The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam / Edition 1

by Jerry Lembcke

Overview

How the startling image of an anti-war protested spitting on a uniformed veteran misrepresented the narrative of Vietnam War political debate

One of the most resilient images of the Vietnam era is that of the anti-war protester — often a woman — spitting on the uniformed veteran just off the plane. The lingering potency of this icon was evident during the Gulf War, when war supporters invoked it to discredit their opposition.

In this startling book, Jerry Lembcke demonstrates that not a single incident of this sort has been convincingly documented. Rather, the anti-war Left saw in veterans a natural ally, and the relationship between anti-war forces and most veterans was defined by mutual support. Indeed one soldier wrote angrily to Vice President Spiro Agnew that the only Americans who seemed concerned about the soldier's welfare were the anti-war activists.

While the veterans were sometimes made to feel uncomfortable about their service, this sense of unease was, Lembcke argues, more often rooted in the political practices of the Right. Tracing a range of conflicts in the twentieth century, the book illustrates how regimes engaged in unpopular conflicts often vilify their domestic opponents for "stabbing the boys in the back."

Concluding with an account of the powerful role played by Hollywood in cementing the myth of the betrayed veteran through such films as Coming Home, Taxi Driver, and Rambo, Jerry Lembcke's book stands as one of the most important, original, and controversial works of cultural history in recent years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814751473
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2000
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	217
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jerry Lembcke grew up in Northwest Iowa. He was drafted in 1968 and served as a Chaplain’s Assistant in Vietnam. He is the author of eight books including The Spitting Image, CNN’s Tailwind Tail, and Hanoi Jane. His opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Boston Globe, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He is presently Associate Professor of Sociology, Emeritus, at Holy Cross College and Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.

Table of Contents

Preface ix
Introduction: The Spitting Image 1
Yellow Ribbons and Spat-Upon Veterans: Making Soldiers the Means and Ends of War 11
Dear Spiro Agnew: About Soldiers, Veterans, and the Anti-war Movement 27
The Nixon-Agnew Counteroffensive: ``Good Veterans'' vs. ``Bad Veterans'' 49
Spat-Upon Veterans: The Evidence (or Lack Thereof) 71
From Odysseus to Rambo: Coming-Home Stories 84
From Badness to Madness: The Mental Labeling of Vietnam Veterans 101
Women, Wetness, and Warrior Dreams 127
Myth, Spit, and the Flicks: Coming Home to Hollywood 144
We Are What We Remember 183
Notes 189
References 199
Filmography 207
Index 211
About the Author 217

What People are Saying About This

David Dellinger

The best history I have seen on the impact of the war on Americans, both then and now.

From the Publisher

"Well-argued and documented"

-Berkshire Eagle,

"The image is ingrained: A Vietnam veteran, arriving home from the war, gets off a plane only to be greeted by an angry mob of antiwar protesters yelling, 'Murderer!' and 'Baby killer!' Then out of the crowd comes someone who spits in the veteran's face. The only problem, according to Jerry Lembcke, is that no such incident ever has been documented. It is instead, says Lembcke, a kind of urban myth that reflects our lingering national confusion over the war."

-Los Angeles Times,

"The myth of the spat-upon veteran is not only bad history, but it has been instrumental in selling the American public on bad policy."

-Maurice Isserman,Chicago Tribune

"The best history I have seen on the impact of the war on Americans, both then and now."

-David Dellinger,

"Lembcke builds a compelling case against collective memory by demonstrating that remembrances of Vietnam were almost at direct odds with circumstantial evidence."

-San Francisco Chronicle

Editorial Reviews

"Well-argued and documented"

Berkshire Eagle

"The image is ingrained: A Vietnam veteran, arriving home from the war, gets off a plane only to be greeted by an angry mob of antiwar protesters yelling, 'Murderer!' and 'Baby killer!' Then out of the crowd comes someone who spits in the veteran's face. The only problem, according to Jerry Lembcke, is that no such incident ever has been documented. It is instead, says Lembcke, a kind of urban myth that reflects our lingering national confusion over the war."

|Los Angeles Times

"The myth of the spat-upon veteran is not only bad history, but it has been instrumental in selling the American public on bad policy."

Chicago Tribune - Maurice Isserman

"The best history I have seen on the impact of the war on Americans, both then and now."

David Dellinger

"Lembcke builds a compelling case against collective memory by demonstrating that remembrances of Vietnam were almost at direct odds with circumstantial evidence."

San Francisco Chronicle

"Lembcke builds a compelling case against collective memory by demonstrating that remembrances of Vietnam were almost at direct odds with circumstantial evidence."

-San Francisco Chronicle

"Well-argued and documented"

-Berkshire Eagle

"The best history I have seen on the impact of the war on Americans, both then and now."

-David Dellinger

"The myth of the spat-upon veteran is not only bad history, but it has been instrumental in selling the American public on bad policy."

-Maurice Isserman,Chicago Tribune

"The image is ingrained: A Vietnam veteran, arriving home from the war, gets off a plane only to be greeted by an angry mob of antiwar protesters yelling, 'Murderer!' and 'Baby killer!' Then out of the crowd comes someone who spits in the veteran's face. The only problem, according to Jerry Lembcke, is that no such incident ever has been documented. It is instead, says Lembcke, a kind of urban myth that reflects our lingering national confusion over the war."

-Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

Images of antiwar protesters, almost always women, spitting on returning Vietnam veterans have become a shameful part of America's collective memory. Lembcke (sociology, Holy Cross University), a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, here presents a stunning indictment of this myth -- an illusion created, he maintains, by the Nixon-Agnew administration and an unwitting press to attribute America's loss in Vietnam to internal dissension. In fact, the antiwar movement and many veterans were closely aligned, and the only documented incidents show members of the VFW and American Legion spitting on their less successful Vietnam peers. But Lembcke's most controversial conclusion is that posttraumatic stress disorder was as much a political creation -- a means of discrediting returning vets who protested the war as unhinged -- as it was a medical condition. The image of the psycho-vet was furthered through such Hollywood productions as 'The Deer Hunter' and 'Coming Home.' This forceful investigation challenges the reader to reexamine assumptions about the dark side of American culture that glorifies war more than peace. -- Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Township Library, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

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