 | |
| Author | Jerry Lembcke |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Vietnam War |
| Genre | History; Military History |
| Published | 1998 (New York University Press) |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 217 |
| ISBN | 9780814751473 |
| LC Class | DS559.73.U6 L46 1998 |
The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory and the Legacy of Vietnam is a 1998 book by Vietnam veteran and sociology professor Jerry Lembcke. The book is an analysis of the widely believed narrative that American soldiers were spat upon and insulted by anti-war protesters upon returning home from the Vietnam War.[1] The book examines the origin of the earliest stories; the popularization of the "spat-upon image" through Hollywood films and other media, and the role of print news media in perpetuating the now iconic image through which the history of the war and anti-war movement has come to be represented.
Lembcke contrasts the absence of credible evidence of spitting by anti-war activists with the large body of evidence showing a mutually supportive, empathetic relationship between veterans and anti-war forces. The book also documents efforts of the Nixon Administration to drive a wedge between military service members and the anti-war movement by portraying democratic dissent as a betrayal of the troops. Lembcke equates this disparagement of the anti-war movement and veterans with the similar stab-in-the-back myth propagated by Germany and France after their war defeats, as an alibi for why they lost the war.[2] Lembcke details the resurrection of the myth of the spat-upon veteran during subsequent Gulf War efforts as a way to silence public dissent.
- ^ Lembcke, Jerry (2017-10-13). "The Myth of the Spitting Antiwar Protester". The New York Times.
- ^ Stabbed in the back! The Past and Future of a Right-wing Myth Kevin Baker; Harper's Magazine; June 2006