BobDylan
Songso fprotest haveplayeda partinAmerican
life forman yyears.Thesehavebeensongsabo ut
theconcernsoffarmers,m iners .co w bo ys. union
members. AUhavehad a commonp u rpose - to
expressandtorelievepeople'sfeelingso n su bjects
that areimportantto them. Their w riters and
pe rfor mershavesometimeshopedth atthe so n gs
m ighteven help to changepeople's att itudes.
Inthe1960s ayoungw riterandsinger namedBob
D y lan usedp rot estso ngstosupporttheanti- w ar
m o vem ento f t he time. lly the 1 'J7()sD ylanhad be-
comea very popular-andvcryrich -internatio n al
en tertaine r. Hut inth e 1%0she wasmoreth an
th is.Fo rm an yyoung people he wasth e voiceof
th e conscience of their generation. H is lyrics.
oftenset tooldrunes,wereironiccomment s on
whathesaw asthe deceit andhypo crisyofth ose
whoheldpower.Theseversesfromhis so ngWith:
G odIllIOurSidearetypical:
O h.thehistorybooksrell it.
Theytell it so well.
Thecavalriescharged.
TheInd ian sfdl.
Thecavalriescharged.
TheInd iansdied.
Ohtheeoumrywasyo un g
WithGodonits side.N ixo nwo rk ed out a p lanto achieve this.H e calledit
the"Victnamization" o f thewar.H e set omto
st rengthen theSo uth Vietn am ese armytomakeit
seemstrongenough tod efen dSout hVietn am
witho ut help.This gavehiman excuseto start
withdrawingAmerican fig ht ingmen fromVietnam.
N ixonth ensentH enr yKissin ger, his ad v ise r on
fo reignaffairs, tosecrettalks with No rt hVietnamese
and Russian leade rs inMoscow. In return fora cease-
fire he offeredto w ith drawallAmericantroopsfrom
Vietn am with insixmonths.Wh enth eNorth
Vietn am esewere slo wtoagreehe startedbombing
theircitiesagai n in o rd er to"persuade"th em .A sort
ofagreementwasfina llyputto getherin Jan uary
30 'ru eVIETN,.."IYE,\RSOh.theFirstWorldWar,boys.
lt cam e and itwent,
Thereason fo r fighting
I neverdidget.
HutI learnedto accept it,
Acceptit \v·ith pride,
For youdon'tcountthed ead
WhenGod'sonyo ur side.
I' velearnedtoh ateRussians
All thr o ug h my wholelife.
If anot her war starts
It's th em wemust fight.
T o hateth c mand fearth em ,
T oTUnand to hide,
Andacceptit allbravely
WithGodon my side.
Hutno ww e gOtweapons
Ofth e chemicaldust,
If fire the mwe'reforcedto
T he nfirethemwemust.
Onepushofthe burto n
Anda shottheworldwide,
Andyou never ask questions
WhenCod'sonyourside.1973 .ByMarch 1 1)73.the last American sold ie rs h ad
left Vietn am.
Burthereal endoftheVietnamWar cameinMay
197 5.As frigh tenedVietnamesesuppo r te rsofth e
Ameri can sscr am b led forthelastplacesonrescu e
helico p ters. victoriouscommunisttan ks rolledmro
Saigon,thecapitalcityofSouthVietn am .T h e
communistsmarkedtheirvictorybyg ivenSaigo na
newn ame.Theycalledit HoChiMinh City.
In Ko r ea .twent y years earlier,theAmer ican shad
claimedth attheyhadm ad eco nt ain m entwork.In
Vietn amth eyk ne w ,andsodi d everyoneelse.th at
theyhadfailed.127