Vietnam War
Updated on September 15, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Source: Howard Zinn Papers, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
In an undated letter (probably in 1966), Zinn said that he would not allow the grades he gave to play a role in helping the United States wage immoral wars. He announced that for students with a moral opposition to the war…
Updated on January 19, 2019 by Howard Zinn Website
In this editorial, Howard Zinn nominates Eartha Kitt for Woman of the Year and Dr. Benjamin Spock for Man of the Year because “both refused to play the game” by speaking out against the Vietnam War. Excerpt: We’ve become fanatic about the word communist and this is part of the game. It’s the game that …
Posted on March 5, 2018 by Howard Zinn Website
Originally broadcast on “What’s Happening Mr. Silver?” on WGBH Boston, Howard Zinn lauds Eartha Kitt and Dr. Benjamin Spock for their public resistance and calls on everyone to actively resist and protest social injustice. What’s Happening Mr. Silver? • 1968
Updated on April 26, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
This year, as the Pentagon prepares to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we revisit this essay by Howard Zinn written in 1998, the 30th anniversary year of when he traveled with the Reverend Daniel Berrigan to Hanoi to receive prisoners released by the North Vietnamese. In talking about the terrible effects of …
Updated on March 8, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
December 30 is the anniversary of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo being indicted in 1971 for releasing the Pentagon Papers. The papers were part of a 7,000-page, top secret history of the U.S. political and military involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945-71. In other words, their “crime” was to make the American public aware …
Updated on August 20, 2014 by Howard Zinn Website
Published in The Progressive • January 27, 2006
The war against Iraq, the assault on its people, the occupation of its cities, will come to an end, sooner or later. The process has already begun. The first signs of mutiny are appearing in Congress. The first editorials calling for withdrawal from Iraq are beginning to appear in the press. The anti-war movement has been growing, slowly but persistently, all over the country.
Public opinion polls now show the country decisively against the war and the Bush Administration. The harsh realities have become visible. The troops will have to come home.
Updated on May 25, 2019 by Howard Zinn Website
AMY GOODMAN: Well, you just came from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility? HOWARD ZINN: Well, actually, yesterday afternoon I spoke at the Bedford Hills, euphemistically called, Correctional Facility. They hardly correct anything, but… I spoke to prisoners there, women prisoners, mostly prisoners of color. I spoke to them yesterday afternoon before I gave this talk last …
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Democracy Now!, In the South, Politics, Prison, Spelman College, Vietnam War, WWII
Updated on September 14, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Published in the Miami Herald • September 16, 2004
If John Kerry wants to win, he must recognize that our military intervention in Iraq is a disaster — for Americans, for Iraqis, for the world. He must stop boasting about his courage in Vietnam and instead start talking about his moral courage in opposing that war. He needs to stop saying, as he did recently in the Midwest, that he defended this country when he was fighting in Vietnam. That is not an honest statement. If it were true, then he would not have turned against the war.
He was not defending this country when he fought in Vietnam. He was defending this country when he said that we were wrong to be in Vietnam and we should get out.
Updated on April 26, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Published in The Progressive • January 1, 2004
In the spring of 1967, my book Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal was published by Beacon Press. It was the first book on the war to call for immediate withdrawal, no conditions. Many liberals were saying: “Yes, we should leave Vietnam, but President Johnson can’t just do it; it would be very hard to explain to the American people.”My response, in the last chapter of my book, was to write a speech for Lyndon Johnson, explaining to the American people why he was ordering the immediate evacuation of American armed forces from Vietnam. No, Johnson did not make that speech, and the war went on. But I am undaunted, and willing to make my second attempt at speech writing.
Updated on August 8, 2014 by Howard Zinn Website
We go now to historian Howard Zinn. He talks about the history of government propaganda as well as mainstream media propaganda in times of war. Democracy Now! • February 13, 2003
Vietnam War
My Grades Will Not Be Instruments of War
Updated on September 15, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Source: Howard Zinn Papers, Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
In an undated letter (probably in 1966), Zinn said that he would not allow the grades he gave to play a role in helping the United States wage immoral wars. He announced that for students with a moral opposition to the war…
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, From the Archives Tags: Boston University, Education, From the Archives: Tamiment Library, Vietnam War
Howard Zinn Guest Editorial (1968): “Refuse to play the game of silence in the midst of murder”
Updated on January 19, 2019 by Howard Zinn Website
In this editorial, Howard Zinn nominates Eartha Kitt for Woman of the Year and Dr. Benjamin Spock for Man of the Year because “both refused to play the game” by speaking out against the Vietnam War. Excerpt: We’ve become fanatic about the word communist and this is part of the game. It’s the game that …
Category: Audio & Video, Video About Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Politics, Vietnam War
Howard Zinn Lauds Eartha Kitt and Dr. Benjamin Spock for Their Resistance (1968)
Posted on March 5, 2018 by Howard Zinn Website
Originally broadcast on “What’s Happening Mr. Silver?” on WGBH Boston, Howard Zinn lauds Eartha Kitt and Dr. Benjamin Spock for their public resistance and calls on everyone to actively resist and protest social injustice. What’s Happening Mr. Silver? • 1968
Category: Audio & Video, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activist, Politics, Vietnam War
Remembering a War
Updated on April 26, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
This year, as the Pentagon prepares to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we revisit this essay by Howard Zinn written in 1998, the 30th anniversary year of when he traveled with the Reverend Daniel Berrigan to Hanoi to receive prisoners released by the North Vietnamese. In talking about the terrible effects of …
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, News Tags: Excerpts, Vietnam War
The Pentagon Papers Disclosure and Indictments
Updated on March 8, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
December 30 is the anniversary of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo being indicted in 1971 for releasing the Pentagon Papers. The papers were part of a 7,000-page, top secret history of the U.S. political and military involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945-71. In other words, their “crime” was to make the American public aware …
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn, News Tags: Activist, Excerpts, Vietnam War, War
After the War
Updated on August 20, 2014 by Howard Zinn Website
Published in The Progressive • January 27, 2006
The war against Iraq, the assault on its people, the occupation of its cities, will come to an end, sooner or later. The process has already begun. The first signs of mutiny are appearing in Congress. The first editorials calling for withdrawal from Iraq are beginning to appear in the press. The anti-war movement has been growing, slowly but persistently, all over the country.
Public opinion polls now show the country decisively against the war and the Bush Administration. The harsh realities have become visible. The troops will have to come home.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: American Empire, Essays and Speeches, The Progressive, Vietnam War, War
“To Be Neutral, To Be Passive In A Situation Is To Collaborate With Whatever Is Going On”
Updated on May 25, 2019 by Howard Zinn Website
AMY GOODMAN: Well, you just came from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility? HOWARD ZINN: Well, actually, yesterday afternoon I spoke at the Bedford Hills, euphemistically called, Correctional Facility. They hardly correct anything, but… I spoke to prisoners there, women prisoners, mostly prisoners of color. I spoke to them yesterday afternoon before I gave this talk last …
Category: Articles & Interviews, Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Interviews With Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activism, Democracy Now!, In the South, Politics, Prison, Spelman College, Vietnam War, WWII
Kerry Needs the Courage to Walk Away from Iraq
Updated on September 14, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Published in the Miami Herald • September 16, 2004
If John Kerry wants to win, he must recognize that our military intervention in Iraq is a disaster — for Americans, for Iraqis, for the world. He must stop boasting about his courage in Vietnam and instead start talking about his moral courage in opposing that war. He needs to stop saying, as he did recently in the Midwest, that he defended this country when he was fighting in Vietnam. That is not an honest statement. If it were true, then he would not have turned against the war.
He was not defending this country when he fought in Vietnam. He was defending this country when he said that we were wrong to be in Vietnam and we should get out.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: Common Dreams, Elections, Essays and Speeches, Iraq, Mainstream Media, Vietnam War, War
The Logic of Withdrawal
Updated on April 26, 2020 by Howard Zinn Website
Published in The Progressive • January 1, 2004
In the spring of 1967, my book Vietnam: The Logic of Withdrawal was published by Beacon Press. It was the first book on the war to call for immediate withdrawal, no conditions. Many liberals were saying: “Yes, we should leave Vietnam, but President Johnson can’t just do it; it would be very hard to explain to the American people.”My response, in the last chapter of my book, was to write a speech for Lyndon Johnson, explaining to the American people why he was ordering the immediate evacuation of American armed forces from Vietnam. No, Johnson did not make that speech, and the war went on. But I am undaunted, and willing to make my second attempt at speech writing.
Category: Articles & Interviews, Articles by Howard Zinn Tags: Essays and Speeches, Iraq, The Progressive, Vietnam War, War
The History of Government and Media Lies in Time of War
Updated on August 8, 2014 by Howard Zinn Website
We go now to historian Howard Zinn. He talks about the history of government propaganda as well as mainstream media propaganda in times of war. Democracy Now! • February 13, 2003
Category: Audio & Video, Audio and Video with Howard Zinn, Video With Howard Zinn Tags: Activist, Democracy Now!, Essays and Speeches, Media, Vietnam War, War