Veterans Exhibit

The Collins Library is hosting an exhibit in the West Reading room related to America's war in Vietnam: Dissent and Resistance with the Military (see website https://wagingpeaceinvietnam.com/exhibits).

During America's war in Vietnam, the antiwar movement among active-duty soldiers and veterans was central to the success of the larger U.S. protest movement and had a profound impact on the course of the war. In the mid-sixties, as the U.S. escalated troop numbers, tens of thousands of soldiers, sailors and pilots refused to fight, sail and fly bombing missions. As scholar David Cortright notes: "It is arguable that by 1970 U.S. ground troops in Vietnam had ceased to function as an effective fighting force. The disintegration of military moral was a factor in the Nixon's administration's decision to accelerate troop withdrawals."

This exhibit recounts the experience of ten soldiers and veterans who risked so much, from the total alienation of their families to personal harm and imprisonment, as they openly protested the war. May their stories spark discussion and teaching about patriotism and the power of individual and collective dissent to make societal change.