million (Television, The World Book Encyclopedia). Clearly, viewing

programs is something standard in the American culture, so when running political

campaigns its within the politicians best interest to use being in television or creating

advertisements to their advantage. Dan Pfeiffer, the former White House

Communications Director under the Obama Administration told the New Yorker

Magazine that With the Internet, with YouTube, with TiVo, with cable TV, people are

selective viewers now. . . Meaning, the public lately chooses only to hear what they

think is interesting and have cohesive views with. Polls have proven that when

politicians behave in a culturally popular way, such as in 1992, Bill Clinton confessing

past marijuana uses, playing the saxophone on T.V, and answering questions such as

boxers or briefs? (Top 10 Presidential Pop Culture, Time Magazine), the younger

generation tips the polls in their favor. This is especially true during times of war.

The first instance television significantly impacted the publics view of a war was

the Vietnam War. The war was fought prominently for the containment of communism,

but with news outlets putting visuals and interviews to the horrors of war, the public

soon starting removing their support. Although President Eisenhower started the war,

President Nixon was the one to end it.

 (Newport, Frank, David W. Moore, and Lydia Saad. 65 Years of Gallop Polling. Digital image.Gallup.com. N.p., 20 Dec.

1999. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.)

The presidential job approval graph follows the public support of the Vietnam War

clearly through the events during the several administrations the war occurred during.

The argument has often been made that any war reported in an unrestricted way by

television would eventually lose public support. (Vietnam On Television, Hallin)

Vietnam is often regarded as the first war seen on television, although the Korean War

was as well there simply werent enough American households with televisions for it to

make a large impact. The beginnings of the war were held in high regard with President

Eisenhower in 1955, and the coverage through televised news outlets was upbeat.

Stressed were the themes of courage and American boys in action! and when an

action could have been dubbed wrong, such as the burning of a Vietnamese village, it

became necessary because these were communists. Year later when the American

people were worn and tired of the war, the news coverage began to shift. In 1970, CBS

news reported the singular death of a soldier and interviewed his peers who talked about

how soulless the war was and their feelings of the death of their friend. (Vietnam On

Television, Hallin). This both helped and hindered President Nixon who was promising
to end the war by declaring peace with honor by keeping him at an acceptable

approval rating but lowering him from the previous year due to the increasingly sad

coverage by the media. If we compare this approval to whats going on presently with

the United States hostilities with Syria, the media is repeating the same pattern as

Vietnam with President Trump being praised for launching a missile and the media

presenting stories such as Syrian chemical attack survivor praises Trump for missile

strikes (Syrian Chemical Attack, Fox News), which has been influencing public views

on future action against Syria.

A different popularized medium of media influence is through music, most often

falling into the sub-genre of protest songs. Protest songs make an impact particularly on

the younger voting generation because music can be replicated anywhere. In older wars,

protest music was powerful because anyone with an instrument could play the song in

their dorm room, while deployed, and created more intimate connections to the lyrics.

Modernly it can be shared through social media sites and are available through music

streaming services no matter where you are or what hour it is. Music also crosses over

with television when concerts and festivals become broadcasted, such as Woodstock,

and because celebrity endorsement and stardom is a key aspect as to why music retains

success. The most iconic era of protest music came from the Vietnam War, but this was

because there was such a high disapproval rating. With the war continuing through

seven terms of office in the White House, the music created during the time became

personal anthems to those who disagreed with what was going on in the country and

were what filled a generation of peoples ears. The era of protest music inspired by war

closest to present day is the wave that came with the Bush Administration in 2004. This

wave was most strongly at the end of the invasion phase of the Iraq War and during the
Afghanistan War but had ties to American feelings post 9/11. Music by Neil Young,

Michael Franti, Green Day, and Bright Eyes were popularized and some even directed at

the President himself (Impeach the President by Neil Young). While it cant be denied

how popular certain protest songs became, its been questioned if protest songs

genuinely make an impact in public opinion or in political polls. For that doubt,

analyzing the demographics of political polls have to be considered. Green Day wanted

to make a political statement even with the release of their album, choosing to release

American Idiot, their most popular album to date, two weeks before the 2004 election

and heavily criticizing the war in their music. With lyrics like Do you know what's

worth fighting for, When it's not worth dying for? the band was essentially pleading

for their followers and anyone in their music scene to vote against Bush in the election.

There was a rice of 11% in young voter turnout (ages 18-24) from the 2001 election and

the 2004 election (Table: Voter Turnout among Citizens, The Center for Information

and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) which rose because of political

conflict on the United States involvement in Iraq which started in 2003. Interesting

enough, poll statistics also changed after the release of Green Days American Idiot.

Before the album was released, the pre-election results for the 18-24 age group had 49%

voting for Bush (Vote Preferences, Gallop.com), and after the album was released on

election day only 43% (How Groups Voted In 2004, Roper Center) of the same age

group voted for Bush. It also needs to be noted that the issue that mattered most,

according to polls, that swayed young voters at 27% was the Iraq War (Election 2004,

Pollingreport.com).

Another instance music made an impact in the polls was through the politicians

using the music for the campaign. During Bill Clintons 1992 campaign for presidency,
he impacted the polls by making Fleetwood Macs song Dont Stop (released in 1977)

his campaign song. This became iconic to his campaign and he still uses the song today,

however the song was outdated and old even when he used it in 1992, so it lowered his

popularity with young voters (A Brief History of Campaign Songs, Time Magazine). In

the infographic seen below, it can be seen how Bill Clinton pulled ahead with his impact

on pop culture in 1992, but how some of his outdated references, like Fleetwood Mac,
hindered the degree of his success.
Youth Voting. Digital image. Civic Youth. Tufts University, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017. <http://civicyouth.org/quick-facts/youth-voting/>.

Music within the past decade has included many famous protest songs, but most have

been towards gay marriage, ending racism, and government oppression due to our lack

of involvement in a war. This isnt to say music hasnt affected recent politics. During the

2016 election, Hillary Clinton created her own spotify playlist and got endorsed by

celebrities such as Katy Perry and Demi Lovato. Donald Trump also used music by

having a group of girls, the USA Freedom Kids, dance and sing at one of his rallies,

which went viral.

As Americans are people of action, a lot can be said about the American identity

through the results of our actions as a nation. Pop culture does make an impact on our
society and especially on politics during times of war. Though relying on just television

and music isnt how whole movements are formed, their words inspire actions that can

shape politics. How news is covered and the biases they display sincerely influenced how

the public viewed the Vietnam War, which is a use of freedom of press in the 1st

amendment of the Constitution and will continue to shape future wars. Music

additionally is a way to popularize a message, like Green Days message in American

Idiot going far enough to shape national election polls. In time, pop culture may gain or

lose significance, but with Kanye West promising to run for president in the future, I

dont think itll lose significance anytime soon.