vietnam book layout 5ctake the job of curator of photography in the history department of the...

Excerpted from

click here toBUY THIS BOOK

1Authorxii

Marcia A. Eymann

IN 1990 I arrived in California from the Midwest seeingthe state for the first time. I had moved to California totake the job of curator of photography in the HistoryDepartment of the Oakland Museum of California. Aspart of my orientation to the museum I was given a tourof our collections facility, located on the then-activeOakland Army Base. After passing through a militaryguard station, we entered the grounds of the base. Aswe drove to our destination, we passed countless struc-tures, which reminded me of scenes from HollywoodWorld War II films with their classic 1940s militaryarchitecture. I have to admit a level of sheer pleasure asI imagined myself a part of one of these films, realizingthat this base would not have looked much different in1945 than it did in 1990. As we approached the collec-tions facility, we parked in front of a set of padlockedwooden double doors, with a sign above it reading 22.Upon entering the building I was transported mentallyto another movie (after all I was in California, the landof movies), this time the final scene of Raiders of theLost Ark, showing aisle after aisle of shelving unitsholding a wide range of museum objects. This was ahuge cavernous building with sheet metal roofing above

I NTRODUCTION

What’s Going On?

California always has been a social laboratory and harbinger forthe nation. What happens in

the most populous (and diverse) state reverberates throughout the United States. No time

was this more the case than during the late 1960s and early 1970s. . . .

—Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson, Reagan: A Life in Letters, 2003

exposed, large wooden trusses that creaked and moanedto their own rhythm as we walked its bare concrete floor.It was cold and damp, more haunting than welcoming.As I toured down the artifact aisles, familiarizing myselfwith the range of the museum’s collections, I could nothelp but notice the rather primitive signage attached tosupport beams and hanging from the trusses reading:“DO NOT LAY ON BED WITH FOOT GEAR ON,”and “Thru This Door To Bay 4 Latrine,” and finally“NO SMOKING IN BED.” What was this buildingused for before us, I asked my colleague? She explainedthat during the Vietnam War troops would bunkovernight in this warehouse before being shipped over-seas. “Wow, and they just left all of this stuff here?” Iasked amazed. “Oh yeah, and there’s more than just thesigns. Check out the writing on the walls,” she replied.So I did. Walking along the front wall of the building, Ibegan reading graffiti left by soldiers in the 1960s and1970s. Immediately what struck me was that the guyswriting this were not just from California, but werefrom all across the country, and were literally recordingtheir last stop, after what had been for many a cross-country journey before leaving for war. These soldiers

Building 590 at the Oakland Army Base filled with cots used for overnight billeting by soldiers on their way toVietnam, 1967. This is the building that now houses the museum’s collection storage.

OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA

VIETNAM BOOK LAYOUT 5C 3/31/04 12:32 PM Page xii

1Authorxii

Marcia A. Eymann

IN 1990 I arrived in California from the Midwest seeingthe state for the first time. I had moved to California totake the job of curator of photography in the HistoryDepartment of the Oakland Museum of California. Aspart of my orientation to the museum I was given a tourof our collections facility, located on the then-activeOakland Army Base. After passing through a militaryguard station, we entered the grounds of the base. Aswe drove to our destination, we passed countless struc-tures, which reminded me of scenes from HollywoodWorld War II films with their classic 1940s militaryarchitecture. I have to admit a level of sheer pleasure asI imagined myself a part of one of these films, realizingthat this base would not have looked much different in1945 than it did in 1990. As we approached the collec-tions facility, we parked in front of a set of padlockedwooden double doors, with a sign above it reading 22.Upon entering the building I was transported mentallyto another movie (after all I was in California, the landof movies), this time the final scene of Raiders of theLost Ark, showing aisle after aisle of shelving unitsholding a wide range of museum objects. This was ahuge cavernous building with sheet metal roofing above

I NTR O D U C TI O N

What’s Going On?

California always has been a social laboratory and harbinger forthe nation. What happens in

the most populous (and diverse) state reverberates throughout the United States. No time

was this more the case than during the late 1960s and early 1970s. . . .

—Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson, and Martin Anderson, Reagan: A Life in Letters, 2003

exposed, large wooden trusses that creaked and moanedto their own rhythm as we walked its bare concrete floor.It was cold and damp, more haunting than welcoming.As I toured down the artifact aisles, familiarizing myselfwith the range of the museum’s collections, I could nothelp but notice the rather primitive signage attached tosupport beams and hanging from the trusses reading:“DO NOT LAY ON BED WITH FOOT GEAR ON,”and “Thru This Door To Bay 4 Latrine,” and finally“NO SMOKING IN BED.” What was this buildingused for before us, I asked my colleague? She explainedthat during the Vietnam War troops would bunkovernight in this warehouse before being shipped over-seas. “Wow, and they just left all of this stuff here?” Iasked amazed. “Oh yeah, and there’s more than just thesigns. Check out the writing on the walls,” she replied.So I did. Walking along the front wall of the building, Ibegan reading graffiti left by soldiers in the 1960s and1970s. Immediately what struck me was that the guyswriting this were not just from California, but werefrom all across the country, and were literally recordingtheir last stop, after what had been for many a cross-country journey before leaving for war. These soldiers

Building 590 at the Oakland Army Base filled with cots used for overnight billeting by soldiers on their way toVietnam, 1967. This is the building that now houses the museum’s collection storage.

VIETNAM BOOK LAYOUT 5C 3/31/04 12:32 PM Page xii

I N T R O D U C T I O N 3Marcia A. Eymann2

exhibit concerning the Bay Area during the VietnamWar, to bring a California focus to the touring photo-graphic exhibition, Requiem: By the Photographers WhoDied in Vietnam and Indochina. The museum wouldeventually back out of the traveling show, but in thisprocess we realized that we had a great deal of infor-mation that merited a larger format display. A projectteam was formed to create an exhibition that woulddemonstrate California’s significant role during theVietnam era.

From the beginning everyone was aware of the sen-sitive nature of our topic. We understood that the topicmeant working not only with living history but also withindividuals for whom the wounds of war remainedopen. We soon discovered deeper scarring than antici-pated. Thirty years was not enough time to heal. Manyveterans of the era still carried trauma of the war, somebitter toward their service and treatment by the publicand others continuing to suffer from Post-TraumaticStress Disorder (PTSD). A number of veterans have feltand continue to feel that they had been stereotyped bythe media as crazy or criminals. Like the veterans someVietnamese Americans living in California and thenation remain angry and politically charged by the lossof their homes and country, but also by the way in whichthey have been marginalized and dismissed by Ameri-can society as a whole. Since the end of American in-volvement in the war in 1973 Vietnamese have beenmaking America, and in particular California, theirhome but they are generally excluded from historicalnarratives of the war, and like the veterans, find them-selves stereotyped by media. In addition to Vietnamesewe could not forget refugees from Cambodia and Laosincluding the Hmong who fought side by side with U.S.troops against the Vietcong and also now call Californiahome. The range of individuals whose lives were im-

used the walls mainly to record their names, where theywere from, date of induction, and their “ETS” (esti-mated time of service), or in other words, when theywould return. Below Tony Earl tells you where he isfrom and where he is going but not when he will beback:

“Tony Earl RVN [Republic of Vietnam] January 12,

1973, Indiana.”

Others were poems demonstrating what was goingthrough the minds of these young men and their atti-tudes about war:

“Bob was here with plenty to do, Be back from NAM

in ’72. Left this town in ’71, won’t come back till my

time is done.”

“if a man dies for his country, he is paying for

something he will never collect.”

Hundreds of markings covered the walls giving meanother view of what California was all about. I came tothe Golden State with many stereotypes already im-planted in my mind. Now that image of a state, filledwith hippies and antiwar protesters, beaches, and every-thing Hollywood, was being replaced by a new image,of a scared and sometimes angry young man on his wayto war leaving his mark to confirm that he was there andwould return. California was a gateway to the war forhundreds of young men from all across the nation. Thiscold impersonal army warehouse marked the soldier’slast mainland stop on their journey to war. Their writ-ings were the beginning of my journey in understand-ing a complex piece of California history, and themomentous role the state had played in events of the1960s and 1970s.

In 1999 I was asked to produce a small adjunct

pacted by war does not stop with veterans and refugees.Political activists, politicians, mothers, wives and thegeneration that has grown up since the end of the warcontinue to feel the effects of the Vietnam era.

This exhibition would be the first time a museumwould do an in-depth historical study of how one regionwas changed by the Vietnam War. It provided an oppor-tunity to look at the war from a myriad of perspectivesthat only exist in California and a new direction in inter-preting a deeply contested and often stereotyped periodin the history of the state. After discussions with schol-ars, veterans, former antiwar activists and SoutheastAsian refugees, we decided to tell this story by allowingthe voices of individuals who had lived through the timeto present different perspectives and points of view. Webelieved that oral histories along with historical artifactsshould be the interpretive thread of the exhibit, provid-ing a range of experiences from the time demonstratingthe complexity of the era. Music would play a similarrole. The music in the 1960s and 1970s helped to shapepeoples attitudes during the war and still serves as atrigger for memory and emotions that can transportpeople to another time and place.

From the beginning the approach to this exhibitionwas the reverse of what is traditionally done in histori-cal writing and exhibitions. Normally in conducting aproject of this nature, in-depth research would first beconducted from which broad ideas and concepts devel-oped. In the case of California and the Vietnam War webegan with a series of broad statements portraying theCalifornia experience as an exaggerated version of thenational experience. Due to the state’s deep investmentin the military-industrial complex, its importance as acenter for both protest politics and conservative acti-vism, as well as the state’s identity politics, media indus-tries, and the presence of the largest Southeast Asian

A detail of the soldier’s graffiti found on the walls in Building 590 at the Oakland Army Base.

CATHERINE BUCHANAN, PHOTOGRAPHER

VIETNAM BOOK LAYOUT 5C 3/31/04 12:32 PM Page 2

exhibit concerning the Bay Area during the VietnamWar, to bring a California focus to the touring photo-graphic exhibition, Requiem: By the Photographers WhoDied in Vietnam and Indochina. The museum wouldeventually back out of the traveling show, but in thisprocess we realized that we had a great deal of infor-mation that merited a larger format display. A projectteam was formed to create an exhibition that woulddemonstrate California’s significant role during theVietnam era.

From the beginning everyone was aware of the sen-sitive nature of our topic. We understood that the topicmeant working not only with living history but also withindividuals for whom the wounds of war remainedopen. We soon discovered deeper scarring than antici-pated. Thirty years was not enough time to heal. Manyveterans of the era still carried trauma of the war, somebitter toward their service and treatment by the publicand others continuing to suffer from Post-TraumaticStress Disorder (PTSD). A number of veterans have feltand continue to feel that they had been stereotyped bythe media as crazy or criminals. Like the veterans someVietnamese Americans living in California and thenation remain angry and politically charged by the lossof their homes and country, but also by the way in whichthey have been marginalized and dismissed by Ameri-can society as a whole. Since the end of American in-volvement in the war in 1973 Vietnamese have beenmaking America, and in particular California, theirhome but they are generally excluded from historicalnarratives of the war, and like the veterans, find them-selves stereotyped by media. In addition to Vietnamesewe could not forget refugees from Cambodia and Laosincluding the Hmong who fought side by side with U.S.troops against the Vietcong and also now call Californiahome. The range of individuals whose lives were im-

used the walls mainly to record their names, where theywere from, date of induction, and their “ETS” (esti-mated time of service), or in other words, when theywould return. Below Tony Earl tells you where he isfrom and where he is going but not when he will beback:

“Tony Earl RVN [Republic of Vietnam] January 12,

1973, Indiana.”

Others were poems demonstrating what was goingthrough the minds of these young men and their atti-tudes about war:

“Bob was here with plenty to do, Be back from NAM

in ’72. Left this town in ’71, won’t come back till my

time is done.”

“if a man dies for his country, he is paying for

something he will never collect.”

Hundreds of markings covered the walls giving meanother view of what California was all about. I came tothe Golden State with many stereotypes already im-planted in my mind. Now that image of a state, filledwith hippies and antiwar protesters, beaches, and every-thing Hollywood, was being replaced by a new image,of a scared and sometimes angry young man on his wayto war leaving his mark to confirm that he was there andwould return. California was a gateway to the war forhundreds of young men from all across the nation. Thiscold impersonal army warehouse marked the soldier’slast mainland stop on their journey to war. Their writ-ings were the beginning of my journey in understand-ing a complex piece of California history, and themomentous role the state had played in events of the1960s and 1970s.

In 1999 I was asked to produce a small adjunct

pacted by war does not stop with veterans and refugees.Political activists, politicians, mothers, wives and thegeneration that has grown up since the end of the warcontinue to feel the effects of the Vietnam era.

This exhibition would be the first time a museumwould do an in-depth historical study of how one regionwas changed by the Vietnam War. It provided an oppor-tunity to look at the war from a myriad of perspectivesthat only exist in California and a new direction in inter-preting a deeply contested and often stereotyped periodin the history of the state. After discussions with schol-ars, veterans, former antiwar activists and SoutheastAsian refugees, we decided to tell this story by allowingthe voices of individuals who had lived through the timeto present different perspectives and points of view. Webelieved that oral histories along with historical artifactsshould be the interpretive thread of the exhibit, provid-ing a range of experiences from the time demonstratingthe complexity of the era. Music would play a similarrole. The music in the 1960s and 1970s helped to shapepeoples attitudes during the war and still serves as atrigger for memory and emotions that can transportpeople to another time and place.

From the beginning the approach to this exhibitionwas the reverse of what is traditionally done in histori-cal writing and exhibitions. Normally in conducting aproject of this nature, in-depth research would first beconducted from which broad ideas and concepts devel-oped. In the case of California and the Vietnam War webegan with a series of broad statements portraying theCalifornia experience as an exaggerated version of thenational experience. Due to the state’s deep investmentin the military-industrial complex, its importance as acenter for both protest politics and conservative acti-vism, as well as the state’s identity politics, media indus-tries, and the presence of the largest Southeast Asian

A detail of the soldier’s graffiti found on the walls in Building 590 at the Oakland Army Base.

CATHERINE BUCHANAN, PHOTOGRAPHER

refugee population in the nation, California was at thevortex of the storm created by the Vietnam War. To testthe validity of our ideas the team conducted multipleinterviews and read as much scholarship related to thewar and California as we could locate. From there webegan researching and validating our themes, the firstof which related back to the graffiti at the army base. Webelieved that California during the Vietnam War servedas a point of entry and departure for most of the troops.We also explored California as a major player in thenation’s “military-industrial complex.” Validation camevery quickly as I spoke to the official U.S. Army histo-rian who told me that if you had been Army personnelunquestionably you would have processed throughCalifornia on your way to the war or coming home fromthe battlefields. Indeed, between 1965 and 1968,222,750 soldiers passed through just the Oakland ArmyBase alone en route to the Pacific. Indeed, the graffitihad led us in the right direction, but there was more.During the Vietnam War, the Oakland Army Base wasalso the largest military port complex in the world.During the first eight years of the war more than 37million tons of cargo passed through the base to andfrom Vietnam.

From the military we were led to the private sector.By the end of 1967, to speed up the arrival of troops anddeal with the volume of soldiers who were rotating inand out of the military on one-year tours, the U.S. mili-tary began contracting with charter airlines to fly sol-diers to Vietnam rather than ship by boat. One of thelargest contracts was awarded to World Airways, alsobased in Oakland. Along with troop transport, WorldAirways in 1968 started Rest and Relaxation (R & R)flights for battle-weary troops from Vietnam to SanFrancisco, Australia, and Japan. In addition, it held thecontract for the delivery of Stars and Stripes, the mili-

tary newspaper, to Vietnam from Japan, where it wasprinted. It would become famous as the airline that flewthe last flight out of Danang at the end of the war in1975 and as the carrier of the first airlift of Vietnameseorphans to the United States that same year.

Many other California bases and companies partic-ipated in the war effort. Through our research we werelearning of California’s heavy investment in the nation’s“military-industrial complex.” By 1965 California wasthe leading recipient of defense dollars and had thelargest number of military installations of any state.

The next phase of the project centered on the Na-tional Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). In a nor-mal exhibition project of this size (6,000 square feet),one of the initial steps is to apply to the NEH for a plan-ning grant. As part of this process, we placed our firstconference call to our programs officer at the NEH.From earlier interviews we learned that people neededto tell their own stories of the time. So it was for ourprograms officer who described his experience as amarine, including his return flight from Vietnam. Heknew he was home only when he finally caught sight ofthe Golden Gate Bridge.

The same conversation made clear that in order toreceive an NEH grant we had to present a subject thatwas of national significance. It is easy to convince theNEH that events in Washington, D.C., or New Yorkhave national significance, but California was a muchharder sell. In order to demonstrate California’s impor-tance, we argued that the tide of national events shiftedin the 1960s, often moving from West to East. We hadto move beyond the stereotype of California and the BayArea, in particular, as only a bastion of liberalism andradical politics. We were going to have to break throughthe myth to understand the complexity of California lifeand politics.

Interior of a World Airways plane during one of their flights for Operation Babylift, April 1975. For safety, thesmaller children and infants were strapped into cardboard boxes donated by a local Oakland stationery store.

OAKLAND TRIBUNE COLLECTION, GIFT OF ANG NEWSPAPERS

refugee population in the nation, California was at thevortex of the storm created by the Vietnam War. To testthe validity of our ideas the team conducted multipleinterviews and read as much scholarship related to thewar and California as we could locate. From there webegan researching and validating our themes, the firstof which related back to the graffiti at the army base. Webelieved that California during the Vietnam War servedas a point of entry and departure for most of the troops.We also explored California as a major player in thenation’s “military-industrial complex.” Validation camevery quickly as I spoke to the official U.S. Army histo-rian who told me that if you had been Army personnelunquestionably you would have processed throughCalifornia on your way to the war or coming home fromthe battlefields. Indeed, between 1965 and 1968,222,750 soldiers passed through just the Oakland ArmyBase alone en route to the Pacific. Indeed, the graffitihad led us in the right direction, but there was more.During the Vietnam War, the Oakland Army Base wasalso the largest military port complex in the world.During the first eight years of the war more than 37million tons of cargo passed through the base to andfrom Vietnam.

From the military we were led to the private sector.By the end of 1967, to speed up the arrival of troops anddeal with the volume of soldiers who were rotating inand out of the military on one-year tours, the U.S. mili-tary began contracting with charter airlines to fly sol-diers to Vietnam rather than ship by boat. One of thelargest contracts was awarded to World Airways, alsobased in Oakland. Along with troop transport, WorldAirways in 1968 started Rest and Relaxation (R & R)flights for battle-weary troops from Vietnam to SanFrancisco, Australia, and Japan. In addition, it held thecontract for the delivery of Stars and Stripes, the mili-

tary newspaper, to Vietnam from Japan, where it wasprinted. It would become famous as the airline that flewthe last flight out of Danang at the end of the war in1975 and as the carrier of the first airlift of Vietnameseorphans to the United States that same year.

Many other California bases and companies partic-ipated in the war effort. Through our research we werelearning of California’s heavy investment in the nation’s“military-industrial complex.” By 1965 California wasthe leading recipient of defense dollars and had thelargest number of military installations of any state.

The next phase of the project centered on the Na-tional Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). In a nor-mal exhibition project of this size (6,000 square feet),one of the initial steps is to apply to the NEH for a plan-ning grant. As part of this process, we placed our firstconference call to our programs officer at the NEH.From earlier interviews we learned that people neededto tell their own stories of the time. So it was for ourprograms officer who described his experience as amarine, including his return flight from Vietnam. Heknew he was home only when he finally caught sight ofthe Golden Gate Bridge.

The same conversation made clear that in order toreceive an NEH grant we had to present a subject thatwas of national significance. It is easy to convince theNEH that events in Washington, D.C., or New Yorkhave national significance, but California was a muchharder sell. In order to demonstrate California’s impor-tance, we argued that the tide of national events shiftedin the 1960s, often moving from West to East. We hadto move beyond the stereotype of California and the BayArea, in particular, as only a bastion of liberalism andradical politics. We were going to have to break throughthe myth to understand the complexity of California lifeand politics.

Interior of a World Airways plane during one of their flights for Operation Babylift, April 1975. For safety, thesmaller children and infants were strapped into cardboard boxes donated by a local Oakland stationery store.

OAKLAND TRIBUNE COLLECTION, GIFT OF ANG NEWSPAPERS

To accomplish this goal we began an analysis ofCalifornia history beginning in the 1950s. California inthe decades of the 1950s and 1960s, more than any otherstate, represented the American dream come true. InSuburban Warriors, Lisa McGirr writes, “No state inthe nation in the mid-twentieth century represented thepromises of the United States more than California.”The West and, in particular, California have always beenperceived as a place where an individual can literallyreinvent himself or herself. It is the land of personalexpression, innovation, and experimentation, providingan escape from the traditions and structure of the restof the country. It expanded the dreams of what lifecould be for all Americans. In a 1945 Life magazine arti-cle the author predicted that the “California way of life. . . may in time influence the pattern of life in Americaas a whole.” This prediction was to prove itself true asthe state was flooded with new residents and postwareconomic prosperity. The state projected the image ofan idealized way of life with sunny weather, sandybeaches, and a suburban lifestyle. Images of Hollywoodand Disneyland, and the music of the Beach Boys andJan and Dean, became popular culture icons in the1950s and 1960s. As the most suburbanized region inthe world, California became the birthplace of nationaltrends in fashion, music, film, and lifestyle.

By 1962 California was the most populous state inthe nation and the home of a large percentage of thebaby boom generation. Peaking in 1957, the baby boomcontinued until 1964, accounting for roughly one-thirdof the population at that time. In the 1960s seventeen-year-olds emerged as the largest single age group inAmerica. They were quickly dubbed “the best andbrightest,” raised on patriotism, the promise of tech-nology, and the fear of Communism and the bomb.They would swell California’s educational system in the

1950s and in the 1960s pushing it to become a nationalmodel for higher education and Mecca for the youthculture of the era.

These same boomers, raised on the flag, apple pie,and duck-and-cover preparedness drills were infusedwith patriotism, hope for the future, and, paradoxically,social rebellion. The patriotism and optimism wouldcarry a generation on an idealistic wave toward the NewFrontiers promised by President John F. Kennedy. HomeBefore Morning, Lynda Van Devanter’s 1983 biography,epitomizes this idealism when she writes, “I was part ofa generation of Americans who were ‘chosen’ to changethe world. We were sure of that.” The rebellious sidewould lead to youthful activism focused against middle-American conformity. The Free Speech Movement onthe University of California’s Berkeley campus duringthe fall of 1964 epitomizes this rebellious activism. Thestudent protesters initially represented a wide range ofgroups and clubs, including Students for a DemocraticSociety (SDS), Young Democrats, CORE (Congress ofRacial Equality), The Independent Socialist Club,SLATE (a leftist student political organization), Ameri-can Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Women for Peace(also known as Women Strike for Peace), and the W.E.B.DuBois Club, as well as the Young Americans for Free-dom (YAF), Young Republicans, and California Stu-dents for Goldwater. The activism of the boomer

A diverse group of supporters at a FreeSpeech rally in front of Sproul Hall on theUniversity of California, Berkeley campus,December 7, 1964.

HELEN NESTOR, PHOTOGRAPHER

OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA, GIFT OF THE

ARTIST

Disneyland’s Main Street USA soon afteropening, July 1955.

MIKE ROBERTS, PHOTOGRAPHER

No state in the nation in the

mid-twentieth century represented

the promises of the United States

more than California.

To accomplish this goal we began an analysis ofCalifornia history beginning in the 1950s. California inthe decades of the 1950s and 1960s, more than any otherstate, represented the American dream come true. InSuburban Warriors, Lisa McGirr writes, “No state inthe nation in the mid-twentieth century represented thepromises of the United States more than California.”The West and, in particular, California have always beenperceived as a place where an individual can literallyreinvent himself or herself. It is the land of personalexpression, innovation, and experimentation, providingan escape from the traditions and structure of the restof the country. It expanded the dreams of what lifecould be for all Americans. In a 1945 Life magazine arti-cle the author predicted that the “California way of life. . . may in time influence the pattern of life in Americaas a whole.” This prediction was to prove itself true asthe state was flooded with new residents and postwareconomic prosperity. The state projected the image ofan idealized way of life with sunny weather, sandybeaches, and a suburban lifestyle. Images of Hollywoodand Disneyland, and the music of the Beach Boys andJan and Dean, became popular culture icons in the1950s and 1960s. As the most suburbanized region inthe world, California became the birthplace of nationaltrends in fashion, music, film, and lifestyle.

By 1962 California was the most populous state inthe nation and the home of a large percentage of thebaby boom generation. Peaking in 1957, the baby boomcontinued until 1964, accounting for roughly one-thirdof the population at that time. In the 1960s seventeen-year-olds emerged as the largest single age group inAmerica. They were quickly dubbed “the best andbrightest,” raised on patriotism, the promise of tech-nology, and the fear of Communism and the bomb.They would swell California’s educational system in the

1950s and in the 1960s pushing it to become a nationalmodel for higher education and Mecca for the youthculture of the era.

These same boomers, raised on the flag, apple pie,and duck-and-cover preparedness drills were infusedwith patriotism, hope for the future, and, paradoxically,social rebellion. The patriotism and optimism wouldcarry a generation on an idealistic wave toward the NewFrontiers promised by President John F. Kennedy. HomeBefore Morning, Lynda Van Devanter’s 1983 biography,epitomizes this idealism when she writes, “I was part ofa generation of Americans who were ‘chosen’ to changethe world. We were sure of that.” The rebellious sidewould lead to youthful activism focused against middle-American conformity. The Free Speech Movement onthe University of California’s Berkeley campus duringthe fall of 1964 epitomizes this rebellious activism. Thestudent protesters initially represented a wide range ofgroups and clubs, including Students for a DemocraticSociety (SDS), Young Democrats, CORE (Congress ofRacial Equality), The Independent Socialist Club,SLATE (a leftist student political organization), Ameri-can Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Women for Peace(also known as Women Strike for Peace), and the W.E.B.DuBois Club, as well as the Young Americans for Free-dom (YAF), Young Republicans, and California Stu-dents for Goldwater. The activism of the boomer

A diverse group of supporters at a FreeSpeech rally in front of Sproul Hall on theUniversity of California, Berkeley campus,December 7, 1964.

HELEN NESTOR, PHOTOGRAPHER

OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA, GIFT OF THE

ARTIST

Disneyland’s Main Street USA soon afteropening, July 1955.

MIKE ROBERTS, PHOTOGRAPHER

No state in the nation in the

mid-twentieth century represented

the promises of the United States

more than California.

Choosing, “If New York City in 1965 was a test case forconservative principles within and without the GOP,California in 1966 offered a similar scenario as thegubernatorial election promised to serve as a referen-dum on the future of the conservatism and liberalism.”In that 1966 election Ronald Reagan, always a speakerwho listened to his audience, took to heart the com-plaints he was hearing from the parents of the rebelliousyouth of the state. It was from these complaints thatReagan first coined his famous line of “cleaning up thatmess in Berkeley,” and used Middle America’s reactionto the antiwar protests to win the governor’s office. Rea-gan became the voice of the silent majority. His form of“cowboy conservatism” appealed to the American pub-lic and eventually would lead him to the White Housein 1980.

California also dramatized the national split of Leftand Right, “hawk vs. dove,” through the personalitiesof Hollywood celebrities. Just as the nation split, so didHollywood, albeit on a much higher profile level. Onthe right and representing the World War II generationwas John Wayne, and other celebrities such as BobHope and Roy Rogers. On the left was a youthful JaneFonda, along with Donald Sutherland, Warren Beatty,and others. This split was played out in the press and onfilm as Wayne’s 1968 pro-war production of The GreenBerets was counter-pointed a decade later by Fonda’s1978 antiwar film, Coming Home. These films say asmuch about the nation’s state of mind at the time theywere made as they do about the celebrities who madethem.

The significance of Jane Fonda and John Waynebecame clear early in the project. Fonda was mentioned,positively or negatively wherever we went. She was oneof the dominant figures to emerge from the period,partly because of her controversial nature, but also

because of her Hollywood status. Wayne also came upnumerous times, particularly with veterans who hadbeen raised on his films and his portrayals of the heroicAmerican fighting man.

The young men and women who went off to fightthe war were permanently changed by what they didand saw in Vietnam. According to Vietnam veteran, JohnBaky, “California was the Promised Land, and all of asudden we finally got there as East Coast Boys and hadto leave right away. And we weren’t just leaving, lookwhere we were going.” California was their last connec-tion with home and also the dream of what America hadto hold and what they might never have the opportunityof truly experiencing.

During the war California would also be a base forantiwar activism in the military, and the state would playa major role in the veterans’ movement that createdVietnam Veterans’ Against the War (VVAW), promotedgroundbreaking treatment of PTSD and the effects ofAgent Orange, and campaigned for disabled people’srights and the restructuring the Veterans Administra-tion. Just as these men and women had once traveledacross country on their way to war, they traveled againas protesters to bring national attention to the rights ofveterans of an unpopular war.

We still needed to address the Vietnamese andother war-related refugees from Southeast Asia. As withveterans, every effort was made to reach out to thiscommunity for its input. First we invited local Viet-namese American scholars and followed up with a seriesof community gatherings that would include both first-and second-generation Americans.

The community groups quickly let us know thatwe were to refer to them as refugees, not as immigrants,since they were forced to leave their homeland. Califor-nia became home for the largest percentage of refugees

generation, both on the left and the right, focused onresisting impersonal, bureaucratic structures—big cor-porations, big unions, and multiversities. The rebellionwould take on greater strength and momentum as theboomer generation tackled the issues of the VietnamWar.

Raised on the cold war, educated more than anyother generation, they were also the first to grow upwith television. Both the television and film industries(predominately located in California) promoted the ide-ology and tension of the cold war and legitimized theuse of force to combat Communism. On both the smalland the large screen boomers were inundated with aplethora of combat films and westerns portrayingAmerican military forces as omnipotent, all-powerful,and always right. At the same time, television served topoliticize the boomers. They watched as civil rightsactivists were beaten and harassed by police officers inthe streets in America’s South. The nightly newsbrought these events into their homes and daily lives

pushing some young people to challenge the nation tolive up to the ideals on which it was based.

Just as the antiwar movements also were composedof multiple factions and coalition groups, so too was thestate as a whole. California during the era magnified thepolitical split between conservative and liberal. The mil-lions of Americans who migrated to the Golden Statein the 1950s and 1960s to take new jobs in the defenseindustries settled into single-family homes living outthe American dream. In Southern California, in partic-ular, some of these new westerners began a conservativepolitical revolt. The new migrants brought with themtheir wish for a new beginning and prosperity alongwith their American ideals as the “greatest generation”who had won World War II. Now they carried the torchof freedom and democracy for the world. Their staunchbelief in the fight against Communism would lead themto campaign for Barry Goldwater in his 1964 presiden-tial bid, and Ronald Reagan in his run for governor in1966. As Jonathan M. Schoenwald states in A Time for

Bob Hope, John Wayne, and Dean Martinshow their support for Republican nomineefor governor, Ronald Reagan, during a“Californians for Reagan” event at theAmbassador Hotel in Los Angeles, 1966.

COURTESY OF RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENTIAL

LIBRARY