Antiwarriors
Antiwarriors: The Vietnam War And The Battle For America's Hearts And Minds. By Melvin Small. (Wilmington, DE, Scholarly Resources Inc, 2002. pp. 163). The antiwar movement during the Vietnam Conflict was the most effective and long lasting of all the antiwar movements in American history. Up to that point, no other war has generated as much anarchy as much as Johnson's and Nixon's decisions to battle in Vietnam did. "Although never able to create enough pressure on decision makers to end U.S. involvement in the war, it served as a major constraint on their abilities to escalate...In many ways, the movement's greatest importance was its legacy." (1) There are still many unanswered questions revolving around this movement and its lasting effects though. How did it get to be as effective as it did? What were its lasting effects that can still be felt today? Who did the movement actually benefit at the time? All of these questions have two sides to them and may not be able to be answered from both sides at this point in history, but Melvin Small's "Antiwarriors" attempts to answer these questions. "Antiwarriors" is divided into nine chapters. Chapter one describes the origins of the people involved in the movement as we
ll as the general reasons for different groups getting involved. This is what made "Antiwarriors" as effective as it was as a factual writing. Sources per chapter ranged from ten to thirty different writings. Small was one of the various supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful Eugene McCarthy, many of whom were found sleeping at his less than exciting keynote addresses. Melvin Small used many sources for his book, one of these sources being his personal experience during the war. His personal experience attending political rallies, marches and meetings give him the qualifications to put together these sources, most of which are writings on the presidents at that time, the war itself, the politics surrounding it, and books on the antiwar movement. Some may contend that the movement prolonged the war because it gave hope to Communists that America was on the side of North Vietnam. This is why Small never takes this claim to be entirely truthful or that Communists did not understand American government. The only way to organize and explain this time in American history would be to explain right at the start what groups where on what side. From the protestors chants of "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, Ho Chi Minh is gonna win" to Nixon's vulgar responses, these quotes add something to the book and to its notoriety that would not have been there if not for the sayings by the actual people involved. The final chapter was the conclusion of this book. These stories would have been considered to be the fringe of society views and ones that Small does not agree with. Chapters five and six both illustrate the ways the movement tried to pressure the presidents directly, with the main difference in those chapters being chapter five was involving President Johnson while chapter six involved President Nixon. The American presidency may have been more corrupt at this time, but it was for the better. Small does an excellent job of putting to work the various sources that he compiled into "Antiwarriors".
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