Vietnam War

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• 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. 

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• 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? 

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• 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."

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• 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.

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  1/23/2022
  

  A Very Long War: From Vietnam to Afghanistan

  by Andrew Bacevich

  The interpretive frameworks – from the "domino theory" to the war on terror –  guiding the political decision to wage war are usually rendered incoherent by facts on the ground in combat. This cluelessness survived the end of the cold war intact and suggests a longer campaign of American empire. 

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• 10/24/2021
  

  The Women Who Won the Vietnam War

  by Sherry Buchanan

  Fifty years on, the history of the women who defeated a superpower, while celebrated in Vietnam, remains largely unrecognized and undocumented in our history of the war.

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• SOURCE: TomDispatch
  10/17/2021
  

  Seeing the Future When No One Believes You

  by Rebecca Gordon

  The recollections and rehabilitations occasioned by the 20th anniversary of the War on Terror are, predictably, giving short shrift to the voices of dissent who questioned the ability of American military power to resolve political conflicts. Like their mythical namesake, those denounced as Cassandras in 2001 were right. 

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• 9/12/2021
  

  The Missed Lesson of Vietnam: Plan for Unconditional Victory or Don't Intervene at All

  by James D. Robenalt

  Comparisons between American withdrawal from Vietnam and Afghanistan miss a key point: failure was overwhelmingly likely from the beginning because, if the United States was unwilling or unable to secure unconditional surrender, time was on the side of its foes. 

• 
• 9/5/2021
  

  Resettling Refugees is Harder than You Think – A Personal History

  by Ron Steinman

  Experience shows that resettling refugees isn't easy. But with respect for common humanity and dedication, it's possible. 

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• SOURCE: History.com
  9/1/2021
  

  Vietnam's Postwar Refugee Crisis

  “The United States doesn’t take enough into account how refugee migration and displacement are a part of all of our foreign policy interventions,” says historian Phuong T. Nguyen. “We need to be prepared to handle the humanitarian crisis that inevitably follows.” 

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• 8/22/2021
  

  The US Again Finds Getting Out of a War Harder than Getting In

  by Ralph Seliger

  Joe Biden has made a potentially serious error by precipitously withdrawing from Afghanistan; taking time to get it right could have protected both Afghan allies and the administration's political capital. 

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• SOURCE: Substack
  8/18/2021
  

  It's a White Christmas in Afghanistan

  by Claire Potter

  "The crush of refugees waiting to be rescued is tragic and predictable--because this is what surrender looks like."

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/16/2021
  

  Comparing Images of Helicopters Leaving Saigon and Kabul is Too Simplistic

  Post Art and Architecture columnist Philip Kennicott examines the history and politics of famous images from 1975 and this week that have been put in dialogue with each other.

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• SOURCE: MSNBC
  8/17/2021
  

  MSNBC's Hayes Brown: Vietnam Withdrawal Shows US Needs to Take Care of Afghan Refugees

  The program to bring Vietnamese refugees to America after 1975 was unpopular when it passed. It was still right, argues Hayes Brown.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  8/1/72021
  

  Post-Vietnam Recriminations are a Preview of What will Follow in Afghan Debate

  by Gregory A. Daddis

  Already, political recrimination over the fall of Kabul echo the domestic political attacks that accompanied the failure of the US war in Vietnam. This battle may be more consequential at home.

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• 8/1/2021
  

  The Media's Failure on Agent Orange

  by Ron Steinman

  The media seldom covers the ongoing harm caused by Agent Orange because little of the story is "news." This is a failure of duty to inform the public about the callous use of the defoliant that may allow similar wartime ecological catastrophes in the future. 

• 
• 7/4/2021
  

  The National Bicentennial Erased Antiwar Activism by Vietnam Veterans

  by Elise Lemire

  The United States Semiquincentennial Commission is preparing for July 4, 2026 as an opportunity for educating the public about the nation's history. It should avoid repeating the whitewash of recent history in the 1976 Bicentennial celebration.

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• SOURCE: KPBS
  6/28/2021
  

  Independent Lens Presents: The People Vs. Agent Orange

  Two women activists demand accountability from the chemical industry for the toll of illness and death caused by Agent Orange. 

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• 6/20/2021
  

  50 Years Later, the Pentagon Papers Remain an Historic Landmark for Freedom of the Press

  by Jared Schroeder

  While democratic norms have, at times, seemed paper thin in recent years, the Court’s terse decision in the Pentagon Papers decision persists as a bulwark against government efforts to halt publication.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/9/2021
  

  "We're Going to Publish": The New York Times' Oral History of the Pentagon Papers

  From RAND Corporation leaker Daniel Ellsberg to first amendement litigator Floyd Abrams, the key players in the 1971 publication of the Pentagon papers reflect on their work 50 years later.