Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization, California Nevada Regional records, 1966-1978, bulk 1972-1974

Summary

Creators:

Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization

Abstract:

The Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization, California Nevada Regional Records, 1966-1978, consist of the office files from the California Nevada division of the national organization.

Extent:

9 cartons, 2 oversize folders (11.25 linear feet).

Language:

Collection materials are in English

Background

Scope and content:

The Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization, California Nevada Regional Records, 1966-1978, consist of the office files from the California Nevada division of the national organization. Their headquarters were alternately in San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles, Calif. The collection also includes some files from the Discharge Upgrade Project, originally started in the San Francisco chapter of the VVAW/WSO and incorporated into the national organization, and some from the National Anti-Imperialist Caucus (NAIC), a splinter group from VVAW/WSO. The bulk of the collection spans the years 1972 to 1974, and consists of correspondence, position papers and statements, meeting minutes, leaflets, resource files, publications, and miscellaneous ephemera.

Biographical / historical:

Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc. (VVAW) was a national veterans' organization that was founded in New York City in 1967, after six Vietnam vets marched together in a peace demonstration. During the 1970s, the organization added Winter Soldier Organization to its name, but has since removed it. The VVAW was organized to voice the growing opposition among returning servicemen and women to the war in Indochina, and grew rapidly to a membership of over 30,000 throughout the United States, as well as active duty GIs stationed in Vietnam.

VVAW quickly took up the struggle for the rights and needs of veterans. In 1970, the first rap groups were formed to deal with traumatic after effects of war. They fought for amnesty for war resisters, including vets with bad discharges, and publicized the negative health effects of exposure to chemical defoliants and the Veterans Administration’s attempts to cover up these conditions, as well as their continued refusal to provide treatment and compensation for many Agent Orange Victims.

Acquisition information:

The Vietnam Veterans Against the War/Winter Soldier Organization, California Nevada Regional records were given to The Bancroft Library by Jeanne Friedman in 1980.

Physical location:

Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Rules or conventions:

Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Location of this collection:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US

Contact:

510-642-6481

bancref-library@berkeley.edu

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