Traveling to Vietnam: American Peace Activists and the War (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution) [Hardcover]

Mary Hershberger (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse Univ Pr (Sd); 1st edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 081560517X
• ISBN-13: 978-0815605171
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #858,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traveling to Viet Nam during the American War Years, April 22, 2000

By 

Terri Smith (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traveling to Vietnam: American Peace Activists and the War (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution) (Hardcover)

Traveling to Vietnam: American Peace Activists and the War is a well-researched study, detailing trips made by Americans to Viet Nam during the American War. Over two hundred people went to Ha Noi and the north from 1965 to the end of the war. They usually traveled in small groups of three to four people. Some groups were made up of individuals traveling on their own; and other groups traveled as representatives of international peace organizations, civil rights groups, religious organizations, and academic institutions. Most travelers to North Vietnam opposed United States involvement in the war. Initially, the U.S. government tried to restrict travel to North Vietnam by confiscating or refusing to issue passports. Visitors to Ha Noi from 1965 on, who met with North Vietnamese officials, often brought back messages to U.S. government officials, who refused to meet with them. The messages from the North Vietnamese reiterated the North's position for negotiating an end to the conflict--that the U.S. would cease bombing and withdraw their troops. Travelers to Viet Nam also brought back eyewitness accounts of the damages to civilian life and property by American bombing raids. Early travelers would often face negative consequences when they returned to the U.S., legally, personally, and professionally, but they continued to tell their stories. By 1971, travel restrictions were less severe, although public criticism of their travels continued. Many of the visitors requested and were able to talk with American prisoners of war in North Vietnam. They were able to deliver letters and packages between families and prisoners. They urged officials in Ha Noi to release the prisoners, and eventually twelve were released. Other visitors delivered medical supplies, which were desperately needed in the bomb-ravaged north. The American Friends Service Committee was especially involved in developing a relationship with the medical establishment of North Vietnam, arranging donations of medical equipment, penicillin, and other medicines. The humanitarian efforts begun during the war endured after the war, in helping to rebuild structures destroyed by bombs and in helping to normalize relations between Viet Nam and the U.S. Mary Hershberger has relied on primary source information, interviews, and letters written by the travelers to Viet Nam, as well as news articles written by them and about them at the time of their trips. Her book is a fascinating, in-depth view of the war years from another perspective.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Subjective and revisionist. a Deliberate attempt to distort the historical record, December 11, 2009

By 

Bluespicker "Bluespicker" (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Traveling to Vietnam: American Peace Activists and the War (Syracuse Studies on Peace and Conflict Resolution) (Hardcover)

Two pages into Hershberger's work "Traveling to Vietnam" and it is abundantly obvious the work has no historical value. While the book purports to be a history of those Americans who traveled to Vietnam during the Vietnam War, it is nothing but a one sided political vehicle allowing Hershberger to vent her anti-American and radical political views. Much of this work simply does not stand up to any kind of scholarly scrutiny and frankly, Hershberger is insulting the intelligence of her readers expecting them to accept blindly what is a blatant attempt to rehabilitate the deplorable albeit well deserved reputation of the Vietnam Antiwar movement.
To illustrate this point, one need look no further than Hershberger's disturbingly one sided account of the release of POWs Sgt. George Smith and Sp5 Claude McClure. Hershberger states on page 47 that the NLF released the Prisoners "To Replace Morrison and Herz", references to two U.S. antiwar protesters that had immolated themselves and were considered heroes to the North Vietnamese. Not a comparison that most POWs would have found appealing. The circumstances surrounding the mention of this POW release involved a conversation between antiwar activists and U.S. POWs in Hanoi, at which time the activists informed the POWs that Smith and McClure had been arrested by U.S. officials and were facing charges of "aiding the enemy".
Without realizing her mistake, Hershberger had just documented in excruciating detail why visits to the POWs were ill advised and detrimental to the welfare of the POWs, especially when the activists were purveying incomplete and/or inaccurate information.
Indeed, on page 156 Hershberger again mentions the release of Smith and McClure charging that the Pentagon was upset by "criticism" of the war effort by these two and threatened them with court martial. Again, an erroneous assumption that ignored the facts.
Smith and McClure were released as a show of support for the November 27th 1965 SANE sponsored "March on Washington to end the War in Vietnam". Press releases and telegrams from the North Vietnamese made this embarrassingly clear to the anti-communist leadership at SANE. Sgt. Smith didn't help his cause when he made some rather ill-advised public remarks about joining the antiwar movement when he got home.
What Hershberger also failed to report: Smith and McClure were being held with two other U.S. Prisoners, Kenneth Roraback and Capt. Rocky Versace. On September 26th 1965, North Vietnamese "Liberation" Radio reported that Roraback and Versace had both been executed in retaliation for the execution of three Viet Cong Terrorists in Da Nang. The U.S. government had some serious questions concerning why Smith and McClure had been released and Roraback and Versace had been executed. Did Smith and McClure collude with the enemy? In any case, both Smith and McClure were never charged and both received honorable discharges as Hershberger reports. McClure actually rejoined the Army. Hershberger also does not report that as a result of this situation, the Pentagon implemented a policy that recognized the difficult circumstances thrust on POWS and stated no returning POW would face charges unless there were extreme and compelling circumstances. In fact, after the return of American POWs in 1973, ten POWs were originally charged with aiding the enemy and all those charges were dropped almost immediately.
For the record: while the North Vietnamese tried to recant their claim of executing these two POWs, Smith reports circumstantial details of these executions in the very book Hershberger cites as a reference. To date, remains of the two executed POWs have never been returned even though both were known to be prisoners of the Viet Cong and known to be in good health prior to the executions. Versace was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroics as a POW.
Those Americans who voluntarily traveled to North Vietnam were "Chaperoned" by the North Vietnamese, shown what the North Vietnamese wanted them to see, met the POWs the North Vietnamese wanted them to meet, given facts and figures the North Vietnamese wanted them to have and provided fictitious "explanations" the North Vietnamese wanted them to repeat. And none of these antiwar activists questioned any of it. Thirty years later and Hershberger simply ignores this egregious flaw. It is the reason the American people and government attached no credibility to these unauthorized and probably criminal visits. No credible history can ignore this. Hershberger does.
In nearly every instance, Hershberger distorts the facts subjectively skewing this work and rendering it propaganda. Yes, much research went into this but the research was not balanced and interpretations are flawed. The flaws in this work will be easily recognized by the vast majority of readers and no doubt completely ignored by those sharing Hershberger's political views.