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As young adults in the 1960s and 1970s, the nine people featured in this book—including co-editor Frank Joyce, Rennie Davis, Judy Gumbo, Alex Hing, and others—worked to end the US war in Vietnam. Independently of each other, while the United States was still at war, nearly all of them travelled to North Vietnam, risking physical harm and charges of treason back home.
In 2013, they all revisited Vietnam in a trip organized by the editors of this book. The People Make the Peace presents their reflections on those experiences, providing thoughtful and well informed reflections on a war and an era that deeply affected the United States and the world.
"Karín Aguilar-San Juan & Frank Joyce's The People Make the Peace: Lessons from the Vietnam Antiwar Movement presents an insightful examination of the Việt Nam antiwar movement with fascinating stories by nine activists who made wartime trips to Việt Nam to establish people-to-people contacts. The book shatters stereotypes of protesters and shows the activists as thoughtful, courageous and compassionate strategists whose dedication to peaceful diplomacy helped end the war earlier that it would have otherwise. Anyone interested in putting a halt to our current state of perpetual war—and stopping future ones—will get inspiration and direction from the lessons so brilliantly conveyed in this book."
—Medea Benjamin, cofounder of the peace group CODEPINK and the human rights organization Global Exchange
"A marvelous collection that comes full circle in understanding America's past and present relationship with Vietnam, and that reminds us of the power and impact of the antiwar movement through the voices of peace advocates from that era who recently returned to Vietnam."
—David Cortright, director of Policy Studies at Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
"This is a wonderfully moving, inspiring, and instructive collection of autobiographical essays by prominent Vietnam War activists who kept the faith over the decades since they joined in signing an extraordinary treaty of peace between the American and Vietnamese people in 1973. The authors succeed, above all, in making us realize how profoundly wrong it was ever to wage war against this proud people who so often returned our violence with their love. Everyone who cares about this country needs to read this book in a hurry."
—Richard Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law and Practice, Princeton University
"The American movement against the Vietnam War was the largest, most complex, and most effective antiwar movement in history, but neither its scope nor its complexity have gotten their due in the historical record. The essays in this collection help fill in many blanks, adding essential color to the story of this astounding citizens’ movement, especially the remarkable saga of the 1970–71 People’s Peace Treaty. They inspire reflection that America still sorely needs.
—Todd Gitlin, professor of journalism and sociology at Columbia University
"The People Make the Peace is an invaluable document describing the varied experiences of one significant segment of the movement against the war in Vietnam. Activists who engaged in what Hanoi and the NLF called 'people’s diplomacy,' recall their experiences and place them in the context of a more recent visit to the country as well as current US foreign policy. In addition, five veterans now living and working in Vietnam to alleviate the damage done by the war they fought talk of their past and present experiences. The volume will be of interest to all who cherish peace and work towards achieving it.
—Marilyn Young, professor in the Department of History, New York University