The People Make the Peace

Lessons from the Vietnam Antiwar Movement
edited by Karín Aguilar-San Juan and Frank Joyce

...this collection help[s] fill in many blanks, adding essential color to the story of this astounding citizens’ movement, especially the remarkable saga of the 1970-71 People’s Peace Treaty. They inspire reflection that America still sorely needs.Todd Gitlin, Columbia University

The People Make the Peace

Forty years after the Vietnam War ended, many in the United States still struggle to come to terms with this tumultuous period of U.S. history. The domestic antiwar movement, with cooperation from their Vietnamese counterparts, played a significant role in ending the War, but few have examined its impact until now. In The People Make the Peace, edited by Karín Aguilar-San Juan and Frank Joyce, nine U.S. activists discuss the parts they played in opposing the War at home and their risky travels to Vietnam in the midst of the conflict to engage in people-to-people diplomacy.

The book shatters stereotypes of protesters and shows the activists as thoughtful, courageous and compassionate strategists whose dedication to peaceful diplomacy helped end the war earlier...Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK

In 2013, the "Hanoi 9" activists revisited Vietnam together; this book presents their thoughtful reflections on those experiences, as well as the stories of five U.S. veterans who returned to make reparations. Their successes in antiwar organizing will challenge the myths that still linger from that era, and inspire a new generation seeking peaceful solutions to war and conflict today. The book's contributors [pictured below] include:

Jay Craven
Rennie Davis
Judy Gumbo
Alex Hing
Doug Hostetter
Frank Joyce
Nancy Kurshan
Myra MacPherson
John McAuliff
Becca Wilson

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DEAR READER: Shortly after this book went into print, it was revealed that one of the five ex-combat veterans interviewed by Myra MacPherson in Chapter 9 was an imposter. As it turned out, Chuck Palazzo had fabricated his entire story from beginning to end, entrapping many people for many years in an elaborate and ultimately devastating lie. He was a Marine, but he did not jump out of a helicopter. He was stationed in Okinawa, but he never fought in Vietnam. When Palazzo was finally exposed, the Veterans for Peace discovered that he had also stolen $100,000 from its vital resources to aid Vietnamese victims of unexploded ordnance and Agent Orange.

As you might expect, these revelations shocked and disheartened his colleagues, other veterans, and the journalists who trusted and documented his story. As Chuck Searcy put it, “I felt betrayed…This has severely damaged all of us…every lie was another betrayal.” Myra MacPherson has since submitted a revision of Chapter 9, including new research on “fake warriors.” This revision will be included in the next print run of People Make the Peace.

ON FAKE WARRIORS
“The Vietnam War, once so unpopular that college students bragged about how they pulled scams to avoid the draft, has in the fog of memory mutated into something glamorous to many who never even saw boot camp. The Vietnam memorial and its traveling mini memorials have served to honor the once scorned Vietnam veteran, but danger lies in contorting a fiasco of a war into glory, which fake warriors perpetuate.” –-Myra MacPherson

*** Read this post on the JWE website for a quick overview of the book The People Make the Peace.

Click here for a post featuring Doug Hostetter’s reflections on his time during the Vietnam War and his later work supporting Palestinian rights.

Click here to read JWE’s tribute to Marilyn B. Young, honoring her legacy in historical scholarship and her praise for The People Make the Peace.

Click here to read an interview with Karín Aguilar-San Juan, co-editor of The People Make the Peace. She critiques Ken Burns’ The Vietnam War for centering U.S. voices while ignoring Vietnamese perspectives. Frank Joyce, the book’s other co-editor, shares similar concerns in an op-ed for the Detroit Free Press. The post also contrasts Burns’ series with Far from Vietnam, a 1967 antiwar film featuring Vietnamese viewpoints. You can listen to the podcast interview here.

Click here to read about the July 2019 launch of the Vietnamese edition of The People Make the Peace. Co-editors Aguilar-San Juan and Joyce, joined by contributors Judy Gumbo Albert and Alex Hing, visited Hanoi to meet with students, educators, and officials, celebrating the book’s release and reflecting on U.S. antiwar efforts.

Click here for a post about five U.S. peace activists who returned to Vietnam in 2019 for the book’s launch. Led by Frank Joyce, the group received the “For Peace and Friendship Among Nations” medal. Their visit included meetings with people affected by Agent Orange and unexploded bombs. You can see photos from the trip here.

Click here for a post marking 50 years since the Kent State shootings. On May 4, 1970, the National Guard killed four students protesting the Vietnam War. The post includes reflections from Karín Aguilar-San Juan on global solidarity, including support from North Vietnamese leaders after the tragedy.

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Editors’ Introduction: The People Made the Peace Karín Aguilar-San Juan and Frank Joyce 1. Seeing Viet Nam with My Own Eyes Rennie Davis 2. Viet Nam Time Travel, 1970–2013 Judy Gumbo 3. Journey to the East Alex Hing 4. The People’s Peace Treaty Jay Craven, Doug Hostetter, and Becca Wilson 5. A Pacifist in the War Zone Doug Hostetter 6. Journeys to Remember Jay Craven 7. From Hanoi to Santa Barbara Becca Wilson 8. The Making of a People’s Diplomat John McAuliff 9.Voices of Veterans: The Endless Tragedy of Vietnam Myra MacPherson 10. Unwanted Memories Erased in Electroconvulsive Experiment Frank Joyce 11. Connecting the Dots Nancy Kurshan Afterword: A Vietnamese Perspective Madame Nguyen Thi Binh Notes Resources About the Contributors Acknowledgments About the Editors

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Karín Aguilar-San Juan & Frank Joyce's The People Make the Peace: Lessons From the Vietnam Antiwar Movement presents an insightful examination of the Việt Nam antiwar movement with fascinating stories by nine activists who made wartime trips to Việt Nam to establish people-to-people contacts. The book shatters stereotypes of protesters and shows the activists as thoughtful, courageous and compassionate strategists whose dedication to peaceful diplomacy helped end the war earlier that it would have otherwise. Anyone interested in putting a halt to our current state of perpetual war—and stopping future ones—will get inspiration and direction from the lessons so brilliantly conveyed in this book. --Medea Benjamin, Co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK and the human rights organization Global Exchange

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This is a wonderfully moving, inspiring, and instructive collection of autobiographical essays by prominent Vietnam War activists who kept the faith over the decades since they joined in signing an extraordinary treaty of peace between the American and Vietnamese people in 1973. The authors succeed, above all, in making us realize how profoundly wrong it was ever to wage war against this proud people who so often returned our violence with their love. Everyone who cares about this country needs to read this book in a hurry. --Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law and Practice, Princeton University

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The American movement against the Vietnam War was the largest, most complex, and most effective antiwar movement in history, but neither its scope nor its complexity have gotten their due in the historical record. The essays in this collection help fill in many blanks, adding essential color to the story of this astounding citizens’ movement, especially the remarkable saga of the 1970-71 People’s Peace Treaty. They inspire reflection that America still sorely needs. --Todd Gitlin, Professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University

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The People Make the Peace is an invaluable document describing the varied experiences of one significant segment of the movement against the war in Vietnam. Activists who engaged in what Hanoi and the NLF called “people’s diplomacy,” recall their experiences and place them in the context of a more recent visit to the country as well as current US foreign policy. In addition, five veterans now living and working in Vietnam to alleviate the damage done by the war they fought talk of their past and present experiences. The volume will be of interest to all who cherish peace and work towards achieving it. --Marilyn Young, professor in the Department of History, New York University

The People Make the Peace is available in Paperback ($23.99) and Ebook ($9.99)

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272 pages, 6" X 9"
Published September 2015
ISBN 9781935982593