Commentary on the Leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints during the Vietnam War

Abstract

Introduction The word Vietnam brings sad memories (memories many are eager to forget). The 1960s and early 1970s times of domestic turmoil, complexity, discontent, misunderstanding, and frustration over the conflict in Southeast Asia. The backlash from these events on American popular culture still reverberates in the consciousness of current thinking. For thousands of Latter-day Saints1 who either served in Vietnam or waited for loved ones to come home, the conflict was an experience characterized by apprehension, danger, temptation, and brotherhood (D. Anderson 186). However, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints2 during this time did not necessarily follow or embrace the cultural trends of the rest of the country. Latter-day Saints often looked to Church authorities to give them a standard line of thought, and the leaders of the Church presented a consensus in their commentary. This paper discusses the counsel, observations, practices, and policies of the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding the Vietnam War. LDS Involvement in Vietnam In May 1960, 12,000 LDS men on active duty (Melchizedek). The first Latter-day Saints in Vietnam military advisors. In September 1968 one of every 15,000 LDS was a member of the service, with 30,000 Mormons serving in the military (Melchizedek). During the twelve-year involvement of the American military in Vietnam, over 100,000 LDS served in the U.S. Armed Forces (Boone 475). In addition, a survey made by the Air Force in 1968 shows the Church had the eighth largest number of members of any denomination in the service: 1.5 percent of all officers and 1.1 percent of all airmen (Deseret 2). By December 1972, as America's involvement began to decline, there fewer than 17,000 LDS men on active duty (Military Relations Committee). As these soldiers came home, the number of LDS veterans swelled. For instance, in October 1974, there 33,800 Vietnam veterans in Utah, of whom 23,600 LDS (Servicemen's Committee). Overall, representation of LDS members in the service was fairly proportionate to the representation from the United States as a whole, of which 1.2 percent of the total population served in the Armed Forces (Deseret 2). As LDS involvement increased in Vietnam, counsel in regard to expected attitudes and involvement in the war was clarified by Church leaders. To understand this counsel, its useful to look at the historical development of Church leaders' views on war in general, views that lead to the commentary given by modern Church leaders during the Vietnam conflict. Historical Development of LDS Commentary on War In the formative years of the LDS Church, Joseph Smith said that great judgements were coming upon the earth which included great desolation by famine, sword, and pestilence (Roberts). Shortly after Smith organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, 1830, members counseled to study the background and causes of wars and the perplexities of nations (Smith, Doctrine And Covenants 88: 78-79). Since that time, Church belief has stated that war is the result of wickedness, hard-heartedness, and spiritual blindness (Woodruff). However, this rationale has not prevented LDS members from participating in conflicts. Smith said, Communities may be at times unexpectedly thrown into a situation when wisdom, prudence, and that first item in nature's law, self defense, would dictate that the responsible and influential part [of a community] should step forward and guide the public mind in a course to save difficulty, preserve rights and spare the innocent blood from staining that soil so dearly purchased with the lives and fortunes of our fathers . . . (and also it was appropriate) to 11 preserve peace and save this land from being further drenched in blood. (Smith, Letter) Smith established this concept as a formal tenet. …