Waging in Vietnam Curriculum Options

Below are suggested classes on GI and veteran resistance to the Vietnam that can be incorporated into courses on social movements, political change and other topics. Four classes are listed: instructors can pick or choose as they wish from among the suggested classes and listed resources.

The proposed classes will introduce students to the history of the GI and veterans’ movement as a part of the Vietnam antiwar movement. The suggested readings also address race and class issues. Also included is contact information for Veterans for Peace to help instructors connect with veterans who may be willing to come to class and share personal stories of military service and antiwar resistance.

A comprehensive bibliography of the GI and veterans’ antiwar movement, along with photos and graphic content, is available at the Waging Peace in Vietnam website.

Students and faculty can access The GI Press Collection, produced in cooperation with the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam and the Wisconsin State Historical Society, for searchable text, content from more than 2,400 periodicals, and other items such as pamphlets and posters created by or for U.S. service members during the era.

Class Schedule and Assignments

Class 1 An overview of GI resistance to the Seidman, Derek. “Vietnam and the Vietnam War Soldiers Revolt: The Politics of a Forgotten History,” Monthly Review Vol 68, No. 2 (June 2016).

Parsons, David L. Dangerous Grounds: Antiwar Coffeehouses and Military Dissent in the Vietnam Era. University of North Carolina Press, 2017.

Introduction and Chapter 2; seven- minute excerpt from Sir! No Sir! video.

Class 2 The veteran’s story; invite a member of Veterans for Peace is a national Veterans For Peace or other veterans network of local chapters of Vietnam, groups to come to class and talk about the and war veterans. experience of serving in the military. Contact your local chapter. Request contact information here.

Class 3 The Vietnam Veterans’ movement Lewis, Penny. Hardhats, and Hawks: The Vietnam Antiwar Movement as Myth and Memory. Cornell University Press, 2013. Introduction and Chapter 5.

Hunt, Andrew E. The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. New York University Press, 1999, Chapters 1-5. Class 4 Class, race and military war resistance Appy, Christian. Working Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993, chapters 2 and 7.

Cortright, David. “Black GI Resistance During the Vietnam War.” Vietnam Generation, II, No. 1 (1990).