American intervention in Vietnam began with a
             generation of boys born to the veterans of the second
             World War. Boys who lived in the afterglow and dreamed
             of the glory. Patriotism was thick in a country who
             came out of the second great war stronger than it had
             entered. We were unbeatable. America had survived to
             continue it's fight against injustice and for liberty.
             The new fight was against communism.
             The war might never have taken place had the
             United States aided Ho Chi Minh in the fight to
             liberate Vietnam from the French, a fight the Americans
             had experienced themselves not all that long ago. In
             light of France being an ally the United Stated did not
             see their way clear to assist a colony from French
             Philip Caputo's book, "A Rumor of War" is full of
             painful honesty about the fighting in the jungles of
             Vietnam. The boys from working class families were
             doing the fighting and the dying in a land ten thousand
             miles from home. Caputo speaks of a nation divided in
             it's opinion on the war and the soldiers who fought in
             Born on the Fourth of July tells the story of the
             return of a Vietnam veteran. The country the veterans
             returned to was one that wasn't proud of it's soldiers,
             nor was it grateful for the sacrifice they made. They
             came back to a community that was largely disgusted
             Taken together, the book and the film tell a great
             deal about the impact the war had on Americans.
             Considering that hindsight is 20/20, the reasons seem
             obvious now. On one hand, the military is creating a
             favorable report from the field to make it appear as if
             the war will soon be over, the newsmedia is flooding
             television with images of burning villas and dead
             civilians and the politicians keep insisting they are
             ...