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Swisher, Peter N. (Vietnam War correspondence)
2015.063.w.r
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Contributing Institution:
Center for American War Letters Archives
Title: Peter N. Swisher Vietnam War correspondence
Creator:
Swisher, Pete Nash, 1944-06-15-2016
source:
Gordon, Robin
Identifier/Call Number: 2015.063.w.r
Identifier/Call Number: 1247
Physical Description:
.08 Linear Feet
(3 folders)
Date (inclusive): 1969 November 9 - 1970 July 12
Abstract: This collection contains the correspondence of 1stLt. Pete N. Swisher, USA to his friend Robin Gordon during the Vietnam War.
The collection also contains some poems copied by Swisher, a photograph of Swisher, and an issue of Stars and Stripes, Pacific
newspaper.
Language of Material: The materials in this collection are written in English, with the exception of one poem written in Spanish.
Container: Vietnam 2
Container: 4-6
Container: 1-3
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Robin Gordon. Legacy collection from Andrew Carroll.
First Lieutenant Peter Nash Swisher, United States Army (1944 - 6/15/2016) was born in Oxford, England in 1944 to Dr. George
Nash and Margaret Dixon Nash. His birth father, who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps, died enroute home from Italy
at the end of the Second World War. Swisher traveled with his mother and brother Charles to their native Canada.
In 1949, his mother married Raymond Swisher, who adopted Peter and his brother. They were raised in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin
where Peter attended primary and secondary school. His family moved to Louisville, Kentucky prior to his senior graduation
in 1962. Peter attended Amherst College and graduated in 1966. He received a master's in education from Stanford in 1967.
In 1968, Peter was drafted into the US Army. He attended Officer Candidate School and was sent to Vietnam as a second lieuntenant
in 1969. He served on convoy duty and was awarded the Bronze Star.
After Vietnam, he attended Hastings School of Law at the University of California and received his J.D. in 1973. He joined
the University of Richmond School of Law in 1974 and became a tenured professor in 1982 with expertise in family law, torts,
and insurance law.
In 1975 he published a book titled "A Vietnam Diary," a detailed account of his tour in Vietnam. In 1979 he married Keren
N. Swisher. They had a daughter, Stephanie Marie. He died on June 15, 2016, after an 11-month battle with multiple myeloma.
[Item title / description; Box "n" / Folder "n"], Peter N. Swisher Vietnam War correspondence (2015.063.w.r), Center for American
War Letters Archives, Chapman University, CA.
For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this
collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.
This collection contains eleven correspondence from 1stLt. Peter N. Swisher, USA to his friend Robin Gordon during the Vietnam
War. Also included is a photograph of Swisher and an April 19, 1970 issue of Stars and Stripes: Pacific newspaper.
Swisher was highly educated when he was drafted into service, and his letters are evidence of his intelligence and education.
Swisher is a self-declared pacifist and romanticist with a liberal arts background. Swisher does not spend much of his letters
describing his duties or the war itself. Rather, he includes copies of his favorite poetry with many of his letters, and quotes
from authors and musicians such as James Joyce and Bob Dylan throughout his letters.
While he was in Vietnam, he was working on applications to graduate school. In the letter dated November 9, 1969 he describes
the red tape of the application process: "But after the initial bulls—t, it'll be Valhalla compared to our little Southeast
Asia Theatre of the Absurd." Later in the letter he mentions going to an outpost near the Cambodian border to check convoys
and how this will be his first time in the field with combat troops.
In the letter dated December 28, 1969 he says he has signed up to take the law school test: "As long as the time for alternatives
is here, I might as well look into all the possibilities (medicine, theology & pure sciences excluded – I'm a perverted romanticist-humanist
from the word Go.)" He also describes his R&R trip to Australia and his comparisons of Americans and Australians. He mentions
receiving a book of poems by Leonard Cohen for Christmas. He is trying to learn Spanish for his graduate school applications
and wrote a poem in Spanish.
In the letter dated January 18, 1970 he describes talking with his friends about the letters they receive when they have run
out of books to talk about: "Not bad at all, if there were more alternatives and less mortars." He also describes his desire
to rejoin civilian life, despite the world's problems: "What a beautiful, ugly, vulgar, screwed-up world. I can't wait to
get back."
In a card dated February 3-6, 1970, he gives a satirical description of the Vietnamese holiday of Tet: "The Vietnamese lunar
New Yr. wherein Christmas, New Years, & Easter are combined in a joyous festival of good will, brotherhood, fellowship, &
communist spring offensives."
In the letter dated February 15, 1970, he writes of anti-war sentiment at home and among soldiers: "Maybe we're getting somewhere
after all…Not toward massive Revolution – just peace, and hope, and understanding. Now that technology has created the Bomb,
we need to difuse (sic) the man from the need to use it. At least we must try." He also describes his administrative duties
as a "paper war" requiring him to "add up absurd statistics and wasted casualties."
There is a letter missing the first page that he wrote prior to his visit to Australia. There is also an undated card that
references law school which was written after he returned home from the war.
There are no restrictions on the use of this material except where previously copyrighted material is concerned. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to obtain all permissions. For further copyright information, please contact the archivist.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Vietnam War (1961-1975) -- Vietnam.
Vietnam War (1961-1975) -- Correspondence
Gordon, Robin