New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Vietnam War

Active Dissent: 1970s College Protests in New York

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Active Dissent - 1970s College ProtestsOn May 8th, 1972, New Paltz students went from dorm to dorm at the state university, pulling fire alarms, their reaction quick and spontaneous. Few students had television sets, but word spread quickly about President Nixon’s broadcast announcing he had ordered the mining of North Vietnam ports.

Just hours after Nixon’s address, around midnight, the college’s assistant director of housing placed a frantic call to campus security. [Read more…] about Active Dissent: 1970s College Protests in New York

The Agent Orange Trial: Long Island Legal History

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long island history project logoWe finish out our special three-part series on Long Island’s Vietnam veterans by looking at a second battle they faced in the years after the war: the effects of Agent Orange. By the late 1970s the effects of this chemical defoliant were becoming known and veterans began to mobilize. [Read more…] about The Agent Orange Trial: Long Island Legal History

Vietnam War Oral History Subject of Long Island History Project

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long island history project logoOn the next few episodes of the Long Island History Project, we are revisiting the Vietnam War through the eyes of three local residents, each with their own perspective on the conflict and its devastating aftermath. Today we hear from Oyster Bay resident Jack Parente who was drafted out of college and served in the Army’s 1st Calvary Division. These stories come to us through the work of historian Christopher Verga, who has been recording oral histories with veterans throughout the region. Chris walks us through Jack’s life as well as the process of conducting this type of historical research. [Read more…] about Vietnam War Oral History Subject of Long Island History Project

Historian Jill Lepore On Data Mining and Voter Manipulation

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if thenBook purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.

Jill Lepore’s book, If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future (Liveright, 2020) is an account of the Cold War origins of the data-obsessed, algorithmic twenty-first century.

Launched in 1959 by some of the nation’s leading social scientists, the Simulmatics Corporation mined data, targeted voters, manipulated consumers, destabilized politics, and disordered knowledge ― decades before Facebook, Google, and Cambridge Analytica. [Read more…] about Historian Jill Lepore On Data Mining and Voter Manipulation

Westmoreland: West Point’s Controversial Graduate

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general westmoreland plaque

The grounds and buildings occupying the hallowed landscape of the United States Military Academy at West Point are adorned with statutes, plaques, and pictures of many of the nation’s most famous military leaders. The cemetery is a veritable who’s who of those who fought in our nation’s wars. Statutes of Patton, Eisenhower, and MacArthur stand outside West Point’s Library, Dining Hall, and Parade Grounds.

Inside Eisenhower Hall are pictures of some of its most notable graduates, including one who is often labeled one of the most controversial generals in American military history. There is also a plaque in his honor at Thayer Hall, the building that is named after the Academy’s first Superintendent, Sylvanus Thayer. [Read more…] about Westmoreland: West Point’s Controversial Graduate

Vietnam Memorial Project Coming To Port Byron

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The Wall That Heals, a 250-foot replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, along with a mobile Education Center, is coming to Port Byron on June 1 to 4, 2017 and will be open and free to the public.

The Wall That Heals honors the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed forces in the Vietnam War and its walls bear the names of the more than 58,000 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam. [Read more…] about Vietnam Memorial Project Coming To Port Byron

New-York Historical Opens Art as Activism Exhibit

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Roosevelt and Lehman Campaign PosterLong before digital technology made instant worldwide communication possible, political protests and calls for action reached the public through posters. Posted on walls and bulletin boards, slapped up on store windows and church doors, these works often featured bright colors and modernist art-inspired graphics, and were quickly mass-produced to inform communities, stir up audiences, and call attention to injustice.

This summer, the New-York Historical Society is presenting 72 posters dating from the early 1930s through the 1970s in Art as Activism: Graphic Art from the Merrill C. Berman Collection, on through September 13, 2015. [Read more…] about New-York Historical Opens Art as Activism Exhibit

New Book: A Dictionary Of Vietnam War Slang

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Vietnam War Slang DictionaryOn August 7th, the US marked the 50th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the basis for the Johnson administration’s escalation of American military involvement in Southeast Asia and war against North Vietnam.

A new book, Vietnam War Slang: A Dictionary on Historical Principles (Routledge, 2014) by Tom Dalzell, outlines the context behind the slang used by members of the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. [Read more…] about New Book: A Dictionary Of Vietnam War Slang

Remembering America’s Fallen In Every Community

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800px-American_military_cemetery_2003There is a special group of people who are remembered by a society. These are the fallen, those who die in battle on behalf of something larger than themselves. In the Bible there is an infrequently used term “nephilim” from the verb “to fall.”

Based on the archaeological evidence, the Nephilim appear to have been part of group who were remembered in Canaanite societies in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (second millennium BCE). These fallen warriors were remembered in feasts and stories just as warriors who have fallen in battle are still remembered today. It’s part of the human experience. [Read more…] about Remembering America’s Fallen In Every Community