Cannot_Wait_4Disney
The Colombo of Cippolini.
- Joined
- May 18, 2005
It may be well known but it is not historically accurate. It was first put out by the Nixon administration and put out again during the gulf war to try and silence dissent. In fact the opposite was true. Protesters did not spit upon returning soldiers and did not call them baby killers. On the contrary, it was LBJ that was called a kid killer because it was he they blamed for soldiers losing their lives. Hey hey LBJ, how many more of our kids did you kill today was a common chant. Soldiers in the field and protesters by and large had an affinity for each other.To be fair, it is historically well known that Vietnam soldiers were not treated well by the public upon their return. They were spat on and called baby killers. Many soldiers tried to hide their service to avoid being ridiculed or in some cases they couldn't get work because of their service. I think that may be what @cobright might be reacting too.
See, Lembcke. The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam, 1998.