After a tour that spanned seven years and 24 campuses in the U.S. and Vietnam, the acclaimed exhibit, “Waging Peace in Vietnam: U.S. Soldiers and Veterans Who Opposed the War” will end its long run with a showing in Madison. The exhibit honors tens of thousands of drafted and enlisted GIs and veterans who created a war resistance movement within the American military as the war raged in Vietnam.
From April 1–22, the exhibit and additional programming will be available at the Wisconsin Historical Society and locations across campus.
Two events on April 2 and April 14 will focus on inside stories from revelations of the My Lai Massacre that killed 504 unarmed civilians from one village in one day in 1968, including a panel with renowned photographer, Ron Haeberle, who captured the event. Another event on April 5 will focus on an extraordinary project removing landmines in central Vietnam, the most heavily bombed area on the planet, and children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange. The schedule also features a documentary screening, special musical performance, and more.
Featured participants include:
- Ron Haeberle, the Army photographer whose pictures of the My Lai Massacre helped turn public opinion against the war.
- Navy Lieutenant Susan Schnall, president of the national Veterans for Peace, who was court-martialed and sentenced to six months hard labor for leading hundreds of sailors and soldiers on a San Francisco peace march.
- Author and activist, Le Ly Hayslip, who wrote the memoir When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace, which inspired the Oliver Stone film, Heaven and Earth.
- Documentary filmmakers Connie Field, Glenn Silber, and David Zeiger; landmine clearance coordinator Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh; founder of the Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance Heather Bowser; and Kronos Quartet soloist Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ.
- Free screenings of the films: The War at Home (Glenn Silber, 1979), Sir! No Sir! (David Zeiger, 2005),The Whistleblower of My Lai (Connie Field, 2018), and Hunting in Wartime (Samantha Farinella, 2013).
- World-famous soloist on the đàn tranh, Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ, featured by the Kronos Quartet in The Whistleblower of My Lai — the award-winning film on the opera telling the story of revelations of the My Lai Massacre of 1968 in Vietnam, which will be shown immediately following her performance.
- Craig McNamara, son of Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and the author of Because Our Fathers Lied, who will be the judge of the student essay contest at UW–Madison.
View the full schedule and more information.
Sponsors
The exhibit and events are sponsored by The Harvey Goldberg Center, UW–Madison Department of History; UW–Madison’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies and International Division; The Capital Times; Havens Wright Center for Social Justice; Madison Veterans for Peace Clarence Kailin Chapter 25; Chino Cienega Foundation; Pax Christi Foundation; PSR Madison; Interfaith Peace Working Group; Madison Friends Meeting (Quakers); and Madison World Beyond War.