Rocky Marciano and the Little Engine that Could

Hearts and Minds asserts that a cultural obsession with winning was one of the main influences upon the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. Although this view is never explicitly stated by anyone in the film, Peter Davis presents his case clearly, first through repetition and later by sharply decontextualized content.

By including numerous interview excerpts in which top US leaders from throughout the Vietnam era invoke such concepts as ‘winning’ and ‘victory,’ Davis makes it clear that he is trying to draw attention to a specific attitude which is common to that group. From the documentary’s broader framework, we can easily infer that Davis’ purpose is to explore the relationship between this attitude and the course of America’s involvement in Vietnam.

The holistic context of the film, in which the war in Vietnam is examined from a wide set of perspectives, can be best summarized as the posing of one giant, “Why?” Or, to use the parlance of our times- WTF? Why did many American leaders, military and civilian, so consistently determine that the best way to deal with the communist revolution in Vietnam was to drop more bombs and send in more troops? Because they wanted to win.

Once Davis has clearly revealed the pervasiveness of the obsession with winning among such American leaders, he reveals this obsession's source with equal clarity. Where did William Westmoreland, Lyndon B. Johnson, and George S. Patton III get this insatiable desire for winning? From high school football.

After seeing reels of jarring explosions and hearing translated anecdotes from elderly female torture victims, our view shifts abruptly to a pastor delivering a cheesy pep talk, on the eve of the big game, to a group of healthy, fastidiously groomed, All-American young men. Later we witness the aggressive energy, bordering upon mania, of a high school football coach, as he addresses his team in the locker room.

Immediately after seeing the coach slap and punch several of his players, exhorting them to avoid defeat at all costs, our view shifts to cheerleaders, referees, a cheering crowd.
We see complicity: Westmoreland, Johnson, and Patton are not a few crazy bastards who just happened to occupy positions of great power at the same time. It turns out the obsession with winning is a fundamental part of the modern American spirit.

Regardless of how convoluted its reasons for fighting a war in Vietnam may have been in the first place, the American goal was clear—to win.