Vietnam War

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• SOURCE: The Baffler
  6/17/2023
  

  Daniel Ellsberg's Moral Courage Was Unsparing, Even of Himself

  by Erik Baker

  Turning against Vietnam wasn't Daniel Ellsberg's great moral achievement. That was his realization that he had to choose between moral conviction and maintaining his place in the ranks of elite decisionmakers. 

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• SOURCE: Jacobin
  5/25/2023
  

  "Salts" are Part of Labor's Fight to Organize. They were once Part of the Antiwar Movement

  by Derek Seidman

  Taking a job with the covert intention of organizing the workplace is a time-honored labor tactic that's back in the news. Some dedicated activists in the 1960s "salted" the U.S. military in the hopes of building an antiwar movement within the ranks. 

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• 5/14/2023
  

  How a Little-Known Anti-Vietnam Protest Reverberates Today

  by Gary B. Ostrower

  A 1968 disruption of an ROTC ceremony at Alfred University in 1968 involved just 15 students and 2 faculty. It won't be remembered with Berkeley or Columbia in the annals of student protest, but it made a significant impact on the legal requirements placed on universities' policies for dealing with student protest. 

• 
• SOURCE: CBS
  4/30/2023
  

  As a Massachusetts Museum Exhibits Parts of "Hanoi Hilton," Survivors Reflect

  Salvaged remnants of the POW camp have been reconstructed by the American Heritage Museum in Massachusetts. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  4/20/2023
  

  The Documents Daniel Ellsberg Didn't Leak

  While famous for leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971, the researcher and activist has revealed that he had another stash of secret papers—about American nuclear war planning—that he felt a duty to publicize. He never did release them, but is committed in his last days to work against nuclear war. 

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• 4/2/2023
  

  50 Years Later: Eyewitness to the Last Day of US Military Command in Vietnam

  by Arnold Isaacs

  In this excerpt, a journalist observes the tragicomic exit of the last US military command in Vietnam 50 years ago on March 29, 1973.

• 
• SOURCE: London Review of Books
  3/1/2023
  

  Review: The Unfinished Business of "Double V"

  by Eric Foner

  Eric Foner considers recent books on racism in the military in World War II and in Vietnam. 

• 
• 1/29/2023
  

  No Golden Anniversary for the Paris Peace Accords

  by Arnold R. Isaacs

  While the West observes January 27 as the anniversary of the agreement, it was already January 28 in Vietnam when the accords took effect, a telling symbol of the disjunction between American and Vietnamese views of the conflict and its stakes that contributed to their tragic failure. 

• 
• 1/29/2023
  

  50 Years After the Paris Accords: How the US Lost, then Won, in Vietnam

  by Robert Buzzanco

  As Vietnam becomes increasingly integrated into global capitalism, the temptation to identify a long-term victory for American interests in southeast Asia should be tempered by awareness of the massive human cost paid by the Vietnamese. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Baffler
  12/14/2022
  

  Why the POW-MIA Flag Now Flies Over America

  by John Thomason

  The mandate to fly the black banner over many government buildings across the nation reflects the organized power of a New Right faction that crafted a myth of soldiers left behind to air broader cultural grievances about militarism, masculinity, and a supposedly wayward nation. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/6/2022
  

  Don Luce, Activist Against Vietnam War, Dies at 88

  Luce helped expose the torture and human rights abuses carried out by the government of South Vietnam, and campaigned against the war after being expelled from South Vietnam as an aid worker. 

• 
• 12/4/2022
  

  Farewell, Brother Staughton

  by Carl Mirra

  Staughton Lynd was always in the trenches fighting for a better world, and for that he remains a “admirable radical” and, for that matter, a beautiful person.

• 
• 11/6/2022
  

  Russian Soldiers' Calls Home Echo Moral Injury Testimony of Vietnam Vets

  by Elise Lemire

  Translations of intercepted calls from Russian soliders in Ukraine reveal guilt, shame, anger, and loss of faith in national institutions and leadership that echo the testimony of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Will these veterans help launch resistance to Russian militarism? 

• 
• SOURCE: Tropics of Meta
  10/21/2022
  

  Screaming Past Each Other at Christmas: Debating the End of the Vietnam War

  by Ryan Reft

  In December 1972 the United States launched a massive bombing campaign, notionally to force the North back to the bargaining table and secure an "honorable" peace. The fierce debate between Anthony Lewis and Robert Conquest over the merits of that reasoning would resonate for years. 

• 
• 10/23/2022
  

  After 50 Years, the Truth About the Vietnam Peace Agreement Remains Elusive

  by Arnold Isaacs

  In October 1972, Henry Kissinger declared "peace is at hand" in Vietnam. Why, then, did the United States continue bombing North Vietnam? Official deception still colors American foreign policy and military strategy today. 

• 
• SOURCE: Columbia News
  8/13/2022
  

  A Columbia Prof. Fact-Checked the New Vietnam-Era Film "The Greatest Beer Run Ever"

  Although it tells the story of American protagonists, Prof. Lien-Hang Nguyen worked with the producers to ensure accuracy and avoid stereotyping in the depiction of Vietnamese characters in the film; she susggests that there are many more Vietnamese stories to tell. 

• 
• 5/1/2022
  

  1968: A Year of Dashed Hopes

  by Walter G. Moss

  While people seek to confront life's challenges with hope and courage and banish fear and doubt, some years, like 1968, don't make that easy. 

• 
• 5/1/2022
  

  Ukraine Evokes Past "Eve of Destruction"

  by Richard Aquila

  In 1960s America, popular songs gradually roused the conscience of many Americans against the war in Vietnam. What forces might make Russia (as well as Ukraine and the west) push away from the brink of unthinkable acts mass destruction? 

• 
• SOURCE: Substack
  4/20/2022
  

  What Did We Do in Indochina? Robert Buzzanco Interviewed

  "There’s widespread politically useful misinformation about the war. And there’s also widespread liberal apologetics for the war."

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  2/16/2022
  

  When Eartha Kitt Disrupted the Ladies Who Lunch

  In 1968, real life imitated "Batman" as the Catwoman actress broke the veneer of politeness at a luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson to denounce the war against Vietnam. But while Catwoman always got away, Kitt's career was destroyed for a decade.