Vietnam War Episodes

In 1971, a group of performers calling themselves the Free Theatre Associates (FTA), including Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, began putting on popular antiwar shows for audiences of active-duty GIs. Over 10 months they performed near military bases all over the United States and in the Pacific Rim. The Pacific Rim tour led to a documentary, which was released briefly in July 1972 and then quickly yanked from theaters. To help us learn about the FTA, I’m joined by theater historian Dr. Lindsay...

In September 1969, African American journalist Wallace Terry reported on “another war being fought in Vietnam — between black and white Americans.” After the 1948 integration of the military, the U.S. Army had tried to be color blind, seeing not Black or white but just olive drab, but by 1970, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Gen. Walter T. Kerwin, noted: “In the past year racial discord has surfaced as one of the most serious problems facing Army leadership.” So in the midst of fighting...