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The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War
The anti-Vietnam War movement in the United States is perhaps best remembered for its young, counterculture student protesters. However, the Vietnam War was the first conflict in American history in which a substantial number of military personnel actively protested the war while it was in progress.
In The Turning , Andrew Hunt reclaims the history of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), an organization that transformed the antiwar movement by placing Vietnam veterans in the forefront of the nationwide struggle to end the war. Misunderstood by both authorities and radicals alike, VVAW members were mostly young men who had served in Vietnam and returned profoundly disillusioned with the rationale for the war and with American conduct in Southeast Asia. Angry, impassioned, and uncompromisingly militant, the VVAW that Hunt chronicles in this first history of the organization posed a formidable threat to America's Vietnam policy and further contributed to the sense that the nation was under siege from within.
Based on extensive interviews and in-depth primary research, including recently declassified government files, The Turning is a vivid history of the men who risked censures, stigma, even imprisonment for a cause they believed to be "an extended tour of duty."
In The Turning , Andrew Hunt reclaims the history of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), an organization that transformed the antiwar movement by placing Vietnam veterans in the forefront of the nationwide struggle to end the war. Misunderstood by both authorities and radicals alike, VVAW members were mostly young men who had served in Vietnam and returned profoundly disillusioned with the rationale for the war and with American conduct in Southeast Asia. Angry, impassioned, and uncompromisingly militant, the VVAW that Hunt chronicles in this first history of the organization posed a formidable threat to America's Vietnam policy and further contributed to the sense that the nation was under siege from within.
Based on extensive interviews and in-depth primary research, including recently declassified government files, The Turning is a vivid history of the men who risked censures, stigma, even imprisonment for a cause they believed to be "an extended tour of duty."
1 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1999
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About the author
Andrew E. Hunt
3 books3 followersAndrew E. Hunt also publishes fiction under the name Andrew Hunt.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 3, 2022
In his book, Andrew E. Hunt tells the story of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, one of the most interesting organizations of the sixties' protest movement. The Vietnam conflict was the first one in American history to make veterans who returned home oppose an ongoing conflict in which they had just participated. Hunt presents a complete history of that group of activists, which, despite its relatively small numbers, might have been no less influential than more popular organizations.
Drawing upon VVAW archival materials, FBI files, and interviews, the author traces the development of the organization from its founding in June 1967 to its most significant triumphs in 1971 and its decline during the last years of the war. According to him, the VVAW was even more decentralized, anarchic, and anti-authoritarian than most of the other organizations in the Movement.
The VVAW, like the SDS and others, began as a moderate group, but its members eventually became leftists. However, they did not use the violent methods of the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers, although FBI agents tried to provoke such actions. The author praises the organization for its discipline, which it managed to maintain despite the provocations, and for carrying out its operations with precision, as befitting military men.
The narrative focuses on the most notable activities of the group. In the summer of 1970, the veterans marched from Morris town to Valley Forge and engaged in guerilla theater search and destroy missions. This demonstration was called Operation RAW. In February 1971, together with Jane Fonda, they staged the Winter Soldier war-crime hearings in Detroit. Both of these operations, the author writes, did not receive the amount of attention from the media that the veterans had expected. It was Operation Dewet Canyon III in Washington that became their most famous protest. The veterans lobbied legislators, appeared before congressional committees with their spokesperson John Kerry, a rugged, handsome veteran with strong communication skills, and threw their medals over the fence and onto the grounds of the Capitol, making 1971 their most successful year of protest.
In 1972, they drew some attention to themselves with their protests at the Republican Convention in Miami by disrupting President Richard Nixon's acceptance speech. However, by that time, the Vietnam conflict was considered to be coming to an end, so the veterans' protests did not matter to the general public. This is why the author's statement that the VVAW had a "profound impact" on the protest movement is a little questionable. The organization achieved success at a time when the protest movement was declining. Like most other groups of the decade, it disbanded in the seventies because of clashes of ideology and personality among its members, and because it was infiltrated by the intelligence agents of the Nixon administration.
Nevertheless, the veterans can be credited with notable achievements, such as calling for reform of the Veteran's Administration healthcare system, establishing group therapy for combat veterans, and drawing attention to the issue of soldiers' exposure to carcinogens in Vietnam.
THE TURNING is a well-written and informative history of the VVAW. Hunt has done his best to not let his bias in favor of the veterans cloud his judgement. This book has its drawbacks, such as an unconvincing account of the organization's impact on the protest movement, but it is still a comprehensive introduction to the VVAW.
Drawing upon VVAW archival materials, FBI files, and interviews, the author traces the development of the organization from its founding in June 1967 to its most significant triumphs in 1971 and its decline during the last years of the war. According to him, the VVAW was even more decentralized, anarchic, and anti-authoritarian than most of the other organizations in the Movement.
The VVAW, like the SDS and others, began as a moderate group, but its members eventually became leftists. However, they did not use the violent methods of the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers, although FBI agents tried to provoke such actions. The author praises the organization for its discipline, which it managed to maintain despite the provocations, and for carrying out its operations with precision, as befitting military men.
The narrative focuses on the most notable activities of the group. In the summer of 1970, the veterans marched from Morris town to Valley Forge and engaged in guerilla theater search and destroy missions. This demonstration was called Operation RAW. In February 1971, together with Jane Fonda, they staged the Winter Soldier war-crime hearings in Detroit. Both of these operations, the author writes, did not receive the amount of attention from the media that the veterans had expected. It was Operation Dewet Canyon III in Washington that became their most famous protest. The veterans lobbied legislators, appeared before congressional committees with their spokesperson John Kerry, a rugged, handsome veteran with strong communication skills, and threw their medals over the fence and onto the grounds of the Capitol, making 1971 their most successful year of protest.
In 1972, they drew some attention to themselves with their protests at the Republican Convention in Miami by disrupting President Richard Nixon's acceptance speech. However, by that time, the Vietnam conflict was considered to be coming to an end, so the veterans' protests did not matter to the general public. This is why the author's statement that the VVAW had a "profound impact" on the protest movement is a little questionable. The organization achieved success at a time when the protest movement was declining. Like most other groups of the decade, it disbanded in the seventies because of clashes of ideology and personality among its members, and because it was infiltrated by the intelligence agents of the Nixon administration.
Nevertheless, the veterans can be credited with notable achievements, such as calling for reform of the Veteran's Administration healthcare system, establishing group therapy for combat veterans, and drawing attention to the issue of soldiers' exposure to carcinogens in Vietnam.
THE TURNING is a well-written and informative history of the VVAW. Hunt has done his best to not let his bias in favor of the veterans cloud his judgement. This book has its drawbacks, such as an unconvincing account of the organization's impact on the protest movement, but it is still a comprehensive introduction to the VVAW.
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November 3, 2022A successor organization is Veterans for Peace, https://www.veteransforpeace.org/
David Giffey of Madison, Wisconsin, compiled some of their stories in /Long Shadows: Veterans' Paths to Peace/: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
David Giffey of Madison, Wisconsin, compiled some of their stories in /Long Shadows: Veterans' Paths to Peace/: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...
January 7, 2022
This comprehensive history of VVAW conveys the passion and excitement of antiwar veterans who played a decisive role in the later years of the antiwar movement. The highlight is the special attention, close-up, to the dramatic April 1971 "Dewey Canyon III" event, when hundreds of veterans angrily threw their combat medals over the White House fence, mesmerizing the nation and galvanizing the largest antiwar mobilization in U.S. history.
Personally the book re-connects me with VVAW leaders I met and worked with from the Winter Soldier Investigation in Detroit in 1971 through the July 4, 1974 mass march in Washington, which demanded "Universal and Unconditional Amnesty"; "A Single-type Discharge for All Veterans"; "Implement the Peace Agreement--End All Aid to Thieu and Lon Nol"; and "Kick Nixon Out!"
I also met up with Ron Kovic and Al Hubbard at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami, and again with Ron at the 1976 Democratic convention in New York, when Kovic's speech electrified the delegates and captured the attention of millions on live national television. Having worked closely with VVAW leaders Joe Urgo, Ed Damato and Jeanne Friedman as leaders in the campaign for amnesty, I personally felt their fiery dedication.
Hunt captures an especially moving moment, when VVAW leader Barry Romo visited Hanoi during the 1972 Christmas bombing together with other U.S. antiwar leaders. After Romo painfully witnessed the devastation caused by the U.S. B52 bombers, along with the amazingly effective Vietnamese anti-aircraft defense, "a Vietnamese interpreter embraced him and said, 'It is good that you are here to share in our suffering, because after the war you will also really share in our joy'."
The extensive interviews of dozens of VVAW leaders and "joiners" give Hunt's history great validity. His comment about Dewey Canyon III could be extended to the entire collection of the veterans' experiences: that "it was the defining moment" of their lives.
Personally the book re-connects me with VVAW leaders I met and worked with from the Winter Soldier Investigation in Detroit in 1971 through the July 4, 1974 mass march in Washington, which demanded "Universal and Unconditional Amnesty"; "A Single-type Discharge for All Veterans"; "Implement the Peace Agreement--End All Aid to Thieu and Lon Nol"; and "Kick Nixon Out!"
I also met up with Ron Kovic and Al Hubbard at the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami, and again with Ron at the 1976 Democratic convention in New York, when Kovic's speech electrified the delegates and captured the attention of millions on live national television. Having worked closely with VVAW leaders Joe Urgo, Ed Damato and Jeanne Friedman as leaders in the campaign for amnesty, I personally felt their fiery dedication.
Hunt captures an especially moving moment, when VVAW leader Barry Romo visited Hanoi during the 1972 Christmas bombing together with other U.S. antiwar leaders. After Romo painfully witnessed the devastation caused by the U.S. B52 bombers, along with the amazingly effective Vietnamese anti-aircraft defense, "a Vietnamese interpreter embraced him and said, 'It is good that you are here to share in our suffering, because after the war you will also really share in our joy'."
The extensive interviews of dozens of VVAW leaders and "joiners" give Hunt's history great validity. His comment about Dewey Canyon III could be extended to the entire collection of the veterans' experiences: that "it was the defining moment" of their lives.
December 8, 2015
Readable history of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and a necessary corrective to the (politically driven) myth that the anti-war movement was spearheaded by elitist upper/middle class college students. Placing the spotlight on individuals who entered VVAW at various points along the way, Hunt does a nice job exploring its relationship with other organizations that shared some, but usually not all, of its aims. I learned a lot about the differences between VVAW and Veterans for Peace which in the early days consisted mostly of WWII and Korea vets. Great job with Dewey Canyon III and the case of the Gainesville Eight.
May 14, 2020
Some good information about future Secretary of State John Kerry and the Winter Soldier Information. I would have liked more details about that, but overall a worthy expenditure of time.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews