Reflections Archives - Vietnam Full Disclosure

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Check it out: Soldiers for Peace Audio Doc

A stylish new audio documentary about GI resistance during the ’60s and ’70s produced by Kate Ellis and Stephen Smith, is online at APM Reports “Opposition to the Vietnam War among active duty GIs and veterans

November 21, 2019 • 50 Years of GI Resistance, Educational Resources, Featured, Reflections • Views: 14

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“I regret fighting for an America that’s become an intolerant bully”

This Veterans Day essay was published online at NBC News/Think on Nov. 11, 2019. PHOTO CAPTION: Danny Lane and Sotere Karas man a foxhole on Firebase Tomahawk on Marine Operation Taylor Common February 1969. Photo by Danny Lane,

November 19, 2019 • Connections to Today, Featured, Reflections • Views: 19

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The Vietnam War: A Conversation

Aired October 2, 2017 OPB | “Think Out Loud” Host: David Miller Guests: Dan Shea & Kim Truong-Pham Clip: Season 12 Episode 1 | 29m 7s The “Oregon Experience” documentary, “The Vietnam War Oregon

October 5, 2019 • Reflections, Vietnamese Voices • Views: 96

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Which 50th anniversary pin will YOU wear?

On July 16, 2019, New Hampshire Congresswoman Ann McLane Kuster announced her office’s participation in the Vietnam Veterans 50th Anniversary Pin Program to honor all Vietnam-era veterans for “valiantly serving our

August 25, 2019 • 50 Years of GI Resistance, Reflections • Views: 131

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Reflections from the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 10

Paul Cox: My long-ago-purchased DVD’s came today and being the short-attention-span person I am, I plopped in Episode 10 to see how it all ended. I won’t spoil it all for you, since I know that many of you are enjoying the

September 23, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1386

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Reflections from the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 9

Doug Rawlings: EPISODE NINE A DISRESPECTFUL LOYALTY MAY 1970 TO AUGUST 1973 We have reached the penultimate evening of what has become a ten round bout pitting character against character in the story of America. More than one

September 23, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1521

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Reflections from the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 8

Doug Rawlings: EPISODE EIGHT: April 1969 to May 1970 “THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD” AS OF APRIL, 1969 THERE ARE 543,482 AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN COUNTRY. 40,794 DEAD AMERICAN SOLDIERS TO DATE Silence. That’s the overriding theme of

September 23, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1223

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Reflections from the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 7

Howie Machtinger: Episode 7: The Veneer of Civilization: The question of troop morale haunts this segment, but B/N’s picture isn’t entirely coherent. At several points it touts the morale of the US soldiers.

September 23, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1422

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Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 6

Photo: Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library Audiovisual Archives/PBS Doug Rawlings: EPISODE SIX “Things Fall Apart” 485,600 American troops in Vietnam at the beginning of 1968; 510,000 at its close. As any American veteran

September 23, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1241

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Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 5

Doug Rawlings: “This Is War. This Is What We Do.” This nightly trek to the TV screen is getting exhausting. Of course this medium that we have allowed into our homes these past five evenings, that we have chosen to bring

September 23, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1411

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Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 4

Howie M. What haunts this episode and the entire documentary is the failure to make a distinction among fundamentally different critiques of the war: (a) The war was morally wrong, an unjust invasion, a colonial or neocolonial

September 20, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1553

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Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 3

Mike Ferner: “Take this here rifle and a helmet and go kill some Commies for Christ.” That is the perverted, obscene way that our government and culture twist the good-hearted intentions of young people who so

September 20, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1385

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Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 2

Episode 2 Reflections: Tarak Kauff: May I say for the record, it was not just that the people in high places knew the war was “unwinnable” – that was secondary, it was much worse than that, they also knew (from the

September 17, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1294

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Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 1

Paul Cox: If I may rant for a moment. Karl Marlantes is a good enough guy and wrote the best battle book he was capable of in The Matterhorn, but he ain’t no expert on Vietnam (or on humans and war, as a quick read of

September 17, 2017 • Reflections • Views: 1470

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Mission statement

The Full Disclosure campaign is a Veterans For Peace effort to speak truth to power and keep alive the antiwar perspective on the American war in Viet Nam — which is being commemorated during this decade with a series of 50th anniversary events. Full Disclosure represents a clear alternative to the Pentagon’s current efforts to sanitize and mythologize that war, and to thereby legitimize further unnecessary and destructive wars.

This Month in History: 1969

November – Solidarity actions with the Vietnam Moratorium are taken by GIs in Long Binh, Pleiku, and Da Nang (Đà Nẵng), Vietnam.

November 3 – President Nixon delivers a major TV speech asking for support from “the great silent majority of my fellow Americans” for his Vietnam strategy. “…The more divided we are at home, the less likely the enemy is to negotiate at Paris…North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.” He articulates his “Vietnamization” strategy of protracted withdrawal of American ground troops and increased training of the South Vietnamese army along with continued air support. “Vietnamization” is Nixon’s alternative to what he terms “precipitous withdrawal.”

November 5 – Judge Julius Hoffman sentences Bobby Seale to four years in prison for 16 counts of contempt, each count accounting for three months of his imprisonment, because of his loud protests during the Chicago 8 Conspiracy trial, after he and seven others were indicted on March 20 for alleged actions at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

November 9 – 1,365 active-duty GIs sign a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for an end to the war.

November 11 – 100 GIs hold a Veteran’s Day antiwar demonstration in El Paso, Texas.

November 13-14 – GI Defense Organization organizes a National Conference on GI Rights in Washington D.C.

November 15 – The “Mobilization” peace demonstration draws an estimated 500,000–1 million demonstrators to Washington, D.C., for the largest antiwar protest in U.S. history (up to that point). The protest is organized by the New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (New Mob) and the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (SMC). Over 500,000 demonstrators gathered across from the White House for a rally where they were led by Pete Seeger in singing John Lennon‘s new song “Give Peace A Chance” for ten minutes or more. His voice above the crowd, Seeger intersperses phrases like, “Are you listening, Nixon?”, “Are you listening, Agnew?”, “Are you listening, Pentagon?” between the choruses of protesters singing, “All we are saying … is give peace a chance.” This massive Saturday march and rally was preceded by the March against Death, which began on Thursday evening and continued throughout that night and all the next day. Over 40,000 people gathered to parade silently down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. Hour after hour, they walked in single file, each bearing a placard with the name of a dead American soldier or a destroyed Vietnamese village. The marchers finished in front of the Capitol building, where the placards were placed in coffins. The vast majority of demonstrators during these days were peaceful; however, late on Friday, conflict broke out at DuPont Circle, and the police sprayed the crowd with tear gas. The people of Washington, D.C., generously opened schools, seminaries, and other places of shelter to the thousands of students and others who converged for this purpose. A daytime march before the White House was lined by parked tour buses and uniformed police officers, some flashing peace symbols on the inside of their jackets in a show of support for the crowd. Solidarity events by GIs, including whole units, were held throughout South Vietnam.

President Richard Nixon’s response to the march: “Now, I understand that there has been, and continues to be, opposition to the war in Vietnam on the campuses and also in the nation. As far as this kind of activity is concerned, we expect it; however under no circumstances will I be affected whatever by it.”

Activists at some universities continued to hold monthly “Moratoria” on the 15th of each month.

November 16 – For the first time, the U.S. Army publicly discusses events surrounding the My Lai massacre.

November 16 – Soldier’s Liberation Front forms at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

November 19 – In Washington, D.C., a military judge throws out solicitation charge against Roger Priest. [On July 22, the Navy Seaman was charged with soliciting men to desert, disrespect toward Gen. Earl Wheeler, J. Edgar Hoover, and Melvin Laird (for publishing a headline in his paper, Om: “TODAY’S PIGS ARE TOMORROW’S BACON”), intending to interfere with, impair and influence the loyalty, morale and discipline of the military and Naval Forces of the U.S.] The judge is overruled by Rear Admiral George Koch, Commandant Washington naval District.

Vietnam Full Disclosure

Reflections
Category

Check it out: Soldiers for Peace Audio Doc

“I regret fighting for an America that’s become an intolerant bully”

The Vietnam War: A Conversation

Which 50th anniversary pin will YOU wear?

Reflections from the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 10

Reflections from the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 9

Reflections from the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 8

Reflections from the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 7

Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 6

Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 5

Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 4

Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 3

Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 2

Reflections of the Full Disclosure Group: Episode 1

Mission statement

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50 Years of Resistance In & Out Of Uniform

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On Burns/Novick PBS Documentary

Philip Jones Griffiths’ Viet Nam

This Month in History: 1969

2016 National Book Award Finalist, Viet Thanh Nguyen:

Agent Orange Awareness

Reflections Category

Mission statement

Sign Up for Updates

50 Years of Resistance In & Out Of Uniform

Like Us on Facebook

On Burns/Novick PBS Documentary

Philip Jones Griffiths’ Viet Nam

This Month in History: 1969

2016 National Book Award Finalist, Viet Thanh Nguyen:

Agent Orange Awareness

Reflections
Category