How Coffeehouses Fueled the Vietnam Peace Movement

Really enjoying all the comments. However, I would be remiss if I did not mention and honor the incredible, selfless sacrifices of those patriotic men and women who served in Vietnam, especially the tens of thousands who gave their lives or were wounded in the line of duty. There are no words to truly express and honor their service to our country. I want to emphasize that our opposition to the war was never about disrespecting those who served over there. No one in the Covered Wagon coffeehouse movement I was involved in ever badmouthed those brave souls. Indeed, some had just returned from serving in Vietnam. Rather, our dissent was all about trying to end a needless war, in the hope of saving lives, US GI`s and Vietnamese alike.

I was a military dependent living in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany and going to a high school on base. I worked with GIs distributing an anti-military newspaper there. I also saw an FTA show against the military and the war at a coffeehouse there. There was also a paper called Voice of the Lumpen that was put out by some local Black Panthers. We helped distribute that paper when it came out and also helped bring Fania Davis (Angela Davis' sister) to Frankfurt on the fundraising tour to free Angela. When I moved back to the US in 1973, there was still a coffeehouse/office of the Vietnam Vets Against the War in the town near Ft. Meade where I lived. I worked there when I could until it closed in 1975.

I am very familiar with the photo in the G. I. Coffee house in Tacoma. One of the individuals seated at the table was a soldier who later became involved with Stephanie Koontz one of the founders and later(?) became an informant for the 115th M.I. Group. I was in the Special Operations section of that unit at the time. I got out in January of 70 and joined VVAW in San Francisco.

The headline is pretty typical of how this Times column trivializes the Vietnam War. This is not about "coffeehouses"; it's about racism in the military and how African-Americans rebelled against a racist war. Yet the photo accompanying the column only shows white men. The Times needs to re-evaluate this column, and change direction. Instead of raising questions about whether war crimes might have been committed by Americans, The Times should publish a series of columns about all the documented war crimes committed by American troops that the military covered up. Instead of columns sniping against "hippies," The Times should publish columns explaining how those young people were right about the war, and how their courageous opposition eventually saved thousands of American lives. It's also time for The Times to write about and honor the memory of those tens of thousands of young men who left the country rather than participate in the killing in Vietnam. Enough with "coffeehouses." The Times needs to cut the fluff and start publishing the truth about that horrible, pointless war.

I remember picking up a GI hitchhiker, home on leave from Vietnam but scheduled to return, while I was driving to an antiwar demonstration in Pennsylvania. We asked whether he felt betrayed by the antiwar movement. He said "I think that the peace protesters are the only people in America who care about us."

Man! This is the best "comments" section I have ever read in the NYT. Amazing to read the words of those who organized against the War while serving in the military, and those who supported them. Also amazing is so many of these men and women continued their lives working for peace and social justice.

The draft during the Vietnam war provided the Army with a steady supply of people who didn't want to be in the military -- a population that was very receptive to the antiwar movement. Very different today, with an all volunteer military.

I was a civilian opposed to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Vietnam when in early 1968 I started working with The Bond, a monthly newspaper published by the American Servicemen's Union, founded in December 1967. Beginning with only about 250 subscribers, following the bloody battles of the Tet Offensive of January-February 1968, when the U.S. weaknesses were exposed, thousands of Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen -- you name it -- signed up to join the union and to get The Bond sent to them. We got hundreds of letters each month and published about 20 of them in each issue of The Bond, which was passed hand-to-hand around bases and ships all over the world. The GIs were as opposed to the war and to racism as the students were and it was more serious for them. The movement of coffeehouses that Parsons writes about was part of the overall anti-war struggle, and I remember being in touch with coffeehouses in Colorado and Hawaii and Washington state especially where we sent bundles of The Bond. The movement in the military was so intense that a Marine Lt. Col. Robert Deb Heinl wrote an article entitled, "The Collapse of the Armed Forces" for the June 7, 1971 issue of the Armed Forces Journal. I cover these developments in my book, Turn the Guns Around: Mutinies, Soldier Revolts and Revolutions, and I'm glad Parsons has covered one aspect of this struggle.

In '69 we marched against the war in San Francisco. There were dozens of soldiers, some still active. They were respected and treated with reverence. Nowhere that day or any other day did any of us see anyone denigrate the brave young men that had the courage of their convictions to stand with us. I was drafted the next year...The only lottery I have ever come close to winning.

Today, in opposition to our forever wars, what is serving as our coffee houses?

Don't worry that modern warfare and troop morale/anti insurgency tactics now squash any such things.

Excellent account by Parsons, whose fine book provides a fuller picture. I worked for USSF (United States Servicemen's Fund), which provided funds to support GI coffee houses and also GI anti-war newspapers. There were over 900 of these, all over the world, and they spread the anti-war message everywhere. They have been collected by James Lewes and scanned copies will be available shortly. They demonstrate how important the GI antiwar movement was in helping bring the war on Vietnam to an end. The primary force in ending the war was, of course, the amazing resistance of the Vietnamese. I'd argue that the GI movement--coffeehouses, underground newspapers, direct anti-war action, resistance to military commands--was the most important American factor. It was critical to limiting the options available to Nixon, Kissinger, and Wastemoreland in pursuing their awful war.

Thank you for this article. As one of the many women working in the antiwar and draft resistance movement, and having grown up around Fort Dix and Fort Monmouth, I was in Pittsburgh during this time where there was limited contact to military bases or GI coffeehouses. In our case, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War worked closely with us. And yes, the true story has been hidden; my first cousin, a Marine, was killed shortly after arriving in VIetnam, and as a member of a military family, I certainly never felt animosity to any armed forces member.

In a lengthy article on military resistance to the Viet Nam War, I find it it more than surprising there is no mention, let alone discussion, of V.V.A.W., the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War.

I recall that Jane Fonda co-sponsored a successful G.I. coffeehouse in the L.A. area back in the late '60s when I lived there, and she should get some credit for it. And for some other of her lesser-known contributions toward ending the war, such as co-sponsoring, with Tom Hayden, the Indochina Peace Campaign, based in Santa Monica.

In 1971, I was an airman at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho when I became involved in the Covered Wagon coffeehouse near the base. It was organized by Mark Lane, former Freedom Rider and author of "Rush to Judgement", and Carolyn Mugar, who later helped Willie Nelson organize Farm Aid. The coffeehouse was a small movie theater that Mark rented. Among those who appeared there were Dick Gregory and the FTA (or Free The Army) show, consisting of Donald Sutherland, Jane Fonda, Barbara Dane, Ben Vereen, Country Joe McDonald, among others. His account of the Covered Wagon is in Chapter 14 of his memoir, "Citizen Lane." An excellent documentary film by David Zeiger entitled "Sir, No Sir!" chronicled the GI Coffeehouse movement and is still available for purchase on Amazon. So is another documentary "FTA" which tells the story of the "Free The Army Show" mentioned above, also available from Amazon. Much thanks, Mr. Parsons, for bringing this important piece of Vietnam War history to the Times. With Mark Lane`s encouragement, I successfully filed for Conscientious Objector status and was honorably discharged in 1971.

I was a reservist acrtivated in 1968 and as a liberal Democrat opposed the Vietnam War. My unit was stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base north of San Rafael, Ca. . Many of us started organizing to oppose the war as active duty servicemen. I came late to the movement and was distrusted by the civilian Trotskists who provided much of the wherewithal.they were astounded when I told them I would vote for Humphrey against Nixon. The organization was watched closely by military intelligence and infiltrated.i In our ranks was a second lieutenant who was later cashiered. We put together a march in San Francisco and a Navy nurse and an airman marched in uniform. Both were prosecuted. I had read the order prohibiting marching in uniform and was convinced that was the extent of the limitation. I may have been right but found myself doing unpleasant details. Hardly a price for protesting a war that by 1968 had killed 2 million civilians. As I look at the Trump era I feel the need for protest and civil disobeiance may learn something from the example of the defiant service people.

Quaker House started as a GI coffeehouse in Fayetteville, NC, home of the 82nd Airborne at Ft. Bragg, in 1969. Unlike many of the others, Quaker House is still working to support GI Rights and oppose war. You can find out more about Quaker House at http://www.quakerhouse.org/

After a year's tour in VN in 1968-69, I was stationed at 7th Army HQ in Heidelberg, Germany. I was one of many GIs there opposed to the war, and we forged an alliance with Heidelberg Univ. radicals, whose mimeograph machine we used for our anti-war publications. I attended a July 4, 1970, rally at the university organized by the GI leaders of Unsatisfied Black Soldiers. Readers may learn more about the anti-war movement within the army at the SirNoSir website: http://www.sirnosir.com/library/articles/search.html

Need to revitalize this movement so that those opposed to u.s. interference in the middle east and soon The PRK, will be able to have a voice. You can be sure trump and the right wing extremists will be out to villify anyone who opposes u.s. action. We desperately need modern day stokely Carmichaels', Jane Fondas', and other courageous individuals willing to point out the folly of american military action.

Many years ago, when I was on the faculty of Denison University, the students invited General William Westmoreland, the former U.S. commander in Vietnam, to give a talk. He essentially blamed the U.S. failure on the influence of coffeehouses on American troops, and we laughed at him, as his argument seemed to deny the failure of American policy in Vietnam. Perhaps we should not have laughed...

Great read, Mr Parsons. I can't help but wonder how many feds were sitting in those coffee shops listening in.

I was at Fort Hood from 1970 to 1972, and I can assure you that the Oleo Strut was the only decent place to go to in the entire town of Killeen. My thanks to those who made that possible!

I was stationed at Fort Hood in 1967-68. During the 1968 presidential campaign, when off duty, my wife and I would travel to the University of Texas in Austin to volunteer for the anti-war Eugene McCarthy campaign. One of the things we did was distribute McCarthy bumper stickers. The most popular bumper sticker for cars that went through the gate at Fort Hood read "I AM AN AMERICAN AND PROUD OF IT". We couldn't give away any McCarthy stickers to McCarthy supporters who worked on base. We guessed it was for fear of harassment.

Thank you for this piece -- the first recognition I have seen in all the years since my scholarship/working student days, when I made my first (small) donations to these coffeehouses. They seemed like a really good idea at the time, and I am glad to learn how good they really were.

Tom Cruise's "Born on the Fourth of July" depicts Vietnam Veterans as part of the anti-war movement.

Good Morning: Not like coffeehouses today, eh? Perhaps that's the problem.

I wasn't aware of Fred Gardner's role in the "coffeehouse movement"; I knew him as author of THE UNLAWFUL CONCERT, about the unjustified fatal shooting of a prisoner at Presidio of San Francisco Stockade. This article is yet another extolling the virtues of the coffeehouses while completely ignoring the existence of the American Servicemen's Union (ASU), an effort to--crazy as it sounds!--organize enlisted military personnel along the lines of a labor union. The ASU's organizing efforts were right in the barracks and on ships at sea, rather than off-base meeting places. Needless to say, many of us organizers met with serious repression. Recommended reading on the subject: UP AGAINST THE BRASS, by the late Andrew Stapp, founding member and Chairman of the ASU (try out-of-print book dealers), and the recently published TURN THE GUNS AROUND: Mutinies, Soldier Revolts and Revolutions, by John Catalinotto (World View Forum, NY). [The author of this comment served time in 3 Army stockades for refusing to deploy to Vietnam and be a participant in an unjustified, racist war of attempted conquest. He sincerely wishes more young people currently in uniform would wake up to the realization that they are being ordered to participate in the same kind of sordid affairs.]

Thanks to David Parsons and the Times for getting it mostly right. I joined the reserves in '63 because my job at Scientific American didn't come with a deferment. I wrote about it here: http://www.beyondthc.com/autumn-1963/ I didn't frequent the coffeehouses of North Beach. It was a cabaret called The Committee that I thought could be re-created in Army towns. Donna Mickleson and I moved to Columbia, SC in September '67. The "GI movement" came to national attention in February '68 afterJack Newfield wrote in the Village Voice wrote about the "pray-in" at the Fort Jackson chapel by 21 GIs in uniform. Ben Franklin of the NY Times then visited the UFO and wrote a major piece about anti-war GIs. In recent years I've been covering the medical marijuana movement and trying to break out of the Single-Issue Trap. See http://www.beyondthc.com/vietnamarijuana/

No question that the Vietnam era US army was a hotbed of conversation about the war itself, about racism in society, consideration of whether military orders could legitimately be refused on moral grounds, etc. This is not to say that it was a homogeneous group; all sorts of politics were represented and displays of racism, homophobia, cluelessness ("Where is Vietnam?") were well represented. I am curious about the present composition of the US military. I suspect that it is not as homogenous as some "self selection" hypotheses might suggest. Certainly the brass continues to have a strong interest in playing down any independent thought. Yet in an era of endless deployment, homophobia and transgender angst, domestic violence and an increase in suicides, there must be lots of concern among present military members about what is right. Is it tougher for those in the all volunteer army to engage in politics, and if they were less constrained about public activism, what would be their issues?

For roughly 45 years, I've been told that returning GIs were spat upon by war protesters. No one has ever come up with any evidence that it actually happened, even once. Another of the Viet Nam war's lies. Conservative "alternative facts", before alternative facts were cool.

GI resistance to the war is the great untold story. I helped set-up a GI coffee house in Long Beach which we named the "Drydock." We gave out an anti-war newspapers at the gate to the base where hundreds of GIs would grab an issue as they drove by. We also helped GIs produce their own papers which were handed out on-board ship. The story of GI coffee houses and GI resistance is beautifully told in the film, "Sir, No Sir!" The anti-war wasn't anti-GI, in fact after 1968 veterans were in the front ranks of the protests.

As someone who was in the Gulf of Tonkin in '67 and fighting against the war while still in the Navy in '69, I can confirm David Parsons' statement that the true image of the Vietnam era GI must include many of us who opposed the war. I too searched for a hip antiwar coffeehouse, finding the White Whale in San Diego - while not a true GI Coffeehouse, it offered me a safe place to begin expressing and exploring my misgivings about the war. I soon found many other GIs and veterans opposed to the war, some of whom were hanging around the Green Machine GI coffeehouse near the Camp Pendleton Marine base in Oceanside, CA. We formed a brotherhood of resistance and soon banded together at antiwar demonstrations and meetings. Parsons is right that this true history has been buried and needs to be unearthed.

"A fuller reckoning with the era’s history would begin by acknowledging the countless G.I.s and civilians who stood together against the war." Indeed! It's a lie that the anti-war movement was anti-GI. For example, in December of 1968, a group of us from the University of Texas at Austin went to the Fort Hood military base to hand out leaflets advertising an anti-war demonstration planned for the Spring. We got a wonderful reception from the draftees there, and a large contingent of them marched in our demonstration, many of them in uniform. GIs participated in anti-war demonstrations in Vietnam. The anti-war movement was all about supporting our fellow working Americans in uniform.

The author refers to the Ft. Jackson Eight as black GIs. This is not correct. One of the main spokesman was Joe Cole, a Caucasian. Several others were Hispanic. It is important to recall the GI antiwar movement was consciously inclusive. They were antiwar GIs, first and foremost. But who recognized how non-whites were disproportionately assigned to the most dangerous roles. And disproportionately killed or wounded. The importance of inclusivity is relevant to today's movement against police brutality.

Going to the UFO coffeehouse in Columbia SC changed my life. I already knew as a conscripted citizen that the war was morally wrong. I knew from military history that was impossible to subjugate the Vietnamese.. But I didn't know what to do about it. On first leave from basic training, I put on some civilian clothes (which I had mailed to me since civvy clothes were confiscated along with getting a buzz haircut), and to Columbia. Attracted by the sound of southern rock a la Allman Brothers, I stepped into the UFO, found a bunch of hippies, a new girlfriend named Stephanie, and books and newspapers that weren't the NYT. A few of us GIs formed the Committee of Fort Jackson Conscientious Objectors, and boy did we stir up the wrath of the Brass! Some of us managed to get discharged, some got slammed into the brig, and I ended up in handcuffs, shanghaied to Ft Lewis WA for a general court martial. Next stop was Canada. In the 90s, I stood at the base of the Statue of Liberty and wept. My grandfather fled Europe because of WWI, my father served in WWII, and I was betrayed by the likes of Nixon and Kissinger.

The draft must have had a lot to do with the activism of some of the troops. The at will service of our present military members leads to self-selection bias which encourages adventurism. National duty ought to be a requirement. It might lead to conversations of the type that happened during the Vietnam War. The Forever War of today is off the radar for most people. I remember well the visceral feeling of being caught up in a war I did not support as I approached draft age. Luckily the war ended. Now in retirement I would welcome the opportunity to serve my country in a formally acknowledged way. It would be good for me and quite possibly for the country as well. Volunteering for NGOs just isn't cutting it for me. I would like to express my patriotism and feel as though my citizenship has value. Money is not an issue for me even though I hover above the poverty line. The only way for me to give back is through service. Thank for this series and thank to all the men and women who have served in the military as well as those who have worked in the government, politicians not included.

My dad worked at the Court C Coffee House, looking very like the one pictured on top, in Tacoma. It was famous for being a Merchant Co-Op full of 'alternative' Old-style living, sewing shop by Granny, an early bulk foods store and a head shop. Because the parents were working there I was one of the little flower children that roamed the place, making friends with various merchants. It was a time of change, a time of Questioning the Government in what they were doing, and it was the start of the Government Crackdown of Free Speech and anti-corporate-war sentiment by the start of The 'Drug' Wars, which us poor folks recognized that it was simply that the right wing could no longer fight in 'Nam, so they started a fight against us, instead. But things were more openly talked about, person to person, face to face, and That made a huge difference at the time as it was a message that could not be changed, not like one on film, face to face made the difference. But there were a LOT of Anti-War GI's, my dad being one, and I remember many a session of talking, stories of what they had gone through and been forced to do, and for some it was therapy, some of the only, yet best it could be, for the time, in telling your story amongst others that had gone thru similar, so you no longer feel alone in your emotions and wounds, physical and emotional. It certainly helped me steer my life, later, and my own course through the military, which was fully informed, as their service was not.

Disclosure: High School graduate, 1965; College Deferment; 1-A, April 1969; Draft Lottery number 20; Basic Training at Ft. Dix, April 1970. The author is correct in describing the revisionist-history portrait of our Vietnam era servicemen as patriots betrayed by the general public. I cannot speak for the war prior to the Tet Offensive, but in the 1968-1970 timeframe many of those who served were simply reluctant participants who had been called into service by a government that had no intention of winning. The level of enthusiasm I experienced is best described by the question; "Who wanted to be the last to die in a lost cause?" I remember vividly the day at the end of basic training when Drill Sgt. Mendez read out the list of MOS assignments. Most who received the 11-B, Combat Infantryman, designations wept.