Primary Resources

The Vietnam War

Courtesty of NARA


Case # 66-91-C: United States of America vs. David Paul O’Brien
David O’Brien and a group of other anti-war protesters were “caught” on March 21st, 1966 burning their draft cards on the steps of the South Boston Courthouse. In the ensuing melee that surrounded the incident, the protesters got caught up in a backlash of Vietnam supporters, some of whom began to physically threaten the dissenters. By chance (or as the documents clearly show, by planned action) the FBI had sent some agents to monitor the situation, since there was intelligence to suggest that a possible protest was evident. Agents led the group to safety within the courthouse, but promptly arrested and charged them with the willful destruction of their draft cards. In the following years, the case was litigated several times in a number of venues, resulting in the case being heard by the highest court. The Supreme Court, in a vote of 7 to 1, overwhelmingly supported the government’s claim that the youths blatantly disregarded the law in burning their cards. O’Brien was sentenced by the new U.S. District Court judge to serve out the rest of his original sentence with a 3-year probation, working at Mass General Hospital, and was let go essentially on time served and good behavior.


Case # 67-352C: United State of America vs. Richard D. Yates, Jr."
In this case, Yates, a young African-American Muslim living in Boston in 1967, was convicted of draft evasion. Yates’ argument, that his evasion (or conscientious objection to the war in Vietnam) was due to the Muslim tenet that he not be involved in military actions that may involve loss of human life, was ultimately rejected by the court and he was sentenced to serve 3 years in federal prison. Interesting, Yates’ brother was also convicted by the same court and was sentenced to serve a much shorter term of imprisonment. Yates was convicted and served his three years at a federal penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

Case # 67-366G: United States of America vs. Michael Dennis Moore
Moore, a religious dissenter, was charged and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for evading his alternate draft duties, working for Mass General in a civilian hospital duty position in lieu of military service. His statements in court exemplify his feelings about serving, as well as how disappointed he was with the government for pursuing dissenters and not going after “hard criminals” instead. Mr. Moore was a resident of Wakefield, MA at the time of his indictment.

Case # 68-1: United States of America vs. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, Marcus Raskin, and Benjamin Spock.
This extensive case involved America’s favorite pediatrician, Dr. Benjamin Spock, in a high-profile court battle over draft evasion and dissention of the Vietnam War. An incident in Boston in January of 1968 where Spock, Rev. Coffin, and several other intellectuals and scholars were present led to an accusation by the federal government that the group had conspired to commit a felony, encouraging anti-war and anti-draft protesters to burn their draft cards. Spock, an advocate for dissenters on the basis of their 1st amendment rights as citizens, cites among other things, the illegality of basing these prosecutions on the sedition laws of the 1920’s, which apparently played a role in the District Attorney’s case for trying for a conviction of the evaders named in the case. Spock’s expertly crafted memorandum is truly a work of legal prowess, and artfully lays out the stance of the defendants’ case for being granted clemency to the charges leveled against them. Included are several documents relating to the trial, held at Boston’s Federal District Court in 1968, including the excerpts of many court documents of note and a transcript of an interview of Dr. Spock by an ABC reporter on the scene the day of the rally.

Case #68-40M: United States of America vs. David Brian Stoppelman
Stoppelman was classified as a “conscientious objector” to the war in Vietnam, his file filled with many documents relating to his case, heard in the latter months of 1968. Included are letters supporting his character from friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, as well as information about his fate, a comparatively short sentence served and an 18-month probationary period.

Web Resources

The Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University
From the website: The mission of the Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University is to support and encourage research and education regarding all aspects of the American Vietnam experience; promoting a greater understanding of this experience and the peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia. Its functions are threefold: collection and preservation of pertinent source material; education through exhibits, classroom instruction, educational programs, and publications; and encouragement of scholarly research through exchanges, publishing of noteworthy research, symposia, and financial support.

PBS – How to do an Oral History Project on Vietnam
This website features instructions on how to do an oral history project on the Vietnam War.

Buffalo State University – The Vietnam Veterans Oral History and Folklore Project.
The Vietnam Veterans Oral History and Folklore Project is engaged in an ongoing undertaking to collect, preserve and make better known the folklore, especially the folksongs, of Americans in war Like all folklore, these songs served as a strategy for survival, as a means of unit bonding and definition, as entertainment. They also provided a means for the expression of protest, fear, and frustration, of grief and of longing for home. All of the traditional themes of military folksong can be found in these songs: praise of the great leader, celebration of heroic deeds, laments for the death of comrades, disparagement of other units, and complaints about incompetent officers and vainglorious rear-echelon troops. Like all soldiers from time immemorial, the troops in Vietnam sang of epic drinking bouts and encounters with exotic young women.


Library of Congress – Veterans History Project,
This project aims to preserve the personal experiences of veterans by collecting their personal reminiscences, correspondence, diaries, photos, scrapbooks, etc. It is a searchable database.

Library of Congress - Other
This broadside advertises a protest of Nixon’s policy to ban demonstrations on public land without advance notice. Nixon’s policy was viewed as a way to stifle dissent and protest over the war.

UPI Web Site
UPI Newsgroup pictures of Vietnam scenes.

UPI Timeline with full-text stories from Vietnam
UPI Timeline with full-text stories from Vietnam

PBS – American Experience: Vietnam Online
The PBS Vietnam Documentary Site features a variety of primary sources including papers of government officials, reminiscences from those connected to the war (including Vietnamese citizens and women), and maps of Vietnam from 1945 through the end of the war. A “Teacher’s Guide” will help you to use the materials.

Rutgers University
This article from the Rutgers’ web site details the Arlington Street Church Draft Evasion rally in Boston.

Columbia University – “Teaching Vietnam”
This e-seminar is from Columbia University “Teaching Vietnam” site. It features a lecture from Alan Brinkley on the war, sample dbqs, and teaching activities that can be used in the classroom.

Digital History
Digital History site main page for Vietnam – it features links to maps, images, timelines, lesson plans, and primary sources related to the conflict.

Digital History
Digital History site—The Vietnam War from a Cambodian refugee’s POV

Time Magazine
In this 1968 Time Magazine interview with Dr. Benjamin Spock, he discusses his protest of the Vietnam War.

Time Magazine
Time Magazine story on the lawsuit and court case brought against the U.S. Dept. of Defense by the State of Massachusetts, 1970. Massachusetts sought to force the Supreme Court to rule on the Defense Secretary’s right to wage an undeclared war. The court refused to hear the case.

Google Video - Vietnam Protest
Video of Vietnam protests including footage of Dr. Spock’s protest.

60’s Project-University of Virginia
Search here for primary sources from activist groups such as Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Official site of the history of the Lexington Green Protest in 1971.
This multi-faceted story of the May 1971 anti-war protests and arrests on the Lexington Battle Green is told through oral histories – both interview summaries and transcripts – of participants and onlookers; photographs; and minutes of relevant town officials’ meetings.

Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial website
National Archives list of Massachusetts military personnel killed in Vietnam.