Texts made available by the Sixties Project, are generally copyrighted by the Author or by Viet Nam Generation, Inc., all rights reserved. These texts may be used, printed, and archived in accordance with the Fair Use provisions of U.S. Copyright law. These texts may not be archived, printed, or redistributed in any form for a fee, without the consent of the copyright holder. This notice must accompany any redistribution of the text. A few of the texts we publish are in the public domain. For information on a specific text, contact Kalí Tal. The Sixties Project, sponsored by Viet Nam Generation Inc. and the Institute of Advanced Technology in the Humanities at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, is dedicated to using electronic resources to provide routes of collaboration and make available primary and secondary sources for researchers, students, teachers, writers and librarians interested in the 1960s.

Viet Nam Veterans Against the War was founded in 1967 and, at the height of its effectiveness in the late 1960s, claimed over 40,000 members. VVAW participated in and organized antiwar demonstrations, public education efforts, militant actions, and public hearings. The full text of one public hearing, The Winter Soldier Investigation (1970), is made available by the Sixties Project. We hope to bring more 1960s VVAW material on-line in the near future.

The Sixties Project also archives the following documents on VVAW:

• A Veteran Speaks--Against the War, by Robert Muller
• Statement by John Kerry, to the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations

VVAW still exists today. The VVAW of the 1990s is quite different from the VVAW of the 1960s, but still maintains an active presence as a veterans' peace organization. As the number of American soldiers in Vietnam decreased in the early 1970s, membership in the VVAW (along with antiwar activism in general) waned. In the mid-1970s the shrinking VVAW was riven by a struggle between radical and liberal members. After a contested election in 1978 and a lawsuit between feuding parties, the energies of both sides were diminished. The liberal wing won the right to use the VVAW name, and the much smaller radical Marxist wing was granted the appellation VVAW-AI (Anti-Imperialist). Both groups were quickly overshadowed by the newer Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) founded in 1978 by Robert Muller, which is currently the largest Vietnam veterans organization. Since the late 1980s, VVA has itself split into two organizations--the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation was started by Muller when he departed Vietnam Veterans of America.

The Sixties Project supports the peace efforts of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Inc., and is committed to keeping the history of VVAW alive. On a personal note, as the publisher of Viet Nam Generation: A Journal of Recent History and Contemporary Culture, and the founder of the Sixties Project, I have worked with members of both VVAW and the far smaller VVAW-AI organizations and I sincerely hope that conflict between these two organizations--both dedicated to peacework--can be set aside.

--Kali Tal