The Yellow Ribboning of America: A Gulf War Phenomenon

Abstract

Whether tied around a tree, worn on a lapel or displayed in some other fashion, the yellow ribbon in America became a pervasive visible symbol associated with the Gulf War. It generated incredible sales, unprecedented usage and heated debate.Few symbols in recent times have been so quickly embraced by so many segments of society. Yellow ribbons cut across economic, religious, political, social, gender, regional, age and professional barriers. Military families used them, but so did individuals who had no relatives in the military. Politicians, companies, churches, retail businesses, advertisers, municipalities, school children and advocates on both sides of the war issue used them.Yellow ribbons were everywhere. Their presence across both rural and urban America before, during and after the war makes it hard to imagine that most Americans did not encounter them in some fashion. Few could escape seeing ribbons decorating something, reading references to them in newspapers and finding them for sale in stores and displayed on clothing and jewelry. No war in recent American history has seen a home front phenomenon of this type.This article examines the ribbon variants and sales, phases of utilization, widespread use and visibility, ambiguous meanings and controversies that surrounded its' use, and speculates on why it was so popular and the functional roles it played in the lives of the people and communities who displayed it.The Gulf War was neither the first nor the last time that yellow ribbons have been selected by individuals and groups to symbolize support for a cause or to welcome back loved ones. Since 1979, several different groups concerned with the release of Middle East hostages had popularized the ribbon as a symbol for their cause. And extending beyond the context, yellow ribbons were worn in 1985 by non-striking United Airlines flight attendants and pilots to support striking colleagues who were considered held hostage by the company (United A5). And while not entirely yellow, a ribbon was symbolically tied around the Pentagon in August 1985, the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Composed of thousands of individually stitched banners, at least one of which had a yellow ribbon encircling the earth, the Pentagon ribbon supported peace and called for an end to nuclear weapons (Lark ). In 1988 pro-timber industry workers in the Pacific Northwest formed the Yellow Ribbon Coalition to promote an understanding of their cause--saving their jobs and rural lifestyle from being eliminated as forests become increasingly protected to preserve the habitat of the endangered northern spotted owl. Convoys of 1000 ribbon-decorated log trucks have rallied in Northwest cities, members have tied ribbons to trees and car antennas and have appropriated the ribbon as their solidarity symbol (Strycker 1A, McKenzie C1). In February 1992, several hundred Oregon timber workers wearing yellow ribbons chanted Hey, Hey ESA, please don't take our jobs away, as they came to testify at government hearings on the Endangered Species Act (Durbin A1). Supporters of alleged Mafia leader John Gotti hung yellow ribbons outside his former social club during his Winter 1992 trial (Maykuth E15). While none of these instances reached the same proportion of use as was evident during the Gulf War, together they illustrate that the yellow ribbon had become fairly well disseminated as a support symbol across America by the early 1990s.RIBBON VARIANTS AND SALESDuring the Gulf War the yellow ribbon took many forms. In its most common manifestation, it appeared as a yellow plastic or fabric bow, streamer, banner or strip of ribbon, of varying widths and lengths, that was tied, pinned, folded, wrapped, draped, hung, glued or otherwise attached to or encircled around something else. One of the most common of all yellow ribbon usages was the tying of a bow around a trunk of a tree (Fig. 1). (Fig. …