Tuesday, September 24, 2013

March For Victory In Vietnam - October 3, 1970

On October 3, 1970, I joined 150,000 other Christian Americans for a Victory In Vietnam March through Washington, D.C., headed by the Reverend Dr. Carl McIntire. The press coverage was as bigoted and prejudicial as it is now. 

I will never forget the huge formation that formed at the Mall area where we headed for one end of Pennsylvania Avenue, down that street and wound up at the Washington Monument. At the end of Pennsylvania Avenue, where we turned to the left, there was a large crowd of long-haired dirty smelling protesters with a huge sign condemning us. They were yelling vile obscenities, calling us Nazis, spitting at us and throwing not a few objects at us. I will never forget the prominence of olive skin among them, which befuddled me in those days because they seemed to be somewhat different than the rest of us. 

At about the same time, many college student protesters were losing their draft deferments and being sent to fight in Viet Nam. This was unfortunate because the number of fragging incidents increased and there were increased problems with discipline in the field. I doubt that many people then understood the connections between children of Communist Party Members, student protesters, olive skin, and belligerent draftees. According to Nathan Glazer, a Jewish Professor of Social Structure at Harvard University, who authored the book entitled, "Remembering the Answers, The Jewish Role in Student Activism," Basic Books (1970), approximately 94% of those organizing the student protest movement came from that community. This was unfortunate, given the amount of support and lives spent more recently by our country defending Israel. I recommend that you get a copy of this book and read it.

More recently, one of the former Jewish anti-war organizers, David Horowitz, published several books: "The Destructive Generation," "Radical Son," and "Politics of Bad Faith." In these books he detailed how his family was comprised of three generations of Communist Party members. Nathan Glazer also authored a book entitled, "The Social Origins of American Communism" in which he explained how the Jewish community in America has always provided the "shock troops for the Communist Party. Again, this is unfortunate. I recommend that you also get a copies of these books and read them.

And so, if you are a veteran who suffered mental anguish at the hands of protesters when you returned from serving your country, please know that most Americans supported your war, and that the protest movement came from a very small minority of our population who comprised approximately 94% of its organizers. Like the Viet Cong and NVA, they were communist Reds fighting that war right here at home. Some of us are still standing up for you, even though we still get spit at and called vile names by those trying to conceal their past.

Just to give credit where credit is due, I am posting the pictures of two such organizers. They are Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin.