John Kerry VVAW controversy
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John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for President of the United States in 2004, first came to national prominence through his leadership role in Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). In 1971, when Kerry was 27 years old, he represented VVAW when he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was well-received around the nation, and aroused Richard Nixon to strategize from the White House about how to counter his effectiveness.
VVAW consisted of people who, like Kerry, had served in Vietnam, and others, who opposed American involvement in the Vietnam War. Kerry claims he left VVAW because of his disagreement with the organization’s more radical tendencies.
During the course of his Presidential campaign, as well as his previous campaigns for senatorial seats, his work with VVAW is raised as a subject of controversy. During his campaigns for political office, however, he has been charged with making inconsistent statements about two events in 1971: an antiwar demonstration at the United States Capitol in April, and a VVAW meeting in November.
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[edit] Demonstration at the Capitol
On April 23, 1971 John Kerry and other veterans threw their medals, ribbons, discharge papers, photographs, citations and articles of their uniforms over a fence at the Capitol building at Washington, D.C. in protest. One disabled veteran even threw his cane. The stated purpose of the demonstration was to show that this protesting group of veterans thought the war was unjust, and that the administration had betrayed them.
Kerry's version of events is as follows: he threw back his ribbons, not his medals. The difference between "ribbons" and "medals" in the military is that ribbons are the small colored bars that are worn on uniforms but medals are larger ribbons with attached metal medallions that are only worn on special occasions. He also threw back the medals of two other veterans who could not personally attend the protest.
Photographs of Kerry addressing the Senate Committee the previous day show him wearing only ribbons, and not medals. In an interview six months after the protest, in response to the question, "How many did you give back, John?" Kerry responded that he "gave back, I can't remember, six, seven, eight, nine." Kerry's account is supported by the eyewitness account of Tom Oliphant, a reporter for the Boston Globe:
As he neared the spot from which members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War were parting with a few of the trappings of their difficult past to help them face their future more squarely, I watched Kerry reach with his right hand into the breast pocket of his fatigue shirt. The hand emerged with several of the ribbons that most of the vets had been wearing that unique week of protest, much as they are worn on a uniform blouse.
[. . .]
Some people have written secondhand accounts of that day stating that Kerry at that moment also threw "medals" that had been given to him by a couple of vets who were not there. I remember Kerry doing that later in the day after the event had broken up. [1]
[edit] Later controversy
Some critics have contended that the varying reports about what decorations were returned in 1971 demonstrate inconsistency on Kerry's part [2].
Kerry contends, however, that he has always been consistent in re-telling what he did that day in protest. In an April 2004 television interview, Kerry described the ribbon/medal tossing issue as "a phony controversy".[3]
[edit] The Kansas City VVAW meeting
In 1971, VVAW was holding quarterly meetings and met in different cities, including St. Louis, Missouri in July. From November 12 to November 15, 1971, the group met in Kansas City, Missouri. At this meeting, a VVAW member named Scott Camil advocated the assassination of certain politicians who favored continuing the war, including Senators Strom Thurmond, John Stennis, and John Tower. Some claim the idea was quickly shouted down and was never seriously discussed.
Years later, Kerry claimed he did remember the meeting in St. Louis, where acrimonious discussions had contributed to his decision to resign from VVAW. He said, however, that he did not recall attending the Kansas City meeting, and thought that he had already resigned by then. Some people who were at the Kansas City meeting claim that he was not there. Historian Gerald Nicosia, recounting the history of the antiwar movement in his book Home to War, stated that Kerry said he had resigned from VVAW at the St. Louis meeting.
In 2004, however, Nicosia said that new FBI documents included a report from an unnamed confidential source. The source recounted Kerry’s resignation at a VVAW meeting, but placed the event at the meeting in Kansas City rather than at the one in St. Louis. In response, Kerry’s office reiterated Kerry's claim that he did not remember being at the later meeting, but added, "If there are valid FBI surveillance reports from credible sources that place some of those disagreements in Kansas City, we accept that historical footnote in the account of his work to end the difficult and divisive war."
VVAW member Randy Barnes was also quoted in the media as having seen Kerry at the Kansas City meeting. Thereafter, however, he said that he had thought that Kansas City was first but now realized that St. Louis was first. He concluded that he might have been confusing the two Missouri meetings.
The focus on the Kansas City meeting arises because of Camil’s suggestion of violence. (Camil himself has said that he does not remember seeing Kerry at that meeting.) No one has contended that Kerry himself ever supported violent action. Instead, he is remembered as having advocated moderation, nonviolence and work within the system. Kerry claims he resigned partly because he was uncomfortable with the radicalism of some VVAW members, and partly because he wanted to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, which he did in 1972.
