COLLECTION DESCRIPTION
Records include organizational records of Citizen Soldier and its predecessor organizations, the Safe Return Amnesty Committee and the Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes. Citizens Commission on U.S. War Crimes records, 1969-1974, include correspondence, news articles, publications, sample letters, reports, handouts, legal papers, and military hearings on war crimes in Vietnam and racism in the United States military. Safe Return Amnesty Committee records, 1969-1976, include correspondence, publications, sample letters, newsletters, handouts, press releases, photographs, transcripts of legal proceedings, film scripts, and agendas on amnesty and other national and international political issues of the time. Citizen Soldier records, 1968-1986, include correspondence, news articles, reports, newsletters, handouts, vitae, fundraising information, and letters to the editor on unionizing the military, and health issues, especially Agent Orange, Vietnamese prisons, and prisoners of war.
Also, files relating to legal cases involving military issues including health issues such as Agent Orange, exposure to nuclear testing, exposure to toxic chemicals, drug testing, suicides and deaths in suspicious circumstances, AIDS testing, andother health issues; civil rights issues such as blacks in the military, and gays in the military; military justice including a murder case in Panama, gun smuggling in Grenada, and covert operations; recruiting practices; conscientious objectors; and Vietnam veterans.
Part of Vietnam War Veterans Archives.
Materials relating to the death of Tod Ensign in 2014.
Dates
- 1966-2014.
Creator
- Citizen Soldier (Organization) (Organization)
- Ensign, Tod. (Person)
- Uhl, Michael. (Person)
- Vietnam War Veterans Archives (Organization)
Language of Materials
Collection material in English
ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY
The Citizens' Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes was an offshoot of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation. CCI staff organized the early chapters of Vietnam Veterans Against War (VVAW) in 1970-71. This work is the subject of two books: The Dellums Committee Hearings on War Crimes in Vietnam (Ensign, Rifkin, Uhl, editors, Vintage Book) and Standard Operating Procedure, by James Simon Kunen (Avon Books).
The Safe Return Amnesty Committee worked to win full amnesty for all military resisters to the war, the thousands of men who went AWOL or deserted and were given less-than-honorable discharges. This work is the subject of the book The Amnesty of John David Herndon by James Reston Jr. (McGraw Hill Books).
Citizen Soldier, a successor of the above two groups, has been in existence since 1976. CS has worked largely around issues of concern to active duty GI's, including unions, and has concentrated on veterans' health issues like Agent Orange and radiation exposure. Tod Ensign and Michael Uhl wrote the book GI Guinea Pigs (Playboy Books, 1980), which reports on the U.S. Defoliation program in Indochina and the Open Air A bomb test of the 1940s and '50s and the subsequent perception by veterans that these events have contributed to their decline in health.
Extent
27 cubic feet. (27 cubic feet.)
Abstract
Includes records of the Citizens' Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes and the Safe Return Amnesty Committee, both Vietnam War-era groups, and a successor of the two organizations, Citizen Soldier.
SERIES LIST
Series I. Incoming and chronological correspondence Boxes 1-7, 14-19, 23-25, 27
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2014
Series II. Organization/Date: Citizens' Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes, 1970-1971 Boxes 8, 29
War crimes Racism
Series III. Organization/Date: Safe Return Amnesty Committee, 1971-1975 Boxes 8-11
Amnesty Political issues Portugal
Series IV. Organization/Date: Citizen Soldier, 1966-2007 Boxes 11-29
Unions Health issues Prison/P.O.W. issues Organizational files Agent Orange Nuclear testing Toxic chemicals Drug testing Death/suicide AIDS testing Other health-related issues Civil rights/blacks in military Gays in military Military justice Recruiting practices Conscientious objectors Vietnam veterans Persian Gulf Miscellaneous
Physical Description
Documents, publications, correspondence, photographs.
General
- Contact Information:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections 2B Carl A. Kroch Library Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3530 Fax: (607) 255-9524 rareref@cornell.edu http://rmc.library.cornell.edu
- Compiled by:
- Michael Uhl Tod Ensign G. Solomon A. Gilbert M. Warren E. Engst J. Pactovis
- Date completed:
- 1983-1995
- EAD encoding:
- Martin Heggestad, October 2001
- Date modified:
- Jude Corina, August 2015
- AIDS (Disease)
- Agent Orange.
- Amnesty.
- Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes
- Conscientious objectors -- United States.
- Drug testing.
- Gay military personnel -- United States.
- Gay military personnel.
- Hazardous substances -- Health aspects.
- Military law -- United States.
- Nuclear weapons -- Testing.
- Prisoners of war -- Vietnam.
- Safe Return Amnesty Committee
- Soldiers.
- Suicide.
- United States -- Armed Forces -- Medical care.
- United States -- Armed Forces -- Recruiting, enlistment, etc.
- Veterans.
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Compiled by G. Solomon, A. Gilbert
- Date
- October 2001
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- ENG
Repository Details
Part of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Repository
2B Carl A. Kroch Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3530
607-255-9524 (Fax)
rareref@cornell.edu