Lembcke contrasts the absence of credible evidence of spitting by anti-war activists with the large body of evidence showing a mutually supportive, empathetic relationship between veterans and anti-war forces. The book documents the efforts of the Nixon Administration to drive a wedge between military servicemen and the anti-war movement by portraying democratic dissent as  betrayal of the troops , effectively redirecting blame for failure in Vietnam onto protesters. Coupled with American society's exaggeration of medical conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and drug abuse among veterans to the point of broadly vilifying the Vietnam veteran as mentally unfit, emotionally volatile and a "loser" and "victim", the collective memory about Vietnam has been refocused onto the veteran and away from the war. Lembcke equates this disparagement of the anti-war movement and veterans with the similar stab-in-the-back myths propagated by Germany and France after their war defeats, as an alibi for why they lost the war.Stabbed in the back! The Past and Future of a Right-wing Myth Kevin Baker; Harper's Magazine; June 2006 Lembcke details the resurrection of this myth of the spat-upon veteran by later administrations during subsequent Gulf War efforts as a way of silencing public dissent.
Lembcke contrasts the absence of credible evidence of spitting by anti-war activists with the large body of evidence showing a mutually supportive, empathetic relationship between veterans and anti-war forces. The book also documents efforts of the Nixon Administration to drive a wedge between military servicemembers and the anti-war movement by portraying democratic dissent as a betrayal of the troops . Lembcke equates this disparagement of the anti-war movement and veterans with the similar stab-in-the-back myths propagated by Germany and France after their war defeats, as an alibi for why they lost the war.Stabbed in the back! The Past and Future of a Right-wing Myth Kevin Baker; Harper's Magazine; June 2006 Lembcke details the resurrection of the myth of the spat-upon veteran during subsequent Gulf War efforts as a way to silence public dissent.
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documents the
also documents
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servicemen
servicemembers
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a
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, effectively redirecting blame for failure in Vietnam onto protesters. Coupled with American society's exaggeration of medical conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and drug abuse among veterans to the point of broadly vilifying the Vietnam veteran as mentally unfit, emotionally volatile and a "loser" and "victim", the collective memory about Vietnam has been refocused onto the veteran and away from the war.
.
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this
the
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by later administrations
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of silencing
to silence