Vietnam Veterans Against the War
Encyclopedia
Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) is a tax-exempt non-profit organization
and corporation
, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War
. VVAW describes itself as a national veteran
s' organization
that campaigns
for peace
, justice
, and the right
s of all United States military veterans. It publishes a twice-yearly newsletter
The Veteran, previously published more frequently as 1st Casualty (1971–1972) and then as Winter Soldier (1973–1975).
VVAW considers itself as "anti-war
," although not in the pacifistic
sense. Membership varied greatly, from almost 25,000 veterans during the height of the war to fewer than a couple thousand in subsequent decades. While the member veterans were a small fraction of the millions that served between 1965–75, the VVAW is widely considered to be among the most influential anti-war organizations of that era.
in June, 1967 after they marched together in the April 15, 1967 Spring Mobilization to End the War anti-war
demonstration with over 400,000 other protesters. After talking to members of the Veterans for Peace group at that march, Barry discovered there was no organization representing Vietnam veterans.
The VVAW's website summarizes its history, in part indicating that:
According to the organization itself, VVAW organized rap groups for veterans in 1970, the predecessor to readjustment counseling at modern Vet Centers. Their website goes on to indicate that they helped draft legislation for education and job programs, and assisted veterans with post-war health care through the VA
hospital system, including assisting victims of Agent Orange
and other chemical agents. The VVAW advocated amnesty for war resisters.
The fluctuating membership size of this organization has been a point of some confusion, with some sources claiming it peaked at over 20,000 and others claiming it never exceeded several thousand. Several historic events would serve to fuel the organization's rapid growth as well as its decline in membership. The organization remained small until late 1969 when it gained several hundred new members. With the Nixon administration's decision to invade Cambodia and the Kent State shootings
in 1970, VVAW's visibility increased, as did their membership, from 1,500 to almost 5000. Publicity from VVAW-sponsored events continued to spur membership growth past 8,500 by the first month of 1971, and thousands more flocked to the organization after Playboy Magazine donated a full-page VVAW ad in its February edition. An FBI
informant within the organization notes in March, 1971 that membership had grown from 1,500 to over 12,000 in the past four months. The national televised coverage of VVAW's week-long April, 1971 protest in Washington, DC, and smaller protests in subsequent months continued to increase their notoriety. By 1971, the group had grown to 20,000 members. The organization itself claims a peak membership of over 30,000. Including non-veterans, VVAW had "roughly 50,000" members. By 1972, negotiations at the Paris peace talks were in full swing, signaling the beginning of the end of the war as well as the end of VVAW's primary mission. Membership in the organization diminished as the leadership organised to broaden its purpose. Membership requirements were relaxed, and political differences arose as new members fought with old about which direction the VVAW should take. The organization had dwindled to just several thousand members by 1973. With internal struggle still threatening to tear the group apart, 2,000 members demonstrated in Washington DC in July 1974, demanding universal amnesty for draft resisters and deserters, and universal discharge with benefits for all Vietnam veterans.
Historian Andrew E. Hunt concluded, "Detractors have always cited numbers when criticizing VVAW. At the pinnacle of VVAW's success in 1972, membership rolls listed almost twenty-five thousand card carriers, or fewer than 1 percent of all eligible Vietnam era veterans... By emphasizing the low percentage of Vietnam veterans who paid dues to VVAW, opponents have sought to dismiss the significance and impact of the organization."
s, the march was designed to dramatize a Vietnam-type search and destroy
mission to the Middle America they passed through. Upon entering each town along the march, sweeps were made, prisoners taken and interrogated, property seized and homes cleared with the assistance of previously planted "guerrilla theater" actors portraying civilians. The 86 mile long march culminated in a four hour rally at Valley Forge that over 1,500 people attended. The honorary commander during this event was retired Army Brigadier General Hugh B. Hester
. Sponsors included Senators George McGovern
and Edmund Muskie
, Rep. John Conyers
, Paul O'Dwyer
, Mark Lane
, and Donald Sutherland
. Scheduled speakers were John Kerry
, Joe Kennedy, Rev. James Bevel
, Mark Lane
, Jane Fonda
, and Sutherland. Congressman Allard Lowenstein, Mike Lerner
, and Army First Lt. Louis Font also spoke.
to gather and present testimony from soldiers about war crimes being committed in Southeast Asia and demonstrate they were committed as a result of American war policies. Intended as a public event, it was boycotted by much of the mainstream media, although the Detroit Free Press covered it daily and immediately began investigating what was being said. No records of fraudulent participants or fraudulent testimony were produced.
Veterans applying for participation in the investigation were asked if they witnessed or participated in a list of transgressions, including search and destroy
missions, crop destruction, and POW mistreatment.
This event was estimated to have cost the VVAW $50,000–$75,000. It was financially supported by the fund-raising efforts of several celebrity peace activists, with actress Jane Fonda
soliciting over $10,000 in donations at 54 college campuses for the VVAW. Winter Soldier Investigation testimonies were read into the Congressional Record by Senator Hatfield. In 1972, VVAW continued antiwar protests, and released Winter Soldier
, a 16mm black-and-white
documentary film
showing participants giving testimony at the 1971 hearing, as well as footage of the Dewey Canyon III week of protest events. This film is currently on limited distribution and is now available on DVD.
Led by Gold Star Mothers (mothers of soldiers killed in war), more than 1,100 veterans marched across the Lincoln Memorial Bridge to the Arlington Cemetery
gate, just beneath the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
. A memorial service for their peers was conducted by Reverend Jackson H. Day, who had just a few days earlier resigned his military chaplainship. In addition to his passages of scripture and citations of poetry was a personal statement, including the following:
The Gold Star Mothers and a few others approached the cemetery gate to enter and lay wreaths, but the gate had been closed and locked upon word of their impending arrival. They placed the wreaths instead along the gate, and peacefully departed.
The march re-formed and continued to the Capitol, with Congressman Pete McCloskey
joining the procession en route. McCloskey and fellow Representatives Bella Abzug
, Donald Edwards, Shirley Chisholm
, Edmund Muskie
and Ogden Reid
addressed the large crowd in a show of support. VVAW members defied a Justice Department-ordered injunction that they not camp on The Mall and set up camp anyway. Later that day, the District Court of Appeals lifted the injunction. Some members personally visited their Congressmen to lobby against the U.S. participation in the war. They presented Congress with their 16-point suggested resolution for ending the war in Vietnam.
On Tuesday, April 20, 200 veterans listened to hearings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on proposals to end the war. Other veterans, still angry at the insult to the Gold Star Mothers when they were refused entry to Arlington National Cemetery the previous day, marched back to the front gate. After initial refusal of entry, the veterans were finally allowed in. Veterans performed guerrilla theater on the Capitol steps, re-enacting combat scenes and search and destroy missions from Vietnam. Later that evening, Democratic Senators Claiborne Pell
and Philip Hart
held a fund-raising party for the veterans. During the party it was announced that Chief Justice Warren Burger of the United States Supreme Court had reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstated the injunction. The veterans were given until 4:30 the following afternoon to break camp and leave the National Mall. This was the fastest reversal of an Appeals Court decision in the Supreme Court's history.
On Wednesday, April 21, more than 50 veterans marched to The Pentagon
and attempted to surrender and turn themselves in as war criminals. A Pentagon representative took their names and then turned them away. More veterans continued to meet with and lobby their representatives in Congress. Senator Ted Kennedy
spent the day speaking with the veterans. The guerrilla theater re-enactments were moved to the steps of the Justice Department. After a close vote by the veterans, they decided to remain where they were. Many of the veterans were prepared to be arrested for continuing to camp on the National Mall, but none were arrested. Several of the patrolling park police officers reassured the veterans that arrests were not going to be made, despite orders to do so. Headlines the following day read, "VETS OVERRULE SUPREME COURT."
On Thursday, April 22, a large group of veterans demonstrated on the steps of the Supreme Court, and demanded to know why the Supreme Court had not ruled on the constitutionality of the war in Vietnam. The veterans sang "God Bless America" and 110 were arrested for disturbing the peace, and were later released. John Kerry
, as VVAW spokesman, testified against the war for 2 hours in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before a packed room of observers and media. The veterans continued lobbying on Capitol Hill all day. A Washington District Court judge angrily dissolved his injunction order, rebuking the Justice Department lawyers for requesting the court order and then not enforcing it. Veterans staged a candlelight march around the White House, while a huge American flag was carried upside down in the historic international signal of distress.
On Friday, April 23, more than 800 veterans, one by one, tossed their medals, ribbons, discharge papers and other war mementos on the steps of the Capitol
, rejecting the Vietnam war and the significance of those awards. Several hearings in Congress were held that week regarding atrocities committed in Vietnam and the media's inaccurate coverage of the war. There were also hearings on proposals to end the United States' participation in the war. The vets planted a tree on the mall as part of a ceremony symbolizing the veterans' wish to preserve life and the environment.
Senators George McGovern
and Mark Hatfield
helped arrange at least $50,000 in fundraising during preparations for Dewey Canyon III. The VVAW paid $94,000 for an ad to advertise this event in the April 11, 1971 New York Times.
. The event sought to tie antiwar activism to patriotic themes. Over the 1971 Memorial Day
weekend, veterans and other participants marched from Concord, Massachusetts
to a rally on Boston Common. The plan was to invoke the spirit of the American Revolution
and Paul Revere
by spending successive nights at the sites of the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill
, culminating in a Memorial Day rally with a public reading of the United States Declaration of Independence
.
The event organizers requested permission in advance to camp overnight on the historic Lexington, Massachusetts
Green, but were refused by the town Board of Selectmen. On the day of the marchers' arrival in Lexington, an emergency town meeting was held. The Selectmen, citing a town bylaw, insisted that the demonstrators must vacate the Green by 10:00 p.m. The VVAW and town citizens that supported them decided instead to camp on the village green. At 2:30 a.m. on May 30, local and state police awoke and arrested 441 demonstrators for trespassing. All were given the Miranda warning
and were taken away on school buses to spend the night at the Lexington Public Works Garage. Julian Soshnick
, a Lexington resident and charismatic lawyer of Boston Strangler
fame, was among several attorneys that volunteered to represent the demonstrators. He worked out a deal with friend, colleague, and Concord Court Judge, John Forte. The protesters later paid a $5 fine each and were released. The mass arrests caused a community backlash and eventually gave positive coverage to the VVAW.
for two days in a successful attempt to bring attention to the antiwar cause. Simultaneous protests took place across the country, such as at the historic Betsy Ross
house in Philadelphia (for 45 minutes) and Travis Air Force Base
in California (for 12 hours). Other VVAW members in California also briefly occupied the Saigon Government consulate in San Francisco. VVAW occupied the Statue of Liberty a second time in 1976 to bring renewed attention to veteran issues.
on November 12–15, 1971, Scott Camil
, a radical VVAW southern coordinator, proposed the assassination of the most conservative members of United States Congress
, and other powerful opponents of the antiwar movement.
According to interviews with VVAW members who were present at the Kansas City meetings, Camil suggested something he called "The Phoenix Project," named after the original Phoenix Program
operations during the Vietnam War used by the CIA to assassinate the Viet Cong. Originally conceived as an option during the protest march in Washington, Camil's Phoenix Project plan was to execute the Southern senatorial leadership that was backing the war, including John Tower
, Strom Thurmond
, and John Stennis. In Camil's words:
The proposed assassinations were to be executed during the Senate Christmas recess. The plan was voted down, although there's a "difference of opinion" as to how close the vote was. It is unclear whether 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry was present for this meeting. His campaign indicated he was not there and had resigned from the organization by then. He continued to speak at anti-war events for several more months.
for draft
resisters and dissenters. President Jimmy Carter
eventually granted an amnesty in 1980.
There were two significant battles fought simultaneously by VVAW after the fighting in Vietnam ended in 1975, that of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Agent Orange
.
As VVAW gained members in the late '60s they realized that many veterans were having readjustment problems. As early as 1970 VVAW initiated "rap groups" in which veterans could discuss the troubling aspects of the war, their disillusionment with it, and their experiences on arriving home. They enlisted the aid of two prominent psychiatrists, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton
and Dr. Chaim F. Shatan
to direct and add focus to their sessions. Their continued pressure and activism caused what had been known as "Post-Vietnam Syndrome" to be recognized in 1980 as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The VVAW "rap group" treatment methods are the basis for treating PTSD today.
In 1978 Chicago Veterans Administration caseworker Maude de Victor noticed a pattern in cancers and other illnesses suffered by Vietnam veterans and linked those illnesses with exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange, and its dioxin contaminants. VVAW led veterans organizations in the struggle to force the government to test, treat and compensate the victims of those poisons. Congress mandated a study of Agent Orange in 1979. Veterans sued the herbicide manufacturers, Dow Chemical and Monsanto, in 1982. Two years later the companies settled the suit for $180 million to compensate what at that time was over 200,000 claimants.
These were lonely campaigns since the "main stream" veterans groups regarded Vietnam veterans as "crybabies and losers" in general, and VVAW in particular was seen as being unpatriotic and anti-American. A natural ally, Vietnam Veterans of America
, was not founded by VVAW member Robert Muller until 1978. It was not until 1990 that the American Legion and VVA filed suit against the government for failing to conduct the study ordered by Congress in 1979.
Several members moved on to prominent positions in society. In 1978 former VVAW member Bobby Muller
co-founded the Vietnam Veterans of America
. Former member John Kerry
became Lt. Governor of Massachusetts in 1982, and won a United States Senate seat in 1984. Ron Kovic
went on to write Born on the Fourth of July
, an autobiography which became an Academy Award winning movie in 1989.
Every five years, members and former members attend regular reunions, with the 1992 event attracting hundreds of veterans to commemorate the founding of the organization twenty five years earlier. VVAW continues to organize programs and fundraising events in support of veterans, peace, and social justice. ”
(VVAW-AI) is not a faction, caucus or part of VVAW. The VVAW web site describes VVAW-AI as "the creation of an obscure, ultra-left sect called the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) ... designed to pimp off of VVAW's history of struggle." In the mid-1970s, as VVAW membership severely dropped after the end of the war, members of Bob Avakian
's militant RCP were able to gain influential positions in the VVAW, including the National Office. A rift in the remaining membership formed due to the opposed ideologies, and the RCP group formed a separate organization, Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist (VVAW-AI). VVAW filed and won a lawsuit prohibiting the RCP group from using the VVAW name, logos and materials.
In 1973, after months of heated debate, the VVAW changed the name of the organization to VVAW/WSO (Winter Soldier Organization), and opened its membership to non-veterans as a remedy to its diminishing size. With these relaxed membership requirements, members of ultra-left factions like Bob Avakian's
militant Revolutionary Union were able to join VVAW, ultimately leading to a takeover of the VVAW’s National Office and steering committee. By 1975, the RCP cadre had managed to obtain many key leadership positions in the organization, and tried to control the splintered organization. A rift in the remaining membership formed due to the opposed ideologies, and the RCP group splintered off to form a smaller separate organization, Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist (VVAW-AI). With the radical fringe elements influence removed, VVAW dropped the WSO from their name, won the court injunction against the radical group and struggled to rebuild. Deep animosity still exists between the two organizations.
The organization survived the conflict with the RCP and its general decline after the end of the Vietnam War, but as historian Andrew Hunt put it, only as “an ineffectual fragment of its former self. ...VVAW never ceased to exist. It split, dwindled, and underwent additional transformation. Yet it did not fold.”
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
and corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. VVAW describes itself as a national veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
s' organization
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
that campaigns
Advertising campaign
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...
for peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
, justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
, and the right
Right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
s of all United States military veterans. It publishes a twice-yearly newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
The Veteran, previously published more frequently as 1st Casualty (1971–1972) and then as Winter Soldier (1973–1975).
VVAW considers itself as "anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
," although not in the pacifistic
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
sense. Membership varied greatly, from almost 25,000 veterans during the height of the war to fewer than a couple thousand in subsequent decades. While the member veterans were a small fraction of the millions that served between 1965–75, the VVAW is widely considered to be among the most influential anti-war organizations of that era.
History
VVAW was founded by six Vietnam war veterans, including Jan "Barry" Crumb, Mark Donnelly, and David Braum, in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in June, 1967 after they marched together in the April 15, 1967 Spring Mobilization to End the War anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
demonstration with over 400,000 other protesters. After talking to members of the Veterans for Peace group at that march, Barry discovered there was no organization representing Vietnam veterans.
The VVAW's website summarizes its history, in part indicating that:
According to the organization itself, VVAW organized rap groups for veterans in 1970, the predecessor to readjustment counseling at modern Vet Centers. Their website goes on to indicate that they helped draft legislation for education and job programs, and assisted veterans with post-war health care through the VA
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
hospital system, including assisting victims of Agent Orange
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
and other chemical agents. The VVAW advocated amnesty for war resisters.
The fluctuating membership size of this organization has been a point of some confusion, with some sources claiming it peaked at over 20,000 and others claiming it never exceeded several thousand. Several historic events would serve to fuel the organization's rapid growth as well as its decline in membership. The organization remained small until late 1969 when it gained several hundred new members. With the Nixon administration's decision to invade Cambodia and the Kent State shootings
Kent State shootings
The Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
in 1970, VVAW's visibility increased, as did their membership, from 1,500 to almost 5000. Publicity from VVAW-sponsored events continued to spur membership growth past 8,500 by the first month of 1971, and thousands more flocked to the organization after Playboy Magazine donated a full-page VVAW ad in its February edition. An FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
informant within the organization notes in March, 1971 that membership had grown from 1,500 to over 12,000 in the past four months. The national televised coverage of VVAW's week-long April, 1971 protest in Washington, DC, and smaller protests in subsequent months continued to increase their notoriety. By 1971, the group had grown to 20,000 members. The organization itself claims a peak membership of over 30,000. Including non-veterans, VVAW had "roughly 50,000" members. By 1972, negotiations at the Paris peace talks were in full swing, signaling the beginning of the end of the war as well as the end of VVAW's primary mission. Membership in the organization diminished as the leadership organised to broaden its purpose. Membership requirements were relaxed, and political differences arose as new members fought with old about which direction the VVAW should take. The organization had dwindled to just several thousand members by 1973. With internal struggle still threatening to tear the group apart, 2,000 members demonstrated in Washington DC in July 1974, demanding universal amnesty for draft resisters and deserters, and universal discharge with benefits for all Vietnam veterans.
Historian Andrew E. Hunt concluded, "Detractors have always cited numbers when criticizing VVAW. At the pinnacle of VVAW's success in 1972, membership rolls listed almost twenty-five thousand card carriers, or fewer than 1 percent of all eligible Vietnam era veterans... By emphasizing the low percentage of Vietnam veterans who paid dues to VVAW, opponents have sought to dismiss the significance and impact of the organization."
Operation RAW
During the Labor Day weekend of September 4–7, 1970, Operation RAW ("Rapid American Withdrawal") took place. It was a three day protest march from Morristown, NJ, to Valley Forge State Park by over 200 veterans. They were joined by members of "Nurses for Peace" and other peace groups. Dressed in combat fatigues and carrying toy weaponToy weapon
Toy weapons are toys that mimic real weapons, but are designed to be fun for children to play with and not dangerous.-Types of toy weapons:Some are essentially similar to the real thing, but less powerful. Weapons for cutting and stabbing have dull blades usually in plastic. Weapons formerly made...
s, the march was designed to dramatize a Vietnam-type search and destroy
Search and destroy
Search and Destroy, Seek and Destroy, or even simply S&D, refers to a military strategy that became a notorious component of the Vietnam War. The idea was to insert ground forces into hostile territory, search out the enemy, destroy them, and withdraw immediately afterward...
mission to the Middle America they passed through. Upon entering each town along the march, sweeps were made, prisoners taken and interrogated, property seized and homes cleared with the assistance of previously planted "guerrilla theater" actors portraying civilians. The 86 mile long march culminated in a four hour rally at Valley Forge that over 1,500 people attended. The honorary commander during this event was retired Army Brigadier General Hugh B. Hester
Hugh B. Hester
Hugh Bryan Hester was an Army Brigadier General born in Hester, North Carolina. He was a decorated officer in both World Wars. Later in life, he was a noted critic of U.S. foreign policy.-Education and career:...
. Sponsors included Senators George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
and Edmund Muskie
Edmund Muskie
Edmund Sixtus "Ed" Muskie was an American politician from Rumford, Maine. He served as Governor of Maine from 1955 to 1959, as a member of the United States Senate from 1959 to 1980, and as Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter from 1980 to 1981...
, Rep. John Conyers
John Conyers
John Conyers, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1965 . He is a member of the Democratic Party...
, Paul O'Dwyer
Paul O'Dwyer
Paul O'Dwyer was an American politician and lawyer, brother of Mayor William O'Dwyer and father to New York City lawyer Brian O'Dwyer .-Life:...
, Mark Lane
Mark Lane (author)
Mark Lane is an American lawyer who has written many books, including Rush to Judgment, one of two major books published in the immediate wake of the John F. Kennedy assassination that questioned the conclusions of the Warren Commission. Another book, Plausible Denial, published in 1991, continued...
, and Donald Sutherland
Donald Sutherland
Donald McNichol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian actor with a film career spanning nearly 50 years. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, , MASH , and Kelly's Heroes , as well as in such popular films as Klute, Invasion of the...
. Scheduled speakers were John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, Joe Kennedy, Rev. James Bevel
James Bevel
James L. Bevel was an American minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement who, as the Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference initiated, strategized, directed, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era:...
, Mark Lane
Mark Lane (author)
Mark Lane is an American lawyer who has written many books, including Rush to Judgment, one of two major books published in the immediate wake of the John F. Kennedy assassination that questioned the conclusions of the Warren Commission. Another book, Plausible Denial, published in 1991, continued...
, Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, and Sutherland. Congressman Allard Lowenstein, Mike Lerner
Mike Lerner
Mike Lerner is an American metal guitarist best known for his work with Behold... The Arctopus.-Career:Lerner began playing the piano when he was five years old. He attended New York University where he received a degree in jazz composition and also met fellow musician Colin Marston. The two began...
, and Army First Lt. Louis Font also spoke.
Winter Soldier Investigation
In January 1971, VVAW sponsored The Winter Soldier InvestigationWinter Soldier Investigation
The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War from January 31, 1971 – February 2, 1971. It was intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War...
to gather and present testimony from soldiers about war crimes being committed in Southeast Asia and demonstrate they were committed as a result of American war policies. Intended as a public event, it was boycotted by much of the mainstream media, although the Detroit Free Press covered it daily and immediately began investigating what was being said. No records of fraudulent participants or fraudulent testimony were produced.
Veterans applying for participation in the investigation were asked if they witnessed or participated in a list of transgressions, including search and destroy
Search and destroy
Search and Destroy, Seek and Destroy, or even simply S&D, refers to a military strategy that became a notorious component of the Vietnam War. The idea was to insert ground forces into hostile territory, search out the enemy, destroy them, and withdraw immediately afterward...
missions, crop destruction, and POW mistreatment.
This event was estimated to have cost the VVAW $50,000–$75,000. It was financially supported by the fund-raising efforts of several celebrity peace activists, with actress Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
soliciting over $10,000 in donations at 54 college campuses for the VVAW. Winter Soldier Investigation testimonies were read into the Congressional Record by Senator Hatfield. In 1972, VVAW continued antiwar protests, and released Winter Soldier
Winter Soldier (film)
Winter Soldier is a 1972 documentary film chronicling the Winter Soldier Investigation which took place in Detroit, Michigan, from January 31 to February 2, 1971. The film documents the accounts of United States soldiers who returned from Vietnam, and participated in this war crimes hearing.The...
, a 16mm black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
showing participants giving testimony at the 1971 hearing, as well as footage of the Dewey Canyon III week of protest events. This film is currently on limited distribution and is now available on DVD.
Dewey Canyon III - Washington, D.C., April 1971
This peaceful anti-war protest organized by VVAW took its name from two short military invasions of Laos by US and South Vietnamese forces. Dubbed "Operation Dewey Canyon III," it took place in Washington, D.C, April 19 through April 23, 1971. It was referred to by the participants as "a limited incursion into the country of Congress." The level of media publicity and Vietnam veteran participation at the Dewey Canyon week of protest events far exceeded the Winter Soldier Investigation and any previous VVAW protest event.Led by Gold Star Mothers (mothers of soldiers killed in war), more than 1,100 veterans marched across the Lincoln Memorial Bridge to the Arlington Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
gate, just beneath the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Tomb of the Unknowns
The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in the United States...
. A memorial service for their peers was conducted by Reverend Jackson H. Day, who had just a few days earlier resigned his military chaplainship. In addition to his passages of scripture and citations of poetry was a personal statement, including the following:
The Gold Star Mothers and a few others approached the cemetery gate to enter and lay wreaths, but the gate had been closed and locked upon word of their impending arrival. They placed the wreaths instead along the gate, and peacefully departed.
The march re-formed and continued to the Capitol, with Congressman Pete McCloskey
Pete McCloskey
Paul Norton "Pete" McCloskey Jr. is a former Republican politician from the U.S. state of California who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983. He ran on an anti-war platform for the Republican nomination for President in 1972 but was defeated by incumbent President...
joining the procession en route. McCloskey and fellow Representatives Bella Abzug
Bella Abzug
Bella Savitsky Abzug was an American lawyer, Congresswoman, social activist and a leader of the Women's Movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus...
, Donald Edwards, Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was an American politician, educator, and author. She was a Congresswoman, representing New York's 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. In 1968, she became the first black woman elected to Congress...
, Edmund Muskie
Edmund Muskie
Edmund Sixtus "Ed" Muskie was an American politician from Rumford, Maine. He served as Governor of Maine from 1955 to 1959, as a member of the United States Senate from 1959 to 1980, and as Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter from 1980 to 1981...
and Ogden Reid
Ogden R. Reid
Ogden Rogers Reid is a former United States Representative from New York.Reid was born in New York, New York and he graduated from Deerfield Academy and Yale University. He was widely known by his nickname, "Brownie." His family owned the New York Herald Tribune and, before that the New York...
addressed the large crowd in a show of support. VVAW members defied a Justice Department-ordered injunction that they not camp on The Mall and set up camp anyway. Later that day, the District Court of Appeals lifted the injunction. Some members personally visited their Congressmen to lobby against the U.S. participation in the war. They presented Congress with their 16-point suggested resolution for ending the war in Vietnam.
On Tuesday, April 20, 200 veterans listened to hearings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on proposals to end the war. Other veterans, still angry at the insult to the Gold Star Mothers when they were refused entry to Arlington National Cemetery the previous day, marched back to the front gate. After initial refusal of entry, the veterans were finally allowed in. Veterans performed guerrilla theater on the Capitol steps, re-enacting combat scenes and search and destroy missions from Vietnam. Later that evening, Democratic Senators Claiborne Pell
Claiborne Pell
Claiborne de Borda Pell was a United States Senator from Rhode Island, serving six terms from 1961 to 1997, and was best known as the sponsor of the Pell Grant, which provides financial aid funding to U.S. college students. A Democrat, he was that state's longest serving senator.-Early years:Pell...
and Philip Hart
Philip Hart
Philip Aloysius Hart was a Democratic United States Senator from Michigan from 1959 until 1976. He was nicknamed the Conscience of the Senate.-Early years:...
held a fund-raising party for the veterans. During the party it was announced that Chief Justice Warren Burger of the United States Supreme Court had reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstated the injunction. The veterans were given until 4:30 the following afternoon to break camp and leave the National Mall. This was the fastest reversal of an Appeals Court decision in the Supreme Court's history.
On Wednesday, April 21, more than 50 veterans marched to The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
and attempted to surrender and turn themselves in as war criminals. A Pentagon representative took their names and then turned them away. More veterans continued to meet with and lobby their representatives in Congress. Senator Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
spent the day speaking with the veterans. The guerrilla theater re-enactments were moved to the steps of the Justice Department. After a close vote by the veterans, they decided to remain where they were. Many of the veterans were prepared to be arrested for continuing to camp on the National Mall, but none were arrested. Several of the patrolling park police officers reassured the veterans that arrests were not going to be made, despite orders to do so. Headlines the following day read, "VETS OVERRULE SUPREME COURT."
On Thursday, April 22, a large group of veterans demonstrated on the steps of the Supreme Court, and demanded to know why the Supreme Court had not ruled on the constitutionality of the war in Vietnam. The veterans sang "God Bless America" and 110 were arrested for disturbing the peace, and were later released. John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
, as VVAW spokesman, testified against the war for 2 hours in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before a packed room of observers and media. The veterans continued lobbying on Capitol Hill all day. A Washington District Court judge angrily dissolved his injunction order, rebuking the Justice Department lawyers for requesting the court order and then not enforcing it. Veterans staged a candlelight march around the White House, while a huge American flag was carried upside down in the historic international signal of distress.
On Friday, April 23, more than 800 veterans, one by one, tossed their medals, ribbons, discharge papers and other war mementos on the steps of the Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
, rejecting the Vietnam war and the significance of those awards. Several hearings in Congress were held that week regarding atrocities committed in Vietnam and the media's inaccurate coverage of the war. There were also hearings on proposals to end the United States' participation in the war. The vets planted a tree on the mall as part of a ceremony symbolizing the veterans' wish to preserve life and the environment.
Senators George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
and Mark Hatfield
Mark Hatfield
Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States Senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee...
helped arrange at least $50,000 in fundraising during preparations for Dewey Canyon III. The VVAW paid $94,000 for an ad to advertise this event in the April 11, 1971 New York Times.
Walter Reed Memorial Service
In May 1971, the VVAW and former Army chaplain Reverend Jackson Day conducted a service for veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Injured and disabled veterans who were inpatients there were brought into the chapel in wheelchairs. The service included time for individual prayers or public confession, and many veterans took the floor to recount things they had done or seen for which they felt guilt or anger. This was the last service performed by Jackson Day for almost two decades.Operation POW
Operation POW, organized by the VVAW in Massachusetts, got its name from the group's concern that Americans were prisoners of the Vietnam War, as well as to honor American POWs held captive by North VietnamNorth Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
. The event sought to tie antiwar activism to patriotic themes. Over the 1971 Memorial Day
Memorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
weekend, veterans and other participants marched from Concord, Massachusetts
Concord, Massachusetts
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 17,668. Although a small town, Concord is noted for its leading roles in American history and literature.-History:...
to a rally on Boston Common. The plan was to invoke the spirit of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
and Paul Revere
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an American silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, Paul Revere's Ride...
by spending successive nights at the sites of the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War...
, culminating in a Memorial Day rally with a public reading of the United States Declaration of Independence
United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams put forth a...
.
The event organizers requested permission in advance to camp overnight on the historic Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington, Massachusetts
Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,399 at the 2010 census. This town is famous for being the site of the first shot of the American Revolution, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775.- History :...
Green, but were refused by the town Board of Selectmen. On the day of the marchers' arrival in Lexington, an emergency town meeting was held. The Selectmen, citing a town bylaw, insisted that the demonstrators must vacate the Green by 10:00 p.m. The VVAW and town citizens that supported them decided instead to camp on the village green. At 2:30 a.m. on May 30, local and state police awoke and arrested 441 demonstrators for trespassing. All were given the Miranda warning
Miranda warning
The Miranda warning is a warning given by police in the United States to criminal suspects in police custody before they are interrogated to preserve the admissibility of their statements against them in criminal proceedings. In Miranda v...
and were taken away on school buses to spend the night at the Lexington Public Works Garage. Julian Soshnick
Julian Soshnick
Julian Soshnick was born on August 17, 1932 in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised there, Soshnick graduated from high school in Manhattan at age 16. He then attended and graduated Brandeis University and the Boston University School of Law. Drafted in 1957 and shipped out to Germany, he served four...
, a Lexington resident and charismatic lawyer of Boston Strangler
Boston Strangler
The Boston Strangler is a name attributed to the murderer of several women in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, in the early 1960s. Though the crimes were attributed to Albert DeSalvo, investigators of the case have since suggested the murders were not committed by one person.-First Stage...
fame, was among several attorneys that volunteered to represent the demonstrators. He worked out a deal with friend, colleague, and Concord Court Judge, John Forte. The protesters later paid a $5 fine each and were released. The mass arrests caused a community backlash and eventually gave positive coverage to the VVAW.
Statue of Liberty occupations
On December 26, 1971, fifteen VVAW activists barricaded and occupied the Statue of LibertyStatue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
for two days in a successful attempt to bring attention to the antiwar cause. Simultaneous protests took place across the country, such as at the historic Betsy Ross
Betsy Ross
Betsy Ross is widely credited with making the first American flag. There is, however, no credible historical evidence that the story is true.-Early life:...
house in Philadelphia (for 45 minutes) and Travis Air Force Base
Travis Air Force Base
Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force air base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command , located three miles east of the central business district of Fairfield, in Solano County, California, United States. The base is named for Brigadier General Robert F...
in California (for 12 hours). Other VVAW members in California also briefly occupied the Saigon Government consulate in San Francisco. VVAW occupied the Statue of Liberty a second time in 1976 to bring renewed attention to veteran issues.
Kansas City meeting
During a four day series of meetings in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
on November 12–15, 1971, Scott Camil
Scott Camil
Scott Camil is a noted political activist. He first gained prominence as an opponent of the Vietnam War, as a witness in the Winter Soldier Investigation and a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War....
, a radical VVAW southern coordinator, proposed the assassination of the most conservative members of United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, and other powerful opponents of the antiwar movement.
According to interviews with VVAW members who were present at the Kansas City meetings, Camil suggested something he called "The Phoenix Project," named after the original Phoenix Program
Phoenix Program
The Phoenix Program |phoenix]]) was a controversial counterinsurgency program designed, coordinated, and executed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , United States special operations forces, and the Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus during the Vietnam War that operated...
operations during the Vietnam War used by the CIA to assassinate the Viet Cong. Originally conceived as an option during the protest march in Washington, Camil's Phoenix Project plan was to execute the Southern senatorial leadership that was backing the war, including John Tower
John Tower
John Goodwin Tower was the first Republican United States senator from Texas since Reconstruction. He served from 1961 until his retirement in January 1985, after which time he was the chairman of the Reagan-appointed Tower Commission that investigated the Iran-Contra Affair. He was George H. W...
, Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
, and John Stennis. In Camil's words:
The proposed assassinations were to be executed during the Senate Christmas recess. The plan was voted down, although there's a "difference of opinion" as to how close the vote was. It is unclear whether 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry was present for this meeting. His campaign indicated he was not there and had resigned from the organization by then. He continued to speak at anti-war events for several more months.
Post Vietnam War activities
By 1973, US combat involvement in Vietnam ended, and VVAW changed its emphasis to include advocating amnestyAmnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
for draft
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
resisters and dissenters. President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
eventually granted an amnesty in 1980.
There were two significant battles fought simultaneously by VVAW after the fighting in Vietnam ended in 1975, that of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Agent Orange
Agent Orange
Agent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
.
As VVAW gained members in the late '60s they realized that many veterans were having readjustment problems. As early as 1970 VVAW initiated "rap groups" in which veterans could discuss the troubling aspects of the war, their disillusionment with it, and their experiences on arriving home. They enlisted the aid of two prominent psychiatrists, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton
Robert Jay Lifton
Robert Jay Lifton is an American psychiatrist and author, chiefly known for his studies of the psychological causes and effects of war and political violence and for his theory of thought reform...
and Dr. Chaim F. Shatan
Chaim F. Shatan
Chaim F. Shatan was a Canadian psychiatrist born in Włocławek, Poland.Shatan's parents moved to Canada when he was two. He received his MDCM degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada...
to direct and add focus to their sessions. Their continued pressure and activism caused what had been known as "Post-Vietnam Syndrome" to be recognized in 1980 as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The VVAW "rap group" treatment methods are the basis for treating PTSD today.
In 1978 Chicago Veterans Administration caseworker Maude de Victor noticed a pattern in cancers and other illnesses suffered by Vietnam veterans and linked those illnesses with exposure to herbicides like Agent Orange, and its dioxin contaminants. VVAW led veterans organizations in the struggle to force the government to test, treat and compensate the victims of those poisons. Congress mandated a study of Agent Orange in 1979. Veterans sued the herbicide manufacturers, Dow Chemical and Monsanto, in 1982. Two years later the companies settled the suit for $180 million to compensate what at that time was over 200,000 claimants.
These were lonely campaigns since the "main stream" veterans groups regarded Vietnam veterans as "crybabies and losers" in general, and VVAW in particular was seen as being unpatriotic and anti-American. A natural ally, Vietnam Veterans of America
Vietnam Veterans of America
Vietnam Veterans of America Inc. is a national non-profit corporation founded in 1978 in the United States that promotes the interests of United States military veterans of the Vietnam War era. It is funded without any contribution from any branch of government...
, was not founded by VVAW member Robert Muller until 1978. It was not until 1990 that the American Legion and VVA filed suit against the government for failing to conduct the study ordered by Congress in 1979.
Several members moved on to prominent positions in society. In 1978 former VVAW member Bobby Muller
Bobby Muller
Robert O. "Bobby" Muller is an American peace advocate.He was born on Long Island, and grew up in Great Neck, New York and attended Hofstra University. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1967, during the Vietnam War...
co-founded the Vietnam Veterans of America
Vietnam Veterans of America
Vietnam Veterans of America Inc. is a national non-profit corporation founded in 1978 in the United States that promotes the interests of United States military veterans of the Vietnam War era. It is funded without any contribution from any branch of government...
. Former member John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
became Lt. Governor of Massachusetts in 1982, and won a United States Senate seat in 1984. Ron Kovic
Ron Kovic
Ronald Lawrence Kovic is an anti-war activist, veteran and writer who was paralyzed in the Vietnam War. He is best known as the author of the memoir Born on the Fourth of July, which was made into an Academy Award–winning movie directed by Oliver Stone, with Tom Cruise playing Kovic...
went on to write Born on the Fourth of July
Born on the Fourth of July
Born on the Fourth of July is the best selling autobiography of Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam War veteran who became an anti-war activist. Kovic was born on July 4, 1946, and his book's ironic title echoed a famous line from George M. Cohan's patriotic 1904 song, "The Yankee Doodle Boy"...
, an autobiography which became an Academy Award winning movie in 1989.
Every five years, members and former members attend regular reunions, with the 1992 event attracting hundreds of veterans to commemorate the founding of the organization twenty five years earlier. VVAW continues to organize programs and fundraising events in support of veterans, peace, and social justice. ”
Similarly named different group
The relatively small group Vietnam Veterans Against The War Anti-ImperialistVietnam Veterans Against The War Anti-Imperialist
Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist is a small group based in Seattle, Washington claiming to be one of two groups formed after the split of Vietnam Veterans Against the War . VVAW, Inc is the other. The VVAW, Inc web site originally described VVAWAI as "the creation of an obscure,...
(VVAW-AI) is not a faction, caucus or part of VVAW. The VVAW web site describes VVAW-AI as "the creation of an obscure, ultra-left sect called the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) ... designed to pimp off of VVAW's history of struggle." In the mid-1970s, as VVAW membership severely dropped after the end of the war, members of Bob Avakian
Bob Avakian
Bob Avakian is Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA , which he has led since its formation in 1975. He is a veteran of the Free Speech Movement and the Left of the 1960s and early 1970s, and was closely associated with the Black Panther Party. He has published writings on Marxism and...
's militant RCP were able to gain influential positions in the VVAW, including the National Office. A rift in the remaining membership formed due to the opposed ideologies, and the RCP group formed a separate organization, Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist (VVAW-AI). VVAW filed and won a lawsuit prohibiting the RCP group from using the VVAW name, logos and materials.
In 1973, after months of heated debate, the VVAW changed the name of the organization to VVAW/WSO (Winter Soldier Organization), and opened its membership to non-veterans as a remedy to its diminishing size. With these relaxed membership requirements, members of ultra-left factions like Bob Avakian's
Bob Avakian
Bob Avakian is Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA , which he has led since its formation in 1975. He is a veteran of the Free Speech Movement and the Left of the 1960s and early 1970s, and was closely associated with the Black Panther Party. He has published writings on Marxism and...
militant Revolutionary Union were able to join VVAW, ultimately leading to a takeover of the VVAW’s National Office and steering committee. By 1975, the RCP cadre had managed to obtain many key leadership positions in the organization, and tried to control the splintered organization. A rift in the remaining membership formed due to the opposed ideologies, and the RCP group splintered off to form a smaller separate organization, Vietnam Veterans Against the War Anti-Imperialist (VVAW-AI). With the radical fringe elements influence removed, VVAW dropped the WSO from their name, won the court injunction against the radical group and struggled to rebuild. Deep animosity still exists between the two organizations.
The organization survived the conflict with the RCP and its general decline after the end of the Vietnam War, but as historian Andrew Hunt put it, only as “an ineffectual fragment of its former self. ...VVAW never ceased to exist. It split, dwindled, and underwent additional transformation. Yet it did not fold.”
See also
- Going UpriverGoing UpriverGoing Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry is a documentary film on U.S. Senator John Kerry's military service during the Vietnam War and his subsequent participation in the peace movement...
- Fulbright HearingFulbright HearingThe Fulbright Hearings refers to any of the set of U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Vietnam conducted between 1966 and 1971. This article concerns those held by the U.S. Senate in 1971 relating to the Vietnam War. By April 1971, with at least seven pending legislative proposals...
- Tiger Force (commandos)
- Winter Soldier InvestigationWinter Soldier InvestigationThe "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War from January 31, 1971 – February 2, 1971. It was intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War...
- Brian WillsonBrian WillsonS. Brian Willson is an American Vietnam veteran, peace activist, and attorney-at-law.Willson served in the US Air Force from 1966 to 1970, including several months as a combat security officer in Vietnam. He left the Air Force as a Captain...
- David M. ShoupDavid M. ShoupGeneral David Monroe Shoup, Hon. DSO was a World War II Medal of Honor recipient and the twenty-second Commandant of the United States Marine Corps . After his retirement, he was a vocal critic of the Vietnam War.-Early years:David Monroe Shoup was born on December 30, 1904 in Battle Ground, Indiana...
- Iraq Veterans Against the WarIraq Veterans Against the WarIraq Veterans Against the War is an advocacy group of active-duty United States military personnel, Iraq War veterans, Afghanistan War veterans, and other veterans who have served since the September 11, 2001 attacks who are opposed to the U.S. occupation of Iraq...
- Veterans For PeaceVeterans for PeaceVeterans For Peace is a United States organization founded in 1985. Made up of male and female US military veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and other conflicts, as well as peacetime veterans, the group works to promote alternatives to war.-Foundation:The...
- Gold Star Families for PeaceGold Star Families for PeaceGold Star Families for Peace is a United States-based organization founded in January 2005 by individuals who lost family members in the Iraq War, and are thus entitled to display a Gold Star. It is considered an offshoot of Military Families Speak Out...
- Jeff Sharlet (Vietnam antiwar activist)Jeff Sharlet (Vietnam antiwar activist)Jeff Sharlet , a Vietnam veteran, was a leader of the GI resistance movement during the Vietnam War and the founding editor of Vietnam GI...
Further reading
- Kerry, John, and Vietnam Veterans Against the War. The New Soldier. MacMillan Publishing Company: October 1971. ISBN 0-02-073610-X
- Nicosia, Gerald. Home to war: a history of the Vietnam veterans' movement. Crown Publishers: 2001. ISBN 0-8129-9103-6
- Retzer, Joseph David. War and Political Ideology: The Roots of Radicalism Among Vietnam Veterans. Doctoral thesis. Yale University. 1976.
- W.D. Ehrhart. Passing Time: Memoir of a Vietnam Veteran Against the War. University of Massachusetts Press: 2nd edition, 1995. ISBN 978-0870239588
- Fink, Bob. Vietnam, A View from the Walls. History of the anti-Vietnam war U.S. protest, Posters, Freedom of Information surveillance documents, art, clips and narrative. ISBN 0-912424-08-7.
- Cortright, David. Soldiers in Revolt. Haymarket Books: September 2006. ISBN 978-1931859271.
Films
- 1972 - Winter SoldierWinter Soldier (film)Winter Soldier is a 1972 documentary film chronicling the Winter Soldier Investigation which took place in Detroit, Michigan, from January 31 to February 2, 1971. The film documents the accounts of United States soldiers who returned from Vietnam, and participated in this war crimes hearing.The...
. Directed by the Winterfilm Collective. - 1973 - Operation Last Patrol. Directed by Frank Cavestani and Catherine LeroyCatherine LeroyCatherine Leroy was a French-born photojournalist and war photographer, whose stark images of battle illustrated the story of the Vietnam War in the pages of Life magazine and other publications.-Life:...
. - 2004 - Going Upriver: The Long War of John KerryGoing UpriverGoing Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry is a documentary film on U.S. Senator John Kerry's military service during the Vietnam War and his subsequent participation in the peace movement...
. Directed by George Butler. - 2005 - Sir! No Sir!Sir! No Sir!Sir! No Sir! is a 2005 Displaced Films and BBC documentary film about the anti-war movement within the ranks of the United States Military during the Vietnam War....
. Directed by David ZeigerDavid ZeigerDavid Zeiger is an American film director and producer.Zeiger is best known for directing the documentary Sir! No Sir! and the PBS documentary series Senior Year, Displaced in the New South, which inspired The Indigo Girls song Shame on You, and The Band.-External links:...
.
External links
- VVAW web site
- History of the U.S. War in Vietnam By Barry Romo, Pete Zastrow & Joe Miller
- The Winter Soldier Investigation sponsored by VVAW
- Blood Debt Members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Vietnamese victims come together to assess the legacy of Agent Orange (warning: graphic images - viewer discretion advised). From the Chicago FreeSpeechZone
- VVAW Coordinator Barry Romo's speech against the Iraq War and cutting of veteran health care funding
- Lexington Historical Society
- GI Antiwar Movement films, audio clips, photos and libraries
- My Lai Peace Park Project
- Iraq Veterans Against the War