David James will share his story, “The Day I Refused Induction” at our next History on Tap! event. He will, no doubt, also play one or two Vietnam-era protest songs. Join us on Wednesday, October 11 at 6pm in the newly family friendly South Bend Brew Werks. Beer, music, and the risk of arrest (50 years ago)? It’ll be a party.
Currently, the Ken Burns and Lynn Novick documentary about the Vietnam War is airing on PBS, and many different media outlets have discussed the documentary itself, as well as the impact and legacy of the Vietnam War itself. Here is just a small selection of press reaction.
Mark Feeney from the Boston Globe opines on how the documentary strives to have every voice and opinion about the war heard. With this objectivity however, the filmmakers “leave one unavoidable lesson for viewers to draw. It’s the most horrifying thing in a story full of horrors: how administration after administration kept getting deeper and deeper into Vietnam despite suspecting it was a mistake or knowing it outright. Inertia, and politics, were in the saddle, and hundreds of thousands died as a consequence.”
The New York Times notes how the documentary not only covers the war itself, but the factors leading up to it such as the history of French colonization in Vietnam and the rise of Ho Chi Minh. Ultimately, it is “Mr. Burns’s saddest film,” according to the Times, due to the fact that the historical events it covers did not have an ending with any positivity, unlike the events covered in Burns’s other films, and that the documentary is “less an indictment than a lament.”
Finally, The Economist discusses the series and the war in the context of both American and Vietnamese perspectives:
“The series will be equally wrenching for Vietnamese viewers. The conflict was a civil war, numerous Vietnamese interviewees insist—“down to the family level”, says Duong Van Mai Elliott, a Vietnamese-American academic from the South whose sister went north to join the communists.”
For the month of October, stop by the lobby on the first floor of the Schurz Library at IU South Bend to see an exhibit of military art and history. “The Things They Carried: Sequences” collects items used by veterans, as well as their stories — soon to be shared online. The exhibit is in four sections. One highlights the classic and most influential works of literature concerning the experience of war, from The Kite Runner to For Whom the Bell Tolls, including (of course) Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried. Another section also highlights works of beauty from the battlefield, this time in the form of “trench art” objects.
Two other sections have a historical bent. One illustrates the change in helmets and head gear worn by soldiers and sailors from World War I to World War II to the Korean and Vietnam Wars to the Cold War and both Gulf Wars. The last section showcases the person items carried by veterans, including dog tags and neckerchiefs and lighters and pocket knives and compasses. Every artifact was seen by its owner as important enough to keep for years after their service.
The material on display was loaned by current IU South Bend students, alumni, faculty and staff, community members, and the History Museum. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
On December 1, 1969, the Selective Service System of the United States conducted two lotteries to determine the order of call to military service in the Vietnam War for men born from 1944 to 1950. A long piece about what it was like to be drafted to serve in the US Military during Vietnam can be found here. The author says within a minute after graduating, he changed his status from II-S (student) to I-A (cannon fodder).
What would have happened to you? Click through here to find out if you would have been drafted, based on your birth date.
As part of the Big Read St. Joe programming this Fall, we will be hosting TEDx IU South Bend. You’ve seen the exciting presentations of TED Talks online or heard them on radio programs. TEDx is designed to help communities spark conversations and connections through local TED-like experiences.
In November, IU South Bend will put on our own officially licensed TEDx Talks. (The date is likely Saturday, 11/4.) The topic of these stimulating presentations will be “Memory.” The Big Read St. Joe title, “The Things They Carried,” is all about memory. In fact, memories are a thing that all of us carry. And the book’s main character is Tim O’Brien, which is also the name of the author. But it’s fiction. Can memories be changed? Are they real? How are they formed in the mind? How do they influence our behavior in the world? How important is it to have them or share them or hide them?
If you would like to participate in TEDx IU South Bend: Memories, please contact Jay VanderVeen (jmvander@iusb.edu) with an idea. Students, faculty, staff, and community are all welcome to present ideas for consideration.
The talk given by Katlin Mann on “The War Comes to South Bend: A History of the Anti-Draft Movement at IU South Bend” was well attended and highly engaging. Plus, portions of the day’s earnings went to help with Hurricane Harvey relief. Beer for good!
Save the dates of the upcoming two History on Tap! events:
Darryl Heller of the Civil Rights Heritage Center will speak about African American counter-culture activities on Wednesday, October 11 at 6pm.
Aaron Warkentin of the Studebaker National Museum will speak about the car company’s involvement as part of the “military industrial complex” on Wednesday, November 8 at 6pm.
Everyone should read Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, of course, but sometimes it’s more convenient to listen to the stories, too. Public Radio International has a podcast called Selected Shorts. You can find how to subscribe here or “watch” it on YouTube.
The main goal of the Big Read St. Joe is to have the entire community read and talk about an important American title. “The Things They Carried” certainly fits that bill (a New York Times book of the century, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and winner of the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize). You can participate with others who have read the book at a number of local library discussions. There are dozens of copies available to borrow, and plenty of opportunities to meet your schedule.
The first public book discussion is at IU South Bend on 9/28 at 5pm in Fireside A of Administration Building.
And mark your calendars for public discussions at Mishawaka Penn Harris Public Library (10/19, 10/23, and 11/14) and St. Joseph County Public Library (11/8).
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There will be a lot of programming centered around The Things They Carried. Here’s just a sample. More on the Google calendar found here. More on book discussions in a subsequent post.