Controversies over photography in the Vietnam Era

Here is the story of the retouched photo from Kent State: http://petapixel.com/2012/08/29/the-kent-state-massacre-photo-and-the-case-of-the-missing-pole/

Here is a video interviewing a photographer who took a photo of an SVA colonel executing a prisoner of war, and discussing the fallout from the picture.

Kim Phuc, subject of iconic picture of the Vietnam era, speaks 40 years later

Go to this link: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-napalm-girl-photo-vietnam-war-turns-40-210339788.html

Remember, for more pictures of the Vietnam era, go to this post here: http://historyscoop.com/2014/04/14/images-of-the-vietnam-era/

Music of the 1960s and 1970s protest era

“Big Yellow Taxi”– Joni Mitchell wrote this song in response to environmental concerns such as those found in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring:

They paved paradise- put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot SPOT
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people A dollar and a half just to see ’em
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

Hey farmer, farmer Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples But LEAVE me the birds and the bees Please!
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

Late last night I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi took away my old man
Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

I said Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Ha ha ha ha.

“Blowin’ in the Wind”– written by Bob Dylan, performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary
(Written about the Civil Rights Movement, as well as war in general)

How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?
How many times must the cannonballs fly before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind

How many years must a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist before they’re allowed to be free?
How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind

How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?
How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?
How many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind; the answer is blowing in the wind

“Woodstock”– written by Joni Mitchell, performed by Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young
(This video contains footage from the Woodstock Rock festival)

Well I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road
And I asked him tell me where are you going, this he told me:
(He) said, I’m going down to Yasgur’s farm, going to join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land, and set my soul free.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

Well, then can I roam beside you? I have come to lose the smog.
And I feel myself a cog in something turning.
And maybe it’s the time of year, yes, said maybe it’s the time of man.
And I don’t know who I am but life is for learning.
We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

By the time we got to Woodstock, we were half a million strong,
And everywhere was a song and a celebration.
And I dreamed I saw the bomber jet planes riding shotgun in the sky,
Turning into butterflies above our nation.

We are stardust, we are golden, we are caught in the devil’s bargain,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

“Ohio”– written in response to the Kent State Massacre by Neil Young ( a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)

Te lyrics are embedded in the song, which uses footage from the protest.

The Vietnam War– from the perspective of the 80s and 90s

Some songwriters continued to explore the Vietnam War as a theme into the 1980s and 1990s.

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English artist Paul Hardcastle used sampling and voice tracks to create his song 19 which was released in 1985. I would strongly suggest that you listen to this song as you prepare for both the AP Exam and for your test over the 1960s and 1970s, since it is made up of facts about the soldiers who fought in the war.

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Bruce Springsteen’s iconic “Born in the U.S.A.” was the title song to his album. It was later cited by conservative columnist George Will as a possible song to be used by the Reagan re-election campaign in 1984– who apparently had never actually listened to the lyrics:

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R.E.M.’s song “Orange Crush” was a song released in 1988 about a young man becoming a soldier in Vietnam. “Orange Crush” was slang for Agent Orange, the defoliant used to burn off the vegetation in the jungle.

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Johnny Cash, an American icon, wrote “Drive On” in 1993 about a veteran’s perspective decades after the war was over. In this video he explains his inspiration for the song (16s are M-16s).