Saturday 14 March 2009

Antiwarriors: The Vietnam War and the Battle for America's Hearts and Minds

by Melvin Small

After meeting at the White House, the doves marched to the foot of the Washington Monument to listen to music and speeches. Entertainer and pacifist-activist Joan Baez lent her talents to the rally, as did Phil Ochs who, capturing the SDS ethos, sang "Love Me, I'm a Liberal." Among the speakers were I. F. Stone and Senator Ernest Gruening. Stone, the editor of a one-person, muckraking independent newsletter, took issue with some of his platform colleagues. He was a longtime liberal who had "seen snot-nosed Marxists and Leninists come and go." SDS leader Paul Potter brought down the house with his question, "What kind of system" permitted "good men" to do such evil? He said "We must name the system. We must name it, describe it, analyze it, understand it, and change it."

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