My grandfather (through marriage, but he was the one I grew up with) was a four-star general in the US army. Though I had known this my entire life, I never made an effort to talk to him about his experiences in the many wars he was a part of. He passed away about two years ago, but after studying the Vietnam War in my history class, I was prompted to ask my grandmother about his army career. To my surprise, I discovered that not only had he served in North Africa during World War II and seen the liberation of Dachau, but that he had served four tours in Vietnam during the course of the conflict. Not only that, but following his extensive army service, he attended Oxford University and wrote a thousand-page thesis on the Vietnam War. I felt like an awful history student--and an even worse granddaughter--that I had not asked my grandfather about his life and experiences while he was alive. Still, I begged my grandmother to send me any of his papers that she could. While she couldn't copy the extremely long paper from Oxford, she did send me many articles and photographs about my grandfather's military career, particularly his service in Vietnam from the French occupation of Indochina to the end of the conflict.The funny part: when I called to thank her profusely, she stopped me and said, "You know that we won the war." Now, my grandmother in her later life became a staunch Republican and a very opinionated old woman with a stubborn streak. (Don't even think about bringing up Clinton unless you have a few hours to listen to her talk.) I love her to death, but I wasn't sure how to respond. She said, "They'll try to tell you we didn't, but the North Vietnamese--you know we talk with them about it now--say we had them beat at the Tet Offensive, and if we had followed them across the border, we would have done it." And finally, "I don't know what they're teaching you in those schools, but you can tell your teacher to call me, and I'll give him a piece of my mind." And on and on for a few more minutes.
Although it is always amusing to listen to my grandmother speak her mind, this time it did make me stop and think--and it made me wish even more that my grandfather was still alive. Because it may very well be that America has not had enough distance from the Vietnam Conflict to teach it objectively. My current textbook takes a very anti-Cold War tone, and perhaps America should not have involved herself in Vietnam. Still, is it wrong to also look at the war from a military point of view? Is it possible that my grandmother is right, that we could have won? I find myself unsure. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the subjective realm of history, but if so, who gets to decide how events like these are taught? And how will the different hypothetical teachings of these topics affect future events?
I suppose these are just more unanswered questions to add to my list.
--K
2 comments:
Howard Zinn's book, A People's History of the United States, definitely breaks away from the supposed patriotism some people say is espoused in textbooks. His presentation of the Vietnam War seems to be overwhelmingly negative. Where do we draw the line between objective presentation and respect for our country? While it is important, and possibly even more so today, to understand the darker aspects of our world's history, a newer trend in antipathy towards American students' own country seems to be slowly emerging--a slippery slope that personally disturbs me.
Traditionally, the zeitgeist of a certain time period influences both the events of that era directly as well as how those events are remembered as information gets passed along. However, that trend, seen with Zinn, seems to be evolving. Let me know what you think.
Keep up the good work,
Matt
Matt, you make some very valid points in your comment. I read parts of Zinn's book in my United States History class, and he is indeed anything but a patriotist. My teacher used this book to supplement our more traditional pro-American textbook, and in class we identified his liberal bias. However, if an entire history class was taught solely using Zinn's book, it would be neither effective nor accurate. (To his credit, Zinn acknowledges in his foreward that he doesn't not seek to cover all of history in his book, only the parts that textbooks glean over or skip entirely.)
In recent years, California has taken such a stance toward history education, often omitting famous American heroes from the curriculum to cover lesser known minority heroes. I hope to explore this current debate in a later post, so I hope you keep reading.
Thank you for commenting!
--K
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