Remembrance in the Aftermath of War

Abstract

meaning and morality of American involvement in Vietnam. The tall tales Joseph Ellis has told his students at Mt. Holyoke College, though clearly of lesser ethical magnitude than Kerrey's alleged actions, might also have produced a firestorm of controversy. Yet reactions, both within and outside academy, to Kerrey and Ellis revelations have been muted, even defensive. The presidents of New School and Holyoke were initially quick to offer their full support to Kerrey and Ellis as honorable men. Kerrey's former colleagues in Senate, Democrats and Republicans alike, were joined by editorial board of New York Times in exculpating Kerrey's behavior as exemplifying the madness of a war that then, as now, seemed to lack any rationale.' A small minority of voices has raised misgivings about rush to exonerate both men, uneasy about apparent unwillingness of Kerrey and Ellis's defenders to critically engage hypocrisy and immorality that are a part of America's legacy in Vietnam. But message implicit in most responses suggests an exhausted wariness about re-opening societal divisions and wounds produced by war. After Vietnam: Legacies of a Lost War is shaped by this peculiar historical moment and suggests interpretative possibilities and perils that animate contemporary retrospective examinations of American war in Vietnam. The authors of five essays that make up this volume, drawn from lectures