Vietnam Releases United States' Prisoners of War

Event Category: Peace Movement Time: 1973
Locale: Vietnam, United States

The release of the United States' Prisoners of War by Vietnam and simultaneous
withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Indochina signaled the end of U.S. military involvement in a war that had become increasingly unpopular in the U.S principal Personages:

RICHARD NIXON (b. 1913 ) the President of the United States from 1968 until 1974, when he resigned from office.

HENRY KISSINGER (b. 1923- ) the National Security Advisor to President Nixon who acted as chief U.S. negotiator during the Paris peace talks.

LE DUC THO (b. 1941 - ) a North Vietnamese Politburo member who acted as chief negotiator for Vietnam during the Paris talks.

MELVIN LAIRD (b. 1922 - ) the Secretary of Defense under President Nixon who designed the plan for "Vietnamization" of the war and who urged that the U.S. "go public" on prisoners of war.

NGUYEN VAN THIEU (b. 1923 - ) the President of South Vietnam from 1967 until 1975 when South Vietnam was taken over by North Vietnam.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR (b. 1929 -d. 1968) a prominent civil rights leader in the U.S. who linked the civil rights movement with the anti-war movement.

JANE FONDA (b.1937 - ) a U.S. actress who was prominent in the peace movement and traveled to Hanoi in 1972.

Background and Description

The opinions of the United States government and the peace movement about the prisoner of war (POW) issue mirrored different approaches to understanding the Vietnam war. The government viewed publicizing the incarceration of POWs as one way to arouse indignation of the U.S. citizens toward Hanoi. The peace movement attempted to deflect attention from the problems of POWs in North Vietnam by stressing the U.S. responsiblity for torture of prisoners held in South Vietnam. While the U.S. government sought a military solution in Veitnam and mechansims to contain dissent at home, the peace movement criticized U.S. domestic and foreign policies in social, political, and cultural terms. The peace movement in the United States was influenced heavily by the civil rights movement of the early 1960s. Especially influential was the Southern Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) which worked to oppose racial segregation in the southern states.

Students of all races that had been active in the civil rights movement through Freedom Rides, boycotts, and voter registration projects learned to demonstrate their discontent and to integrate non-exclusive organization and non-violent protest. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) became one of the largest organizations associated with the peace movement during the late 1960s. In 1962 leaders of SDS drafted the Port Huron statement, which called for non-exclusion of socialist and communist groups, and for participatory, grass-roots democracy. The rejection of red-baiting and promotion of democratic decision-making and nonexclusion by SDS became hallmarks of the peace movement and were used to define a New Left, which rejected dogma and the fragmentation of the Old Left. The prominence of SDS dramatically increased as a result of its decision to protest the U.S. intervention in Vietnam by sponsoring the first national demonstration against the war in Washington, DC and by organizing teach-ins, at which people would learn about Vietnam and U.S. policy. By June 1969, however, SDS had become factionalized to the point where it dissolved. Despite popular perceptions, the peace movement had a broader base than student organizations. American blacks protested U.S. involvement in Vietnam as well. Since the combat soldiers that were sent to Vietnam were disproportionately black and since many blacks were upset at the federal government for not protecting their rights while using rhetoric that the U.S. was defending the rights of Vietnamese, many blacks (especially the youth involved with SNCC) were strongly involved in the anti-war movement.

Martin Luther King, Jr. became an active leader in the peace movement in 1967, stressing that the importance of his emphasis on promoting non-violence in the civil rights movement paled when compared to the level of violence the U.S. was using in Vietnam. Prominent Hollywood personalities also became involved with activities in support of the peace movement. In 1970 and 1971 Jane Fonda and other entertainers toured under the name "Free the Army Antiwar Troupe" in areas around U.S. military bases in order to encourage military personnel to protest U.S. policies. When Fonda visited Hanoi in 1972, she made numerous anti-war radio broadcasts to U.S. troops. Upon returning to the U.S., although Fonda had seen POWs, she did not defend them. In reaction to her trip and reports, Colorado and Maryland tried to ban Fonda from entering the states. An intellectual wing, embodied in the Community of Concerned Asian Scholars (CCAS), became a large factor in the peace movement.

Consisting of academics and graduate students who had been trained in various aspects of Asian Studies, CCAS broke from the larger academic community (particularly the Association for Asian Studies) which refused to take an official stand on the war. Seeing complicity in silence, CCAS members were determined to take responsibility for the results of their research. Once organized, CCAS became a source for vital information on Vietnam for a movement (and a society) that had little understanding of the country or its people. Through books, lectures, periodicals, and conferences CCAS served as a counter to the governmental disinformation about Vietnam and U.S. policy. Utilizing many different tactics, the peace movement was able to exert considerable influence on public opinion. Large marches became a major way in which the movement was able to show its strength and gain media attention.

On April 24, 1971 one million protestors crowded Washington, D.C. in the largest demonstration in U.S. history. Parts of the movement also used direct action, especially targeting the draft. Youth burned their draft cards at the risk of imprisonment and priests destroyed draft boards' records in symbolic protest. The use of teach-ins to spread information about Vietnam spread to college campuses across the U.S. On October 15, 1969, millions of people participated in a day of moratorium by not working. The governmental response to the peace movement was multi-faceted. Most visibly, the U.S. government, especially under President Nixon, countered demonstrators with strong rhetoric, painting the demonstrators as unpatriotic radicals. This rhetoric sprung from the attitude that protesters were students who were self-indulgent and morally rudderless, allowing officials to discredit the actions. Aside from mere criticism, the government instituted harsh policies against the peace movement. Over 3,000 draft resistors were imprisoned for burning draft cards and/or tampering with draft records. Further, the Nixon administration established domestic espionage and infiltration programs, using both the FBI and the CIA. Under the Counter Intelligence Program (FBI) and Operation Chaos (CIA), the government systematically spied on and attempted to subvert activist organizations by planting agents. The information gathered or created was then used to blacklist anti-war activists and in some instances was used to bring charges against organizations, diverting their resources from opposing the war. A major target was the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars.

Evidence suggests that some of the agencies used provocateurs to participate in illegal activities, thereby entrapping activists. Part of the Nixon administration's response to defuse public opinion was to open public negotiations and to implement "Vietnamization," which called for an increased reliance on Vietnamese troops and a reduction in the number of U.S. troops deployed in Vietnam. The chief proponent of Vietnamization, Melvin Laird, also recommended that the administration make the prisoners of war a public issue, changing the silence that had predominated during the Johnson administration. The U.S. intended to use the POW issue "to bring world opinion to bear on the North Vietnamese," by charging that the Vietnamese had maltreated and tortured prisoners. In accordance with this goal, in 1969 and 1970 the U.S. brought up the issue with the International Red Cross and the United Nations. Finally, some prisoners who were released early were used to broadcast charges of maltreatment by their captors. Making the POWs a public issue in tandem with negotiations also allowed the administration to dismiss immediate withdrawal plans as unrealistic since they did not resolve the issue of the POWs. Critics of the administration's policy charged that the rhetoric they used against the Vietnamese merely increased the value of the prisoners as hostages. Another charge of the peace movement was that the Nixon administration manipulated the issue of the prisoners to expand the war and to continue to keep U.S. forces in Vietnam. Both sides in the war violated international standards for treatment of prisoners. The recounting of torture by U.S. prisoners, the early parading of prisoners as "war criminals" in Hanoi, and the lack of information given about the prisoners by the government of North Vietnam all are clear violations of international conventions.

In the South, however, treatment was as harsh, if not harsher. Don Luce and Representative Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) revealed that prisoners were kept in "tiger cages" on Con Son island. Guerrillas who were captured were classified as political dissidents, not prisoners of war (and, thus, not protected by international convention). Aside from the evidence of torture of prisoners, there is strong evidence showing that U.S. forces often killed prisoners in the battlefield in order to raise the body count figures. On January 27, 1973 the Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam and a Protocol on Prisoners of War were signed by the United States, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (National Liberation Front), and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). When the POWs were returned to the U.S., the treatment they received was less than honorable. They were not allowed to speak freely for a period after their return and when allowed to speak it was in controlled press conferences. Some prisoners who had made statements against the war while captives were charged with aiding the enemy. These charges were dismissed after one of the accused shot himself to death. Since there no longer existed any clear issue for the peace movement around which to organize, the diverse groups had no reason to continue to work together and returned to separate domestic concerns.

Impact of Human Rights Event

The peace movement in the Vietnam era changed the way people in the United States thought about government and politics. Foremost among these changes is that a large segment of the population grew to distrust the federal government, especially the presidency. A direct result of this sentiment was the War Powers Act of 1973 which intended to curb the power of the president to commit U.S. troops abroad. The attitude that one could not trust the government spread to other institutions and resulted in what is often referred to as the "Me Generation," during which people in the U.S. became increasingly self-absorbed. For the first time since the founding of a bipartisan consensus on foreign policy after World War II, the public grew to challenge the assumptions that underlaid U.S. policy. The Congressional consensus broke down, resulting in the U.S. decision to not send troops to Angola. The change in perspective about the public's right to debate foreign policy also led to a larger segment active in challenging Presidential and State Department decisions. The methods of the peace movement in the Vietnam era permeated society, such that the ideals of non-violent resistance and grass-roots organizing have become a mainstay of social movements. Not only have progressive organizations continued to use these protest tactics, but also conservative organizations,notably anti-abortion groups, have adopted similar strategies in pursuit of their goals. Scholars who were blacklisted for their anti-war activities in the Vietnam era continue to feel the impact, as some still were unable to get jobs within the field of Asian studies. In large part, these scholars' input on governmental decisions has been limited, as has their access to research and grant money. However, their prolific output of information during the war has changed the context of academic debate and helped to encourage a strain of activist scholar. The division in society did not end with the war, but still manifests itself in various ways in the contemporary U.S. First, there is conflict over whether there are any living prisoners of war/missing in action in Indochina. In large part, however, the numbers of MIA include a significant number of people known to have been killed in action. Still there are some people and organizations (e.g., National League of Families of American Prisoners an Missing in Southeast Asia) that demand a full accounting of every MIA. Second, and strongly related to the issue of MIAs, there are differing perceptions over whether and when the U.S. should normalize relations with Vietnam. Those who believe that U.S. prisoners are still being held in Vietnam and accuse Vietnam of not cooperating on the POW/MIA issue often use this to dismiss the possibility of normalization, expressing continued hostility toward the country of Vietnam.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kissinger, Henry. White House Years . Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979. Memoirs of Kissinger's period as National Security Advisor to Nixon. Events are separated chronologically, making the index a necessary (but not sufficient guide) to any particular topic. Provides some insight as to the inner workings of the administration, but, more importantly, provides a glimpse of the hostility toward Congressional action and shows the conservative perceptions that shaped U.S. policy.

Rosas, Allan.
The Legal Status of Prisoners of War: A Study in International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts . Helsinki: Suomalanine Tiedeakatemia, 1976, pp. 167-185. Despite legalistic approach, provides an excellent, balanced summary of issues relating to prisoners of war during the Vietnam War, showing how the U.S. experience in Korea shaped POW negotiations and how the issue of POWs in the Vietnam war differed from standard practice. Utilizes a balance of official and primary source material from many perspectives.

Sales, Kirkpatrick. SDS . New York: Random House, 1973. Traces the history of the organization from its beginnings as an offshoot from the League of Industrial Democracy to its factionalized stage. A definitive history of the group made possible by the use of the SDS archives.

Young, Marilyn B. The Vietnam Wars: 1945-90 . New York: HarperCollins, 1991. Highly accessible and readable overview of the U.S. involvement in and with Vietnam. Well-documented account provides balance of social and political angles of U.S. involvement.

Zaroulis, Nancy L. and Gerald Sullivan. Who Spoke Up American Protest Against the War in Vietnam, 1963-1975 . Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984. A balanced account of the peace movement . Reliance on secondary materials makes this a chronological account, rather than an in-depth analysis.
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personage: 169
background: 1503
impact: 486
bibliog.: 279

Richard C. Kagan Hamline University Cross Rreference: 1955 Standard minimum Rules for Treat of Prisoners set by United Nations 1964 Martin Luther King, Jr. wins Nobel Peace Prize 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago is marred by riots and police violence against antiwar demonstrators 1970 Four students killed at Kent State 1970 Lt. William Calley court martialed for massacre at My Lai 1974 It is revealed that FBI and CIA made efforts to disrupt civil rights and antiwar movements in 1960s.