“Farewell Radio and Television Address to the American People,” Dwight Eisenhower
President Dwight Eisenhower’s 10-minute address to the American people on January 17, 1961, as his time in office was coming to a close, is famous for warning Americans about the growing military-industrial complex.
Statement to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, John Kerry
In 1971, with at least seven legislative proposals relating to the Vietnam War under consideration, the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations heard testimony from John Kerry, a representative from the 1,000-member Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Kerry described the findings of a recent “Winter Soldier Investigation” held in Detroit. Speaking for the soldiers who had served in Vietnam, he said that they were not “sunshine patriots,” but those whose experiences had given them the right to protest the lack of support for the troops from allies, the use of American taxes to support a corrupt dictatorial regime, the high number of casualties of black soldiers, and the government’s falsification of body counts.
“War Message,” Franklin Delano Roosevelt
On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing 2,400 Americans. The next day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave this famous speech informing Americans that, to his mind, a state of war had existed since the moment of the attack. Although the president, and America, had taken an isolationist stance prior to the attack, American attitudes were dramatically changed by the attack and Roosevelt’s speech. By contrasting an early draft of the message with the text of the speech as Roosevelt delivered it, we can gain insight to the ways seemingly minor word changes can dramatically alter the rhetorical power of a message.
Remarks at a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, D-day, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Regan was president when the 40th anniversary of D-day, marking the storming of the beaches at Normandy, was commemorated. This speech was delivered at the site of the U.S. Ranger Monument at Pointe du Hoc, France, where veterans of the Normandy invasion had assembled for the ceremony. Reagan credited the valor of “the boys of Pointe du Hoc” and recalled the clash of ideas and philosophy that made World War II a critical turning point of the twentieth century.
War photographs: World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm
The twentieth century began with a war that was supposed to “end all wars,” but as these photographs attest, it was instead a century filled with bloodshed and almost constant warfare.
“Ballad of the Green Beret,” written by Barry Sadler and Robin Moore; sung by
Barry Sadler
Most of the songs associated with the Vietnam War were antiwar songs but this song, “Ballad of the Green Beret,” has a fiercely patriotic tone. Sung by Army Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler, it must have resonated with many Americans—it became the number one song in the country for five weeks in 1966.
“Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” written by Pete Seeger; sung by Peter, Paul,
and Mary
This song, credited to Pete Seeger, developed in the folk tradition. Seeger was inspired by lines of a Ukrainian folk song he read in the novel And Quiet Flows the Don, by Mikhail Sholokhov. Seeger’s basic song was later expanded by the addition of verses by Joe Hickerson. The song is now sung around the world as an argument about the inevitability and futility of war.