The entire back stone wall of the auction house was awash in posters. Their silent messages gave off the forceful sound of the weapons in the war they were protesting.
Someone was selling a large collection of Vietnam War-era posters. Most were markedly anti-war, with a handful urging support for the war and the soldiers fighting it. Most were seemingly produced by organizations to promote an upcoming protest. They appeared to be primarily from the 1960s and 1970.
These were not artful and colorful images; some had dabs of color, but for the most part, the posters were stark black and white reminders.
Maybe that’s what the collector was after, the reality of the war without adornment, made during a turbulent time in America’s history when eyes were opened and the old way of believing was dissipating. The United States fought the war as allies of South Vietnam against its northern neighbor, and more than 58,000 American soldiers died in the fighting.
Meanwhile, at home another tussle raged largely on university campuses, with demonstrations also in the nation’s capital. The protests ran side by side with African American’s fight for their own civil rights, each taking on the status quo through peaceful demonstrations.
Some of the auction posters highlighted historical milestones in the war: the Nov. 15, 1969, moratorium march on Washington to end the war, “Hanoi Jane,” in reference to accusations that actress Jane Fonda gave comfort to the enemy, the Ohio National Guard turning its guns on unarmed student protesters at Kent State in 1970 and killing four of them, the 1968 massacre of villagers at My Lai by U.S. soldiers.
The war splintered the nation, led to the resignation of a president and awakened a giant that had not been seen before. This war was far different from the others; soldiers were not going off to fight a global enemy as horrific as Hitler, leaving behind them a country that supported them and wished them Godspeed. The American soldiers of the Vietnam War left amid protests and came back to them – not as heroes but pariahs.
The auction posters attested to what the giant unleashed, a questioning of and cynicism about the war:
“April 15. Strike. March.”
“Come to Washington, DC. July 1-4”
“Suppose they gave a war and nobody came”
“Vets for Peace in Vietnam”
As in any protests, there were counter-protests evident in other posters:
“Victory in Vietnam. In God We Trust.”
“Support our men in Vietnam”
Here are some of the other posters:
