April 22, 1971: Vietnam Veterans Against the War

April 22, 1971: The organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War demonstrates against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C. More than 1,100 veterans marched across the Lincoln Memorial Bridge to the Arlington National Cemetery gate, just beneath the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Joining the procession were Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, at the time considered to be the front-runner for the Democratic nominee for President in 1972; and members of the House of Representatives, Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm and Ogden Reid of New York; and Pete McCloskey and Don Edwards of California.

At the U.S. Capitol Building, some veterans tossed their medals onto the Capitol Steps. Among them was U.S. Navy veteran John Kerry. As he did so, he told the media, "I'm not doing this for any violent reasons, but for peace and justice, and to try and make this country wake up once and for all." Among other decorations, Kerry had been awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart.

He testified before a U.S. Senate Committee, chaired by J. William Fulbright of Arkansas:

I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.

It is impossible to describe to you exactly what did happen in Detroit, the emotions in the room, the feelings of the men who were reliving their experiences in Vietnam, but they did. They relived the absolute horror of what this country, in a sense, made them do.

They told the stories at times they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, tape wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side of South Vietnam in addition to the normal ravage of war, and the normal and very particular ravaging which is done by the applied bombing power of this country. 

America's liberals saw so much of what they believed about the war confirmed, and even, to their horror, exceeded. America's conservatives called Kerry a traitor.

In 1972, Kerry ran for Congress for a seat in Massachusetts, but lost. In 1976, he was named District Attorney of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. In 1982, he was elected Lieutenant Governor. In 1984, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, re-elected in 1990, 1996 and 2002.

In 2004, he was nominated for President by the Democratic Party. The idea was that, after the Republican Party had smeared the patriotism of Democratic candidates in 2002, over their opposition to the Iraq War, they couldn't smear Kerry, a genuine war hero. They did, with a group named "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" lying about Kerry's activities in Vietnam. Even when their statements were proven to be lies, enough people believed them that Kerry narrowly lost the popular vote, and one State, Ohio, made the difference in the electoral vote.

The war continued to go badly, and Bush fell into the disgrace of history. Kerry, meanwhile, was re-elected to the Senate in 2008, and was appointed U.S. Secretary of State by President Barack Obama in 2013, serving for most of Obama's 2nd term.

*

April 22, 1971 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-4 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Roberto Clemente went 0-for-4, but Willie Stargell hit a home run. Hank Aaron did not play.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks, in his last season, did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Steve Carlton outpitched Jim Bunning. A year later, he would be traded to the Phillies, and be on his way to winning more games for them than Bunning.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the California Angels, 7-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Reggie Jackson went 2-for-4 with a walk.

Football was out of season. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were underway, but no games were scheduled. The NBA Finals were between Games 1 and 2. The Milwaukee Bucks would beat the Baltimore Bullets in 4 straight. One game was played in the American Basketball Association's Playoffs: In Game 5 of the Western Division Finals, the Indiana Pacers beat the Utah Stars, 127-109 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis. However, the Stars won the series in 7 games, and then beat the Kentucky Colonels in the ABA Finals, in 7 games.