Editing Vietnam War (section)

====Myths==== <!-- Redirect target of [[Mythology of the Vietnam War]] and [[Vietnam War myths]] -->
{{See also|Myth of the spat-on Vietnam veteran|Vietnam stab-in-the-back myth}}
Myths play a role in the [[historiography]] of the war, and have become part of the [[culture of the United States]]. Discussion of myth has focused on US experiences, but changing myths of war have played a role in Vietnamese and Australian historiography. Scholarship has focused on "myth-busting",<ref name="Milam">{{Cite book |last=Milam |first=Ron |title=Not A Gentleman's War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8078-3712-2}}</ref>{{Rp|373}} attacking orthodox and revisionist schools of American historiography, and challenging myths about American society and soldiery in the war.<ref name="Milam" />{{Rp|373}}

Kuzmarov in ''The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs'' challenges the popular and Hollywood narrative that US soldiers were heavy drug users,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kuzmarov |first=Jeremy |title=The Myth of the Addicted Army: Vietnam and the Modern War on Drugs |publisher=Univ of Massachusetts Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-55849-705-4 |pages=[{{GBurl|id=qDbtvEIxWigC|dq=nixon+%22tide+of+drug+abuse%22|p=3}} 3–4]}}</ref> in particular the notion that the My Lai massacre was caused by drug use.<ref name=Milam/>{{Rp|373}} According to Kuzmarov, Nixon is primarily responsible for creating the drug myth.<ref name=Milam/>{{Rp|374}} Michael Allen accuses Nixon of mythmaking, by exploiting the plight of the [[National League of POW/MIA Families]] to allow the government to appear caring, as the war was increasingly considered lost.<ref name=Milam/>{{Rp|376}} Allen's analysis ties the position of potential missing Americans, or prisoners into post-war politics and presidential elections, including the [[Swift Vets and POWs for Truth|Swift boat]] controversy.<ref name=Milam/>{{Rp|376–377}}