A Matter of Conscience is the story of the Vietnam War that the U.S. government and military don’t want you to know. Hosts Bill Short and Willa Seidenberg reveal a hidden history of the war born out of personal experience. As an Army infantry platoon sergeant, Bill was serving in heavy combat in South Vietnam in 1969 when he refused to keep fighting. He was imprisoned in South Vietnam by the U.S. Army and court-martialed twice.
The podcast shares the stories of GIs who took individual and collective action while in uniform to oppose the war—including refusing to go to Vietnam or to fight in the field, publishing underground GI newspapers, sabotaging operations, going AWOL (Absent Without Leave), and even deserting. These deeply personal stories remain highly relevant today in light of current wars and issues of free speech, the meaning of patriotism, and following your conscience.
BONUS: Interview with John Boyko This is a bonus episode of A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War, featuring more of our interview with Canadian historian and author John Boyko, who wrote The Devil’s Trick: How Canada Fought the Vietnam War. You heard him in Episode 10: Leaving America Behind – Deserters…
Bonus Episode 10: The Intrepid Four Move over James Bond! In this companion to Episode 10 about deserters during the Vietnam War, we hear about the wild journey of four sailors who deserted from the USS Intrepid during the Vietnam War. Their act of conscience began in Japan, then took them to the Soviet Union,…
Episode 10: Leaving America Behind: Deserters and the War More than half a million soldiers abandoned their posts during the Vietnam War, seeking refuge primarily in Canada and Sweden. In this gripping episode of A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War, we plunge into the emotional and personal sacrifice of desertion. Hear…
Books by Lamont Steptoe Books by Greg Payton Books by Jabiya Dragonsun On Patrol by Lamont B. Steptoe I still move through lifeas if I was in Vietnamwith snipers and booby trapsready to waste meTwenty years later loud noises disconnect my hearta cat’s whiskertwitching in the windwakes me at nightTwenty years laterI’m still at warbecause…
Bonus Episode: Alan Klein As part of A Matter of Conscience, we bring you bonus episodes featuring the first-person stories of the veterans we interviewed some 35 years ago. We begin with Air Force veteran Alan Klein, who was sent to the brig for going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) in protest of the war. Alan’s story…
Episode 8 Transcript Willa Seidenberg 00:03 Hello and welcome to A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War. MUSIC: Fixin’ to Die Rag, Country Joe and the Fish 00:09 Willa Seidenberg 00:19 I’m Willa Seidenberg. Bill Short 00:30 I’m Bill Short. Before we get started, we want to let you know we’ll be…
Episode 7: We Shall Overcome: The Presidio Mutiny On October 14, 1968, at San Francisco’s Presidio Stockade, 27 anti-war GIs staged a bold act of civil disobedience. Protesting brutal prison conditions and the moral wrong of the Vietnam War, they sat down on the stockade lawn, locked arms, and sang “We Shall Overcome.” For this…
Bonus Episode: Free Speech Today Free speech is under attack in the United States today, just as it was during the Vietnam War. As a companion to Episode 5, which looked at GI newspapers and coffeehouses of the Vietnam-era, we are delving into the ways that free speech is being stifled in the era of…
Episode 6: Nine for Peace In this episode of A Matter of Conscience, you’ll hear how churches and chains made an anti-war splash in 1968. Nine young men announced their resignation from the military by chaining themselves to church clergy during a 48-hour service to protest the Vietnam War. In their words: “They could not…
Episode 5: By and For GIs What do newspapers and coffeehouses have to do with the Vietnam War? It turns out they were critical tools in the GI anti-war movement. You’ll hear the stories of GIs who got around military restrictions to publish 300 hundred anti-war newspapers, often having to distribute them covertly. The episode…
Episode 4: I Quit! The Green Berets, the special forces branch of the U.S. Army, figures into the stories of two early and well-known GI resisters: Dr. Howard Levy and Donald Duncan. Both men made strong public stands against the war, and both worked tirelessly for the GI anti-war movement after they were discharged from…
Episode 3: Misunderstandings, Lies and Whiskey If you don’t know much about the U.S. war in Vietnam, we’ve got you covered! This episode delves into Vietnam’s struggle for independence and the political influence of figures like President Lyndon Johnson to decipher exactly how we got into the Vietnam war. Through personal accounts from Vietnamese citizens…
Bonus Episode: Chris Appy Interview – TranscriptFri, May 23, 202500:00Ruben FloresHello, I’m Ruben Flores, an assistant producer for A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance during the Vietnam War. We’re bringing you an extended interview with Christian Appy, who you heard in episodes one and three. Appy is Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts,…
Episode 2: It Was All A Lie This episode explores how men of the Vietnam generation were primed for war based on the experiences of their fathers and uncles in World War II, and how that patriotism turned to disillusionment when soldiers were confronted with the realities of Vietnam. Hosts Bill Short and Willa Seidenberg…
Episode 1: The War Against the War In this first episode of A Matter of Conscience, you’ll hear about an important part of the war in Vietnam that history books don’t talk about — the GI anti-war movement. Bill Short, a photographer and once-Vietnam soldier, and Willa Seidenberg, a journalist and professor, set the scene…