ch8 quotes - different perspectives

Question 1

Historian Paul Ham

Answer 1

“the great majority went to Vietnam enthusiastically”

Question 2

STATISTICS - Gallup polls

Answer 2

The Gallup polls showed a majority of supportive attitudes to conscription however there was a slow decline in enthusiasm as the years went on as in June 1961. 73% of pollers favoured conscription whilst in October 1970 58% of pollers continued conscription. However, conversely the Gallup polls highlighted the lack of enthusiasm on sending conscripts to Vietnam 1965-67 hence in December 1952 52% of pollers wanted to keep conscripts in AUS

Question 3

SAME HISTORIAN VIEWS: Historian Christina Twomey THEN historian Mark Dapin

Answer 3

“many young men complied with its provisions” AND he said that many “considered obedience to the law to be an obligation rather than an option.”

Question 4

Gallup poll Statistics 2

Answer 4

There were Gallup polls on the question ‘Fight on in Vietnam – or bring forces back now?’ from 1965-1970 and in September 1965 when it began the majority of pollers, 56%, believed that Australian should continue to fight in Vietnam whilst towards the end on the 31st of October 1970 the majority of voters, 45%, believed that it was necessary to bring back the troops from Vietnam to AUS

Question 5

UNIQUE HISTORIAN VIEW AGAINST SOS: Historian Mark Dapin considers their intentions to be well-meaning but believes that:

Answer 5

“the women of the Save Our Sons Movement, who tirelessly picketed the Army inductions of thousands of young men, perhaps did not realise that many had not asked to be saved”

Question 6

slogan of the Moratoriums

Answer 6

“stop work to stop the war”

Question 7

In December 1972, the newly elected Labor Party Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, announced that:

Answer 7

“there would be no further call up.”

Question 8

Historian Peter Edwards on stories from the Vietnam War:

Answer 8

”may have been exaggerated or imported from the American experience”

Question 9

Historian Peter Edwards on the negative view on Vietnam War

Answer 9

“the idea that Vietnam was an especially evil war”

Question 10

Historian Mark Dapin challenges:

Answer 10

“partially folkloric saga of victimhood and rejection which has grown up since the war”

Question 11

Prime Minister Harold Holt

Answer 11

“Voluntary enlistment did not provide suitable men to the extent needed. We and our advisers concluded there was no realistic alternative to National Service.”

Question 12

Labor opposition to conscription (Arthur Calwell)

Answer 12

“their lives at stake are to be selected by some form of lottery, or Russian Roulette.”

Question 13

Perspective of a national serviceman, Geoffrey Morgan

Answer 13

“I thought Australia should be involved.”

Question 14

Perspective of a national serviceman, Geoffrey Morgan

Answer 14

“ I saw it as an escape from a job I didn’t particularly like. I saw it as a way to see a bit more of Australia or maybe further afield.”

Question 15

experience of conscientious objectors like Micheal Leunig

Answer 15

“should go and fight for my country.”

Question 16

The Age 1966 - reporting on President Johnson’s tour to AUS and the diverse reactions

Answer 16

“a triumphal procession…“fist fights broke out”

Question 17

Prime Minister Menzies cited President Johnson’s letter welcoming Australia’s commitment.

Answer 17

“action simply underscores the full cooperation and understanding that has existed between our two Governments”

Question 18

Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell responded to Prime Minister Menzies’ announcement:

Answer 18

“We do not think it is a wise decision … We do not think it is a right decision … We do not believe it will promote the welfare of the people of Vietnam.”

Question 19

Opposition Leader Arthur Calwell responded to Prime Minister Menzies’ announcement:

Answer 19

“The Government may be able to square its conscience on this matter, but this is logically and morally impossible.”

Question 20

Robert Menzies, Commonwealth Parliamentary Debates 1965 in response to Arther Calwell’s response:

Answer 20

“It is in the continuing interest of this country – to put it on no higher ground than that – to be regarded and to remain as a valued ally of the United States, which is, in this part of the world, our own most powerful ally.”

Question 21

The Age 1965

Answer 21

“There was no alternative but to respond as we have.”

Question 22

The Age 1965

Answer 22

“inescapable obligations which fall on us because of our geographical position, our treaty commitments and friendships.”

Question 23

The Courier Mail in Brisbane 1965

Answer 23

“Our government has made the decision in our name and that is our duty. The nation now has to support that.”

Question 24

The Australian opposed the government’s decision to increase Australia’s commitment to Vietnam:

Answer 24

“The Menzies Government has made a reckless decision on Vietnam … It has decided to send Australian soldiers into a savage revolutionary war … so that America may shelve a tiny part of her embarrassment … It could be that historians will recall this day with tears.”

Question 25

Journalist and historian Paul Ham

Answer 25

“novelty of seeing war for the first time that led many Australians to oppose it.”

Question 26

Labor politician Clyde Holding

Answer 26

“[It was called a ‘dirty war’] [b]ecause of the weapons used – weapons like the chemicals which destroy crops, the gasses which paralyse men, napalm (jellied petrol) which incinerates those on whom it is dropped, and the bullets fired by the Armalite rifle, which are an improved version of the universally condemned ‘dum dum’ bullets.”

Question 27

Labor politician Clyde Holding

Answer 27

“Because the ‘Viet Cong’ are so intricately intermingled with the peasants and the villages of South Vietnam that to destroy the Viet Cong it is necessary to destroy whole villages – old and young men, women and children, ‘innocent’ and ‘guilty’ alike.”

Question 28

historians Ashley Ekins and Ian McNeill

Answer 28

“Increase in casualties also impacted people’s opinion on the war.”

Question 29

Historian Michael Caulfield on SOS - negative reactions

Answer 29

“They were called Communists, neglectful wives, and the worst insult of all, ‘bad mothers’.”

Question 30

Historian Michael Caulfield: SOS

Answer 30

“brought respectability and potency to civil protest that had never been there before.”

Question 31

Irene Miller’s motivations for joining the SOS

Answer 31

“Having seen firsthand the horrific impact of war on young men”

Question 32

Officials opposed SOS - ¸The Canberra Times 1966

Answer 32

“Colonel A. N. Kemsley, the deputy chairman of the Shrine trustees, told the women, ‘I don’t want any wreaths laid in the Shrine by your organisation. You can go home and take your wreaths with you.’ “

Question 33

Jo Leech

Answer 33

“Vietnam Moratorium an overwhelming success.”

Question 34

Helen Voysey, Transcript of speech to Moratorium crowd, 1970, Sydney

Answer 34

“took the Moratorium into the schools.”

Question 35

Jo Leech on the impact + limitations of protests

Answer 35

“Although the Moratorium and other protest movements did not prompt the change in government policy, they vividly demonstrated that a significant proportion of Australian society did not support the war, the way it was fought or the nature of Australia’s commitment.”

Question 36

criticism from historian Jeff Doyle

Answer 36

“processes of rewriting Vietnam as a more positive account of the experience of war”

Question 37

Singer John Schumann

Answer 37

“demonstrate to Australians that you can oppose a war vigorously but still be supportive and respectful of the men and women the government sends to fight it”

Question 38

anonymous poem was submitted to The Sun newspaper in Melbourne at the height of the Moratorium protests in 1970:

Answer 38

“who gives a damn what a soldier gives.”

Question 39

Vietnam veteran Danny McIver

Answer 39

“one minute I was in a theatre of war next minute I was home”

Question 40

Ex-serviceman Geoff Shaw’s mental health experiences after the Indochina war period:

Answer 40

“suffering PTSD and all these other illnesses”

Question 41

John Jesser, The Canberra Times, 4 October 1987:

Answer 41

“Many veterans were stunned by the depth of feeling in the public response.”

Question 42

Historian Micheal Caulfield on misremembering:

Answer 42

“One single action, one potent photograph has become the accepted truth”