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50 Years Ago: The Actual End of US Combat
Zoom webinar Thursday, August 3, 2 p.m. ET
August 15, 1973 - The Forgotten US Exit from the Vietnam War: When the U.S. dropped its last bombs over Cambodia and ended active military engagement in the Vietnam War.
It's not a date that has been widely noted or remembered, but August 15, 1973 was a milestone in the American war in Indochina. On that date, in accordance with a congressional action shutting off funds for military actions in Southeast
Asia, the U.S. stopped bombing in Cambodia, the last American combat operations relating to the Vietnam war.
Thus that date marked the actual end of direct U.S. military involvement in Indochina, though fighting between U.S.-supported government troops and Communist forces in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia would continue for nearly two more years.
The August 1973 shutoff was also significant in that it was the first time Congress had exercised its fiscal power to end fighting while U.S. units were still engaged (earlier restrictions did not go into effect until the operations involved were already over).
To mark the approaching 50th anniversary of that event, the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee will present a panel discussion with:
- Elizabeth Becker, the Cambodia correspondent for the Washington Post in 1973-74, in Phnom Penh on the day the bombing ended
- John H. (Jack) Sullivan, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee staff and the author of many of that committee's reports on the wars and U.S. actions in Indochina
- Larry Levin, the executive director of the Coalition To Stop Funding the War, a lobbying group representing a number of religious, antiwar and civic organizations.
- Arnold R. Isaacs, moderator, an eyewitness in Vietnam and Cambodia in 1973, as the Baltimore Sun's Indochina correspondent from mid-1972 to the last days of the war in April 1975.
The speakers will present first-hand recollections of August 1973 from three distinct angles of vision: Becker and Isaacs from the ground in Cambodia and Vietnam, Sullivan from inside the halls of Congress, and Levin from the grass roots
lobby activism of the antiwar movement.
Speaker bios and resources
here. Registration link
here.
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Remembering Dan Ellsberg, Nonviolent Activist
Zoom webinar Wednesday August 9, 7 p.m. ET (Nagasaki anniversary)
Few people finish their lives knowing that they have changed history for the better. VPCC enjoyed a long relationship with Dan Ellsberg, and some of us were friends from the 1970s.
Since Dan's passing, dozens of news stories and commentaries have focused primarily on his role as whistleblower and the impact of his courageous release of the Pentagon Papers. Missing from these accounts has
been an appreciation of the decades of Dan's active engagement in antiwar and antinuclear campaigns throughout the country – and the world – during which time he was arrested more than 80 times.
During this webinar, fellow activists will tell brief anecdotes about Dan's participation in a wide variety of anti-nuclear and antiwar campaigns: the campaign against Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant; Nevada
Nuclear Test site; Greenpeace action again Soviet nuclear tests; opposition to US support of the Nicaragua and El Salvador regimes; Lawrence-Livermore nuclear labs.
The objective is both to document this part of Dan's life and to inspire others, particularly younger activists, with his example. Speakers will include Patricia Ellsberg, Dan's wife and Bob Eaton, a draft resister
who inspired Dan's decision to release the Pentagon Papers.
Additional speakers and bios will be available
here.
Link to register is here.
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Celebrations
Daniel Ellsberg and the Courage Contagion
by Christian Appy,
Common
Dreams
A Father’s Legacy to His Son – and His Country
By Robert Ellsberg and Chris Zimmerman
Plough
My reflections on Dan Ellsberg, a man who helped end a tragic war
by Morton Halperin, Responsible
Statecraft
Remembering Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers
NPR
Fresh Air by Dave Davies
Farewell letter from Dan, responses from Vietnam and Bill Ehrhart
VPCC
blog
VPCC Webinar on The Release of the Pentagon Papers with Dan Ellsberg, Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, Gar Alperovitz,
Barbara Myers and Jay Craven VPCC
blog
Dan Ellsberg for the 50th Anniversary of the March on the Pentagon
VPCC
youtube
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Former US Ambassadors Oppose
Sending Cluster Bombs to Ukraine
Six US Ambassadors to Laos and three to Cambodia have written to President Biden:
We the undersigned learned with deep dismay and disappointment that your administration had reached the unfortunate decision to supply cluster munitions to the Ukraine military. ...
We respectfully request that you reconsider this decision and seek to support Ukraine's legitimate efforts to defend itself through other means than using cluster munitions. We all recognize that the costs of this
immoral war will be a terrible burden for the people of Ukraine for years to come. The United States should not contribute further to that burden with cluster munitions.
The Lao letter with signers is
here https://www.legaciesofwar.org/post/open-letter-to-president-joseph-r-biden-and-to-his-national-security-team
The Cambodia letter with signers is
here
https://www.legaciesofwar.org/post/open-letter-to-president-joseph-r-biden-and-to-his-national-security-team-1
As reported in the
Phnom Penh Post on July 9, 2023 (with above photo)
Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), shared that approximately 30 million cluster munitions were dropped on Cambodia during the war.
Of these, between five and six million did not explode and now litter an area of almost 700sq km.
In 2022, the US Department of State granted funding to the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) to support demining in the areas of Cambodia affected by cluster bombs. The project, affecting Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Kampong
Cham, Tbong Khmum, Kratie, Ratanakkiri and Mondulkiri provinces, is projected to conclude in November 2025, according to CMAC.
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How to watch the film personally, in a classroom
or with a group at any time
1) Become a member of your PBS station at the "Passport" level
2) Amazon
Prime Video for $4.99.
3) iTunes
for $4.99
4) Distribution to classroom and public library markets: Alexander Street, Kanopy, and Films Media Group
Video of VPCC zoom
for educators and organizers held March 5, 2023
- Stephen Talbot, Director
- Dr. Michael Doyle, Public history, Ball State University Moratorium commemoration
- Dr. Carolyn (Rusti) Eisenberg, Professor Hofstra University, author "Fire and Rain"
- Robert Levering executive producer (also of “The Boys Who Said No”)
- John McAuliff, Fund for Reconciliation and Development (moderator)
Speaker bios and youtube link
here
Directly to youtube video here
On-line guide for educators and organizers
Program suggestions and materials from PBS American Experiences, click
here
Resources for teachers and students
Suggested questions for students are posted now. Links and on-line materials will be available in about a week to original sources and publications for deeper understanding of history and issues. click
here
Website for the film
https://www.movementandthemadman.com
Reviews
New
Vietnam War Documentary Affirms the Power of Activism.
National Catholic Reporter
Vietnam:
The War That Rocked the World. Jonah Raskin, CounterPunch
Q&A:
The Little-known Story of the Vietnam Protests That Gave Peace a Chance.
Waging Nonviolence. Interview with Executive Producer Robert Levering.
San
Francisco filmmaker goes back to roots as Vietnam War protester in PBS documentary. San
Francisco Chronicle
Indiana
Woman Featured in Vietnam War Documentary. Indiana Public Media
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Resources
For Patrick Leahy, The Vietnam War Is Finally Ending
by Gorge Black,
The New Republic
"For 33 years, the retiring Vermont senator and a top aide have quietly but doggedly been working to bind the many wounds of a war that touched the lives of nearly every Vietnamese family." The aide is Tim Rieser, also Leahy's colleague
on Cuba.
Oppenheimer, Nullified and Vindicated by Kai Bird,
The New Yorker "The inventor of the atomic bomb, the subject of Christopher Nolan’s new film, was the chief celebrity victim of the national trauma known as McCarthyism." Read about another aspect of Tim Rieser's contribution to a more rational Washington.
Reflections on the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam Peace Settlement
a panel at the US
Institute of Peace with Ambassadors William Taylor, Nguyen Quoc Dzung, and John Negroponte, Dr. Rusti Eisenberg (Hofstra University) and Dr. Lien-Hang Nguyen (Columbia University) https://youtu.be/xDiKXt9CilU
Reconciliation and Reckoning in Vietnam a panel at the
US Institute of Peace for the publication of The Long Reckoning with author George Black and subjects Susan Hammond, Chuck Searcy and Ngo Xuan Hien, moderated by Andrew Wells-Dang.
Recent VPCC webinars available on youtube
They Who Sang to End the War 1: Peter Yarrow, Reggie Harris and Sonny Ochs moderated by
Heather Booth Recorded on November 7. 2022 A moving recollection of how activists and singers strengthened each other to bring peace, with special attention to Phil Ochs
and Peter, Paul & Mary. Click
here
for bios and here
for youtube
video edited by Peter Yarrow.
They Who Sang to End the War 2:
Holly Near and Linda Tillery moderated by
Crys Mathews "A Black Music Response" Originally presented on December 5, 2022 Click
here
for bios and resources and directly on youtube
for the video recording.
"Ending the 'American War': Promises, Realities and Impact of the U.S. Peace Movement"; Dr. Carolyn (Rusti) Eissenberg, Arnold (Skip) Isaacs,
moderated by Dr, Paul Lauter, author of "Our Sixties"
Presented on
December 11, 2022. See speaker bios and youtube link by clicking
here
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"Citizens’ Responsibility for Confronting and Remembering the Crimes of War"
Recorded on November 20, 2022.
While the public, the press and government officials debate holding Russia responsible for its war crimes in Ukraine, it is appropriate to reflect on the history of US war crimes in Indochina that led to the Redress campaign
of civil disobedience. Dr. Richard Falk, Dr. Robert Jay Lifton, Cora WeissDr. and Doug Hostetter. Moderated by Dr. Carolyn (Rusti) Eisenberg.
See speaker bios, resources and youtube link by clicking
here.
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Olof Palme, Sweden, and the Vietnam War: A Diplomatic History by Lubna Z. Qureshi, PhD in U.S. history from the University of California, Berkeley.
"Neutral Sweden had the independence to challenge the Nixon administration that members of NATO did not have."
Olaf Palme and his Social Democratic compatriots who led the Swedish Committee for Vietnam provided support and inspiration to the US anti-war movement, demonstrating that varied political viewpoints legitimately favored Vietnam's
resistance to the US. -- J McA
Order here
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793638441/Olof-Palme-Sweden-and-the-Vietnam-War-A-Diplomatic-History
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What We Can and Can't Afford
by Bill Ehrhart
"Bill’s experiences in the Vietnam War have defined his life—first as an enlisted member of a Marine infantry battalion, then as an author, poet and teacher who has spent fifty years explicating the war and its consequences in books, lectures
and interviews. In sixty five essays he explores a diverse range of topics."
Order here https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/what-we-can-and-cant-afford/
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Fire and Rain: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Wars in Southeast Asia
by
Carolyn Woods Eisenberg, Hofstra University, member of VPCC
Interweaves Nixon and Kissinger's pursuit of the war in Southeast Asia and their diplomacy with the Soviet Union and China, the on-the-ground military events, and US domestic reactions to the war, including the anti-war movement
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/fire-and-rain-9780197639061?cc=us&lang=en&
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"The Long Reckoning: A Story of War, Peace, and Redemption in Vietnam"
by
George
Black
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"PAID to Piss People Off: Book #1:PEACE, Book #2: PORN, Book #3: PRAYER"
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a three volume memoir by Barry Lynn published by
Blue Cedar Press. PEACE covers his work for amnesty for Vietnam war resisters: draft refusers, military “deserters” and the tens of thousands of veterans who had been given “undesirable discharges” without trial.
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Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee
* Sally Benson * David Cortright * Jay Craven * Carolyn Eisenberg * Susan
Hammond *
* Doug Hostetter * Alex Knopp * Steven Ladd
* Paul Lauter * Robert Levering * Jack Malinowski *
*John McAuliff * Barbara Myers * Mark Pavlick * * Roger Peace * Terry Provance *
*
Brewster Rhoads * Joe Volk * Andrew Wells-Dang *
Linda Yarr *
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