Due: in discussion section, Tues. Feb.
20 or Wed. Feb. 21
Project: In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien grapples with the myths and the memories
of Vietnam, with themes of love and masculinity, courage and cowardice,
internal and external enemies, responsibility at the levels of the individual
and the nation collectively. Write a short response, about one single-spaced
page, that evaluates O'Brien's themes of courage and responsibility with the
additional perspective offered by the following three statements by young
American men about their service in Vietnam. You may also reference the essay by James Fallows if you so
choose.
1. William
Crandell, Opening Statement, Winter Soldier Investigation (Jan. 31, 1971)
In the early 1970s, members of Vietnam
Veterans Against the War (VVAW) began telling their own war stories to a public
that had become deeply divided about the national mission in Southeast Asia, to
political leaders who blamed antiwar protesters and the news media for the
elusiveness of victory, and to military generals who had first covered up the
My Lai massacre and then insisted that it had been an isolated event. William
Crandell's statement opened the Winter Soldier Investigation, a VVAW conference
that charged American political and military leaders with responsibility for
war crimes.
VVAW leader John Kerry (now U.S. Senator from
Massachusetts and the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004) delivered this
statement to Congress after the conclusion of the Winter Soldier Investigation.
3. Vietnam
Veterans for a Just Peace Statement by John O'Neill on ABC-TV (June 20, 1971)
John O'Neill delivered this opening statement
during a debate with John Kerry on The Dick Cavett
Show. Operatives in the Nixon administration created Vietnam
Veterans for a Just Peace as a counterpoint to the VVAW. O'Neill later formed the organization
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and wrote the book Unfit for Command in opposition to John Kerry's presidential bid in 2004.