Vietnam war

Did You Welcome Home the Troops 40 Years Ago?

Posted on 03/29/2013 by | News, Culture, Sights and Sounds | Comments

Home & Family | Politics | Your LifeForty years ago today, the last American combat troops left Vietnam. The events of that day aren’t imprinted on the national consciousness, as are images of overloaded helicopters taking off from Saigon. That evacuation of American personnel and Vietnamese refugees happened two years later, in 1975. Today’s anniversary brings up an embarrassing and troubling set of emotions for some of us who questioned the war long ago. According to the Associated Press, “Forty years ago, soldiers returning from Vietnam were …

U.S. Still Making Payments to Relatives of Civil War Veterans

Posted on 03/20/2013 by | General News | Comments

Bulletin TodayBy Mike Baker of The Associated Press OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat. An Associated Press analysis of federal payment records found that the government is still making monthly payments to relatives of Civil War veterans — 148 years after the conflict ended. At the 10 year anniversary of …

On Recent Wars, a Surprising Generation Gap

Posted on 03/18/2013 by | Washington Watch | Comments

Bulletin Today | PoliticsHave older Americans turned peacenik? Americans 50 and older believe the Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam wars were all mistakes, according to a new Gallup poll. Some highlights: Iraq. A mistake, according to 57 percent of 50- to 64-year-olds and 59 percent of those 65 and older. Only 50 percent of younger adults thought so. Afghanistan. This war, which began shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was seen as a mistake by those 50 and older but not by those under …

George McGovern: 5 Things You May Not Know About Him

Posted on 10/21/2012 by | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | LegacySen. George S. McGovern is remembered mostly as an opponent of the Vietnam War and as the ill-fated Democratic presidential nominee in 1972. After a campaign marred by mishaps — from an out-of-control national party convention schedule to revelations that his vice presidential pick, Thomas Eagleton, had been treated for clinical depression — McGovern suffered one of the worst landslide losses in history to incumbent Richard Nixon. But that one spectacular failure belies a lifetime of achievements. McGovern, who passed away …

Nguyen Chi Thien: ‘The Solzhenitsyn of Vietnam’

Posted on 10/9/2012 by | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | LegacyIn the United States, freedom of speech — even the most outrageously shocking speech — is a cherished right, though most of us probably aren’t quick to think of poetry as a form of speech that needs protecting. It’s been a long, long time since anyone tried to put an American in jail for publishing a poem. That may make it hard for us to truly appreciate the artistic bravery of Nguyen Chi Thien, who spent nearly a quarter century behind …