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Home to War: A History of the Vietnam Veterans' Movement
A narrative history details the efforts of the millions of Americans who served in Vietnam to achieve recognition for their service and sacrifice, examining their struggle to deal with the negative reactions on the home front, their role in the anti-war movement, and their battle for medical help and compensation for Agent Orange exposure and post-traumatic stress. Reprint.
- GenresHistoryWarNonfiction
688 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 11, 2022
In his book, Gerald Nicosia chronicles the history of the Vietnam Veterans against War and its members, people who had become disillusioned with the American involvement in Vietnam and had decided to peacefully protest against this involvement.
VVAW is an organization that, while important for the sixties and seventies protest movement, is not well-known, especially if compared to Students for a Democratic Society. The reason might be that the veterans were far less flashy about their activism than the students. While SDS claimed that it had tens of thousands of members, chapters all over the country, and papers that eloquently criticized capitalism, VVAW had a different approach. Most of its members came from working class backgrounds, and they were not radicals, at least not before they were sent to Vietnam. It were their experiences fighting in the Vietnam conflict and the hostile public, which they faced upon returning home, that made them join the movement.
Notably, the student radicals and the veterans had to deal with different challenges. SDS resisted the Vietnam conflict in its early stages of escalation, when this topic was popular with the American people and many shared the students' outrage. VVAW, however, had to take on the more challenging task of winning the support of the people at a time when the Vietnam conflict had reached the stage of Vietnamization, and the American government was relying on air war. The general public was starting to forget about Vietnam. Furthermore, while SDS benefitted from the youthful idealism of Americans, VVAW had to deal with their weary cynicism. The student radicals had questioned Cold War liberalism, but the veterans had to struggle against President Nixon's conservatism and fear. Most of the SDS members believed that women in the protest movement had to be subservient to men. The VVAW, though, published papers that condemned sexism and actively recruited women, giving them important positions in the organization.
However, just like SDS, VVAW attracted people with different convictions and experiences: officers and GIs, desk clerks, combat veterans, and bomber pilots, anarchists, Trotskyists, Maoists, and Democrats. The veterans had a huge impact on the protest movement, which was suffering from a lack of leadership after SDS disbanded. Although at first the activists were hostile toward the veterans, their ill will eventually turned into admiration for the thousands of veterans whose protests were non-violent, creative, and memorable. Nine years before Veteran Administration, VVAW chapters were offering group therapy and drug counseling. Their war crime hearings, medal throwing ceremonies, guerrilla theater, and marches underscored the people's dislike for American military involvements abroad, especially in Vietnam.
As the veterans began to receive support from an increasing number of people, they attracted the attention of the government, which feared their growing popularity. VVAW were forced to fight battles with the Nixon administration, the FBI, and law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, they, like other organizations, became internally divided between moderates and radicals, and their situation was complicated by the many provocateurs who infiltrated VVAW's ranks and led its member toward violent confrontations with the police.
For many in the protest movement, it was a mystery why the veterans were opposing a war that they had fought in. According to the veteran activists, their experience in Vietnam had resulted in a shared understanding that the Vietnam conflict was morally wrong. They were young men, who could easily fit in with the youth of the counterculture, but VVAW members still distinguished themselves from the student radicals. The veterans, while non-violent, were angrier than the other activists – and more misunderstood.
HOME TO WAR is a well-written and meticulously researched account. Nicosia draws upon his extensive knowledge acquired from the interviews that he conducted with VVAW members to present an informative and interesting narrative. This book will be of use to anyone who wants to learn about the veterans who protested against the Vietnam conflict.
VVAW is an organization that, while important for the sixties and seventies protest movement, is not well-known, especially if compared to Students for a Democratic Society. The reason might be that the veterans were far less flashy about their activism than the students. While SDS claimed that it had tens of thousands of members, chapters all over the country, and papers that eloquently criticized capitalism, VVAW had a different approach. Most of its members came from working class backgrounds, and they were not radicals, at least not before they were sent to Vietnam. It were their experiences fighting in the Vietnam conflict and the hostile public, which they faced upon returning home, that made them join the movement.
Notably, the student radicals and the veterans had to deal with different challenges. SDS resisted the Vietnam conflict in its early stages of escalation, when this topic was popular with the American people and many shared the students' outrage. VVAW, however, had to take on the more challenging task of winning the support of the people at a time when the Vietnam conflict had reached the stage of Vietnamization, and the American government was relying on air war. The general public was starting to forget about Vietnam. Furthermore, while SDS benefitted from the youthful idealism of Americans, VVAW had to deal with their weary cynicism. The student radicals had questioned Cold War liberalism, but the veterans had to struggle against President Nixon's conservatism and fear. Most of the SDS members believed that women in the protest movement had to be subservient to men. The VVAW, though, published papers that condemned sexism and actively recruited women, giving them important positions in the organization.
However, just like SDS, VVAW attracted people with different convictions and experiences: officers and GIs, desk clerks, combat veterans, and bomber pilots, anarchists, Trotskyists, Maoists, and Democrats. The veterans had a huge impact on the protest movement, which was suffering from a lack of leadership after SDS disbanded. Although at first the activists were hostile toward the veterans, their ill will eventually turned into admiration for the thousands of veterans whose protests were non-violent, creative, and memorable. Nine years before Veteran Administration, VVAW chapters were offering group therapy and drug counseling. Their war crime hearings, medal throwing ceremonies, guerrilla theater, and marches underscored the people's dislike for American military involvements abroad, especially in Vietnam.
As the veterans began to receive support from an increasing number of people, they attracted the attention of the government, which feared their growing popularity. VVAW were forced to fight battles with the Nixon administration, the FBI, and law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, they, like other organizations, became internally divided between moderates and radicals, and their situation was complicated by the many provocateurs who infiltrated VVAW's ranks and led its member toward violent confrontations with the police.
For many in the protest movement, it was a mystery why the veterans were opposing a war that they had fought in. According to the veteran activists, their experience in Vietnam had resulted in a shared understanding that the Vietnam conflict was morally wrong. They were young men, who could easily fit in with the youth of the counterculture, but VVAW members still distinguished themselves from the student radicals. The veterans, while non-violent, were angrier than the other activists – and more misunderstood.
HOME TO WAR is a well-written and meticulously researched account. Nicosia draws upon his extensive knowledge acquired from the interviews that he conducted with VVAW members to present an informative and interesting narrative. This book will be of use to anyone who wants to learn about the veterans who protested against the Vietnam conflict.
October 9, 2017
This phenomenal work chronicles the plight of servicemen and women who returned home from Vietnam to find an indifferent public, hostile government and sensationalist media with no interest in helping them - least of all if they expressed dissenting opinions. Indeed, Nicosia focuses mainly on those who joined groups like Vietnam Veterans Against the War, channeling their rage against government deception and a pointless conflict into activism which helped mainstream the antiwar movement. Nicosia's account of the varied personalities of VVAW and allied groups (including well-known names like John Kerry, Max Cleland and Ron Kovic), their alliances and fallings-out with other veteran and antiwar organizations, along with constant harassment from the Nixon Administration, would alone be worth the time invested. But Nicosia shows the activists battling for rights and recognition through the '70s and '80s, especially the battle over Agent Orange. In a useful counternarrative to our canned understanding of Vietnam, Nicosia shows servicemen among the most active peaceniks, conservatives (especially Ronald Reagan, who drastically slashed the VA's budget, closed veteran's centers and prosecuted activists) the most heartless in their treatment of veterans, showing that their struggles for basic rights and dignity never ended. And that it wasn't apocryphal expectorating hippies, but the American public and feckless politicians who let them down. Sadly, little has changed for our current generation of vets and soldiers; it's much easier to use them as props than acknowledge their humanity.
March 26, 2010
I just began reading it the other day, I have to say that previous to reading this, it was hard for me to look at soldiers and kids in their ROTC uniforms and not give them the stink-eye. I still am brashly against wars of any kind, but I'm now able to feel a bit compassionate towards them. I'm also highly interested in working with the IVAW now too.
March 26, 2020
Exhaustive look at the amazing work for peace & justice born from the veteran's movement. He does their service justice.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews