478 ChaPter^9
through the gates, and liberated, or conquered, Saigon. They flew the flag of
the Provisional Revolutionary Government from the palace balcony. “Saigon”
ceased to exist and the capital was renamed “Ho Chi Minh City,” while in
Hanoi crowds began chanting “Long Live Ho Chi Minh.” General Tran Van
Tra, who led the final assault, was overtaken with emotion and “suddenly felt
as if my soul was translucent and light, as if everything had sunk to the bot-
tom.” The Vietnam War had ended...Anti-war Soldiers
The end of the Vietnam War immediately brought on a frenzy of finger-
pointing in the U.S. over who was to blame for the defeat. Among conserva-
tives, the main culprits were the media and the antiwar movement, often one
and the same. But the truth is much more complex than that. The stereotype,
if not caricature, of the antiwar movement was that of marijuana-smoking
hippies, dressed in tie-dyed shirts, wearing long hair, and protesting the war.
But in fact, many millions of Americans opposed the war, and they came fromFIGuRE 9-13 Pittsburgh Veterans for Peace protest the war during the
March on the Pentagon, 1967