I spent some time researching the Big – 3 magazines: Life, Time and Newsweek, to see what their covers looked like during the years of the Vietnam War. I managed to collect over a hundred, which include Vietnam War photos or faces of those important people who were tied to the war effort at that time; all are posted below in chronological order. It’s interesting to note the volume of coverage during the early part of the war and then again during the final months – and also seeing how the photos and headlines had changed over the years. I also found it odd that very little was published about the 1968 Tet Offensive and found only two covers.
The 60’s were a decade of war, demonstrations, and other cultural changes – a time when censorship was challenged, and everybody pushed the envelope to see what they could get away with. The Vietnam War was the biggest event of my generation and the press exploited it. News reports brought the war right into our living rooms every evening during the dinner hour, while weekly magazines, some with vivid photos of the war – a constant reminder as they collected on our coffee tables. Photographers, both male and female, traveled with the troops in the jungles and rice paddies, taking pictures at every opportunity; all showed the mud, blood, horror and brutality of war, rushing the rolls of film to the states in hopes of making the next issue.
Many journalists and photographers lost their lives in Vietnam while in the bush covering the war, those on the top of my head are Larry Burrows, Dickey Chapelle, Bernard Fall and Errol Flynn’s son, Sean among others. Unfortunately, most of the stories were depressing and eventually helped sway the public opinion against the war and its warriors. I did not see any covers showing the “uplifting” and “humane” things we accomplished during that war, i.e. orphanages, MedCap, irrigation, village wells, improved roads, medicine, etc., and I didn’t see any pictures of me either. I’ll just have to be content with my photo slide show and personal albums.
While viewing these covers, see if you can tell when the “social shift” begins and leave a comment at the end of this article with your observations about this collection. Enjoy!
October 27, 1961
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April 30, 1962
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May 11, 1962
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January 25, 1963
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October 11, 1963
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November 15, 1963
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March 20, 1964
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June 12, 1964
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August 7, 1964
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August 14, 1964
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August 21, 1964
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November 27, 1964
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February 19, 1965
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February 22, 1965
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April 16, 1965
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May 24, 1965
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July 2, 1965
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July 5, 1965
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July 15, 1965
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August 6, 1965
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August 20, 1965
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February 12, 1965
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October 22, 1965
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October 22, 1965
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November 26, 1965
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January 7, 1966
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January 14, 1966
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February 11, 1966
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February 16, 1966
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February 18, 1966
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April 11, 1966
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February 25, 1966
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June 3, 1966
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July 8, 1966
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October 28, 1966
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November 4, 1966
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January 13, 1967
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January 27, 1967
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March 10, 1967
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April 7, 1967
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May 5, 1967
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May 26, 1967
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August 25, 1967
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August 25, 1967
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October 6, 1967
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October 20, 1967
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October 27, 1967
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October 27, 1967
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February 12, 1968
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February 16, 1968
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March 15, 1968
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March 18, 1968
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March 22, 1968
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April 12, 1968
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April 19, 1968
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August, 1968
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September 7, 1968
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November 8, 1968
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December 16, 1968
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1968 in review
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February 15, 1969
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April 11, 1969
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June 20, 1969
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June 27, 1969
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September 6, 1969
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September 12, 1969
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October 17, 1969
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October 24, 1969
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October 24, 1969
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May 15, 1970
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May 17, 1970
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May 18, 1970
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May 18, 1970
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May 22, 1970
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December 7, 1970
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January 29, 1971
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March 12, 1971
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January 21, 1972
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April 12, 1971
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June 28, 1971
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April 17, 1972
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June 28, 1971
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May 1, 1972
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May 12, 1972
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May 15, 1972
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May 22, 1972
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October 9, 1972
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October 30, 1972
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November 6, 1972
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November 10, 1972
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January 5, 1973
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January 8, 1973
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February 8, 1973
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February 19, 1973
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February 25, 1973
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March 31, 1975
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April 19, 1975
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April 25, 1975
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May 5, 1975
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May 12, 1975
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All of the above photos were obtained from the archive files of Life Magazine, Time Magazine, Newsweek and Google search.
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