Hardhats, Hippies, and Hawks

Penny Lewis

Description

In the popular imagination, opposition to the Vietnam War was driven largely by college students and elite intellectuals, while supposedly reactionary blue-collar workers largely supported the war effort. In Hardhats, Hippies, and Hawks, Penny Lewis challenges this collective memory of class polarization. Through close readings of archival documents, popular culture, and media accounts at the time, she offers a more accurate "counter-memory" of a diverse, cross-class opposition to the war in Southeast Asia that included the labor movement, working-class students, soldiers and veterans, and Black Power, civil rights, and Chicano activists. Lewis investigates why the image of antiwar class division gained such traction at the time and has maintained such a hold on popular memory since. Identifying the primarily middle-class culture of the early antiwar movement, she traces how the class interests of its first organizers were reflected in its subsequent forms. The founding narratives of class-based political behavior, Lewis shows, were amplified in the late 1960s and early 1970s because the working class, in particular, lacked a voice in the public sphere, a problem that only increased in the subsequent period, even as working-class opposition to the war grew. By exposing as false the popular image of conservative workers and liberal elites separated by an unbridgeable gulf, Lewis suggests that shared political attitudes and actions are, in fact, possible between these two groups.

Sujets

• États-Unis
• Viêt Nam
• Activism
• History of the Americas
• Social class
• Vietnam War
• Vietnam
• United States of America
• USA
• Histoire

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 mai 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801467813
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

HARDHATS,HIPPIES, AND HAWKS

HARDHATS, HIPPIES,AND HAWKS TheVietnamAntiwarMovementas Myth and Memory

ILR PRESS AN IMPRINT OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

PennyLewis

Copyright © 2013 by Penny Lewis Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,orparts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

Firstpublished2013byCornellUniversityPress First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2013 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Lewis, Penny (Penny W.)  Hardhats, hippies, and hawks : the Vietnam antiwar movement as myth and memory / Penny Lewis.  p. cm.  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801451744 (cloth : alk. paper)  ISBN 9780801478567 (pbk. : alk. paper)  1. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Protest movements—United States. 2. Peace movements—United States—History—20th century. 3. Social conflict—United States—History—20th century. 4. Collective memory—United States. 5. Memory—Social aspects—United States. I. Title.  DS559.62.U6L49 2013  959.704'31—dc23 2012043994

CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentallyresponsiblesuppliersand materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ForSteve,Clara,andEleanor InlovingmemoryofEvelynDorothyShtob

Contents

IPar t

Acknowledgments Introduction 1 . Collective Memory of Vietnam Antiwar Sentiment and Protest

THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT: A LIBERAL ELITE? 2 Cultures and the Movement’s Early Years. MiddleClass 3 in the Movement: Complicating. Countercurrents the Class Base 4 . Countermemory I: “A Rich Man’s War and a Poor Man’s Fight” 5 Countermemory II: GIs and Veterans Join the Movement

Par t II HARDHAT HAWKS?: WORKINGCLASS CONSERVATISM 6 of the Class Divide. Anticipation 7 versus Elite Doves: Consolidation of the Image. Hardhats Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

ix 1

19

49

77

99 116

141 159 186 197 231 247

Acknowledgments

Iamdeeplygratefultoallofthewonderfulpeopleinbothmyworkandpersonal lives who have sustained me through the development of this book from its first days. Colleagues, friends and family shared their ideas, criticisms, and advice; sent me sources and helped me navigate archives; supported me in myriad ways to give me space to write; and offered encouragement at every stage. The book that emerged is all the stronger for their support. (Its weaknesses remaining quite my own.) IworkedwithintheCityUniversityofNewYork(CUNY)throughoutthis time, where I found outstanding mentors, colleagues, and institutional support. At the CUNY Graduate Center, Stanley Aronowitz, Frances Piven, and Josh Free man generously shared their wisdom, extended their encouragement, and pro vided me with models of engaged intellectual work. They served as advisers when this book was first hatched as a dissertation, and I feel profoundly fortunate that they continue to advise me as colleagues and friends. Bob Alford, who passed away before I began this project, contributed to how I initially mapped out my inquiry, and I was buoyed by my memory of him and his dedication to sociologi cal practice throughout the process of writing it. FacultyandfellowstudentsattheGraduateCenter,colleaguesattheBor ough of Manhattan Community College, and other past and present colleagues across CUNY and the Professional Staff Congress provided years of intellectual fellowship, direct support (thank you reading groups!), and solidarity while I was at work on the successive iterations of this project. My thanks go to Victoria Allen, Debbie Bell, Dorothee Benz, Gay Brookes, Jeff Bussolini, Barbara Bowen, Jonathan Buchsbaum, August Carbonella, Ron Doviak, Ariel Ducey, Hester Eisenstein, Mike Fabricant, Bill Friedheim, Anne Friedman, Maggie Gray, Re becca Hill, Robin Isserles, Miriam Jimenez, Rati Kashyap, Bill Kornblum, Steve London, Lorna Mason, Rich Meagher, Kathy McDonald, Ananya Mukherjea, Jim Perlstein, Charlie Post, Nancy Romer, Michelle Ronda, Neil Smith, Alex Vitale, Jean BaptisteVelut, and Betsy Wissinger. Miriam Greenberg and Kristin Lawler have been my steady comrades throughout; their constant encouragement and example, intellectual energy and fearlessness have kept me going from our first days as graduate students. Ihavebenefitedenormouslyfromtheintellectualandpoliticalcommunity at the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies, and