Jack Shafer: Vietnam Vets Were Spit On, say angry readers of Slate
The idea that Vietnam veterans returning from the war were spat upon by protesters is fixed in many minds, notably the score of readers who e-mailed me to dispute my Jan. 30 column that declared the story an "urban myth." They know vets got spat on because it happened to them, they wrote.
Also taking exception to my piece were Dan Riehl at the NewsBusters blog, Jim Lindgren at the Volokh Conspiracy, and others. My piece took the stand—following Jerry Lembcke's 1998 book, Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam—that the spit stories began to proliferate in 1980 or thereabouts. (For a thumbnail of Lembcke's argument, see this paper.) But both Riehl and Lindgren helpfully point to several mentions of spat-on vets published or broadcast during the Vietnam era.
Indeed, the spit meme was in circulation well before that. Former Defense Department official Alfred B. Fitt wrote a Sept. 15, 1971, Washington Post opinion piece about the divisiveness of the war in which he concluded, "You can't be fond of being spat upon, either literally or figuratively, just because of the uniform you're wearing." In a Nov. 30, 1971, New York Times op-ed, Army magazine Editor in Chief L. James Binder wrote, "The uniform of [Army] soldiers is spat upon in the streets and its wearers are denounced in public places as 'war criminal.' " A June 9, 1971, op-ed (whose provenance I cannot vouch for) states that veteran Jim Minarik claims to have been "twice spat upon" as well as "denied restaurant service" because of his uniform. (The op-ed is posted in the comment section of this Web site.)
There's more. The Television News Archive lists an abstract from a Dec. 27, 1971, CBS Evening News segment in which returning vet Delmar Pickett tells of being spat upon in Seattle. (I've ordered a copy of the segment and will write about it upon receipt.)
Alas, none of the leads provided to me by readers contains anything that confirms that the incidents took place: I've yet to locate a news account that documents a specific spit altercation or a police or court paper trail that would back the accusations. Of course, the lack of a newspaper clip or a criminal justice filing doesn't prove that no vet got spat on when he returned. Also, Lindgren writes quite sensibly in his blog item about the inadequacy of search for pre-Nexis newspaper stories. Just because I can't find the stories doesn't mean they don't exist. Likewise, the two-score e-mails I've received from vets who pshaw the spit stories and say they and their comrades experienced no hassles upon return doesn't prove nobody ever got spit on....
Read entire article at Slate
Also taking exception to my piece were Dan Riehl at the NewsBusters blog, Jim Lindgren at the Volokh Conspiracy, and others. My piece took the stand—following Jerry Lembcke's 1998 book, Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam—that the spit stories began to proliferate in 1980 or thereabouts. (For a thumbnail of Lembcke's argument, see this paper.) But both Riehl and Lindgren helpfully point to several mentions of spat-on vets published or broadcast during the Vietnam era.
Indeed, the spit meme was in circulation well before that. Former Defense Department official Alfred B. Fitt wrote a Sept. 15, 1971, Washington Post opinion piece about the divisiveness of the war in which he concluded, "You can't be fond of being spat upon, either literally or figuratively, just because of the uniform you're wearing." In a Nov. 30, 1971, New York Times op-ed, Army magazine Editor in Chief L. James Binder wrote, "The uniform of [Army] soldiers is spat upon in the streets and its wearers are denounced in public places as 'war criminal.' " A June 9, 1971, op-ed (whose provenance I cannot vouch for) states that veteran Jim Minarik claims to have been "twice spat upon" as well as "denied restaurant service" because of his uniform. (The op-ed is posted in the comment section of this Web site.)
There's more. The Television News Archive lists an abstract from a Dec. 27, 1971, CBS Evening News segment in which returning vet Delmar Pickett tells of being spat upon in Seattle. (I've ordered a copy of the segment and will write about it upon receipt.)
Alas, none of the leads provided to me by readers contains anything that confirms that the incidents took place: I've yet to locate a news account that documents a specific spit altercation or a police or court paper trail that would back the accusations. Of course, the lack of a newspaper clip or a criminal justice filing doesn't prove that no vet got spat on when he returned. Also, Lindgren writes quite sensibly in his blog item about the inadequacy of search for pre-Nexis newspaper stories. Just because I can't find the stories doesn't mean they don't exist. Likewise, the two-score e-mails I've received from vets who pshaw the spit stories and say they and their comrades experienced no hassles upon return doesn't prove nobody ever got spit on....