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1/2/1980. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund opens an office.

1/16/1980. First substantial contribution: $10,000 from Gruman Aircraft

2/1980. H. Ross Perot makes the second substantial contribution, also $10,000: VVMF memo details Perot involvement through 12/15/81.

VVMF memo: "The chronology of events listed below is a history of the involvement of Mr. H. Ross Perot with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund" [PDF]

2/14/1980. Planning is never easy.

"Planning Snags Delay Action on New Memorials," by Paul Hodge, Washington Post, 02/14/80, DC6. "NCPA Chairman David Childs said this week he is concerned that in bypassing the normal planning process, Congress may be setting a precedent that will make planning chaotic." [FullText]

2/22/1980. Letter from Chairman Brown to government official Ronald Peterson indicates that the Commission of Fine Arts would rather not have a specific site designated in legislation.

Brown letter: "The Commission believes, as it has over many years, that it is inappropriate to designate a specific site for a memorial until more is known about its intended character." [PDF]

2/22/1980. Direct mail campaign begins: $34,000 pledged so far toward 2.5 million goal:

"Vietnam Veterans Plan Memorial in Capital as Reconciliation Sign," by Richard Halloran, New York Times, 02/25/80: A15. "It would be a monument without a political message, say the veterans, but a symbol of reconciliation that, in the spirit of Lincoln, would bind up the wounds that so divided the nation during the conflict in Southeast Asia. The shrine they have in mind -- it has not been designed -- would be serene rather than inspiring, a landscaped park inviting passers-by to rest but displaying the names of the 57,414 men and women who died in the war." [FullText]

3/1980. The Awkward Silence, a volume of poetry by W. D. Ehrhart.

3/5/1980. Press conference to get House of Representatives support.

3/12/1980. The bureaucratic ball begins to roll.

Hearing before the Subcommittee on Parks, Recreation, and Renewable Resources. The Senate. S.J. Res. 119. March 12, 1980. Publication # 96-111. [FullText]

Hearing: [PDF]

Appendix: [PDF]

3/22/1980. Scruggs makes a pitch.

"[Soldiers] A Vietnam Memorial," by Jan Scruggs, Washington Post, 03/22/80, A13. "Unfortunately, this memorial will not raise the dead. It will not heal the wounded. Neither can it magically bring back the national unity still profoundly affected by that decade of unrest that divided generations, severed friendships and altered the public's faith in society's institutions. Perhaps . . . John Warner best described a major reason for this memorial. . . . 'It will list the names of those Americans who died there so that they will not be forgotten now or when that war is in a better perspective in all our minds.'" [FullText]

4/26/1980. Thinking about design.

"The Making of a Monument," by Wolf Von Eckardt, Washington Post, 04/26/80: C1. "So far, nothing has been said as to who might design the memorial or even how its designer or designers should be selected. That's a tough one, because if this memorial is to be a symbol of reconciliation, it must also reconcile established notions of 'good art' and popular notions of meaningful art. . . . The emphasis should be on simplicity." [FullText]

4/30/1980. Senate approves legislation authorizing the memorial:

96th Congress, 2nd Session. Senate. Calendar no. 709 Report 96-663. April 24th, 1980. Senate passes the joint resolution 119, with an amendment. SRP.663 X96-2:S.RP 663. [FullText]

Congressional Record, Senate. April 30th, 1980. Vietnam Veterans Memorial. #9431. [FullText]

[PDF]

5/4/1980. A reminder of what the veterans are feeling.

"Since Vietnam: Years of Quiet Desperation," by Sandy Rovner, Washington Post, 05/04/80, M1. "This is a story about three of those young men who served in Vietnam. They are typical in important ways of perhaps half a million of their fellow combat veterans in that saddest of wars. Each of the three was faced unexpectedly with rage and despair they had been carrying around -- unknowingly -- for about a decade." [FullText]

5/8/1980.

"The Wounds of Vietnam," by James J. Kilpatrick, Washington Star, 05/08/80, A15. [FullText]

5/20/1980. The House approves the legislation:

Congressional Record, House May 20th, 1980. Authorizing The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc., To Establish a Memorial. #11834. [FullText]

[PDF]

"House Approves Bill to Establish a Memorial to Vietnam War Dead," New York Times, 05/22/80: A24. "By voice vote and with little discussion, the House yesterday approved a Senate-passed resolution authorizing the selection of a two-acre site for the memorial." [FullText]

5/25/1980. Memorial Day.

"I Wish We Were More Troubled," by Tim O'Brien, Washington Post, 05/25/80, B3. "We've adjusted too well. In our pursuit of peaceful, ordinary lives, too many of us have lost touch with the horror of war. . . . That's sad. We should remember. Not in a crippling, debilitating way, but rather a form of affirmation. . . . It would seem that the memories of soldiers should serve at least in a modest way, as a restraint on national bellicosity. . . . We've all adjusted. The whole country. And I fear that we are back where we started. I wish we were more troubled." [FullText]

"After Vietnam: Voices of a Wounded Generation," Washington Post, 05/25/80, B1. Statements by seven veterans, including James Webb and John Wheeler. "Beneath the healed surface of American life, the painful scar tissue from the Vietnam War remains. Many of the young men who fought it still regard themselves as outcasts, unappreciated and repudiated by their society. Many of those who opposed the war have their own troubling memories and moments of self-doubt. They constitute, in a real sense, a fractured generation that limps uneasily toward reconciliation of some kind." [FullText]

5/26/1980. Memorial Day.

Vietnam Memorial: Another Symbol of Frustration for Vets," by Ward Sinclair, Washington Post, 05/26/80: A3. "Like so many other legislative matters involving the veterans of America's longest war, the plan for a Vietnam commemorative is caught in a congressional pincer." [FullText]

"Vietnam Veterans Hold Memorial," New York Times, 05/26/80, B9. "Two hundred Vietnam veterans today went to the Mall to attend the first national Memorial Day service for Americans killed in the war in Indochina. . . . the organization had hoped to have President Carter sign legislation authorizing a site for a memorial at the ceremony, but Congress has not reached agreement on the legislation." [FullText]

5/27/1980. Memorial Day.

"Memorial Day Highlights Legacy of Different Wars; Two Memorial Day Services Contrast Legacy of Vietnam and Other Wars," by Ronald D. White, Washington Post, 05/27/80: C1. "The service . . . was the first of its kind in Washington . . . to honor those who died in Vietnam. Its lack of pageantry and the pained ambivalence of its participants were in striking contrast to the traditional ceremony at Arlington -- and a telling commentary on how Americans remember their wars." [FullText]

5/31/1980. Legislation is never easy.

"Needless Obstacle," New Republic, 05/31/80, 7-8. "Whatever the reasons for Representative Burton's amendment, it threatens to delay the project and undo an agreement already made. The conferees should return to the Senate's version. It would be too painful if the memorial to a bureaucratized war were more bureaucratic harassment." [FullText]

6/1980. Paul Spreiregan is hired by the VVMF as a public relations strategist.

6/26/1980. Celebrating.

"Moving the Memorial," by Carlin Romano, Washington Post, 06/25/80: B8. A reception honoring "the members of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund who helped pass S.J. Res. 119." [FullText]

6/28/1980. Recognizing conflict.

"About Politics: Memorializing the Vietnam War Dead," by Francis X. Clines, New York Times, 06/28/80: A7. "The originators of the memorial plan, a group of Veteran veterans who talk of building an oasis of national healing in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, are the first to concede that the topic leaves some Americans still shouting at each other." [FullText]

7/1/1980. President Carter signs legislation PL 96-297 and makes remarks:

Public Law: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc., . . . is authorized to establish a memorial on public grounds in West Potomac Park . . . in honor and recognition of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam war." [PDF]

President Carter's remarks: "In honoring those who answered the call of duty, we do not honor war. But we honor the peace they sought, the freedoms that they fought to preserve, and the hope that they held out to a world that's still struggling to learn how to settle differences among people and among nations without resorting to violence." [PDF]

"Carter Hails Veterans of Vietnam in Signing Bill for a War Memorial," by Bernard Weinraub, New York Times, 07/02/80: A14. "Hours before the White House ceremony, the Veterans Administration released a survey . . . that found most Vietnam-era veterans feel they were poorly treated upon returning home from the war, and that seven out of 10 Americans favor preferential hiring of veterans for Federal jobs." [FullText]

"Carter Clears Vietnam Memorial; Survey Backs More Veteran Aid," Washington Post, 07/02/80: A21. "'The public is finally separating the war from the warrior,'" [Max] Cleland said." [FullText]

7/3/1980. Public reaction.

"Vietnam Vets: 'This nation cares,'" Christian Science Monitor, 07/03/80: 28. "Recognition of the personal and often courageous sacrifices of the men and women who fought that unpopular war has been slow in coming. But a new nationwide poll conducted for the Veterans Administration indicates that national bitterness over Vietnam has given way to a new sense of reconciliation and belated appreciation for those who served." [FullText]

7/13/1980. Memorials for others?

"The Hidden Tomb of the Vietnam Unknown," by Willy Arnheim, Washington Post, 07/13/80, E4. "Now that the 58,000 Americans killed in the Vietnam War are to be honored by a national memorial in Constitution Gardens, it is worth asking why no unknown soldier from this war is buried in Arlington Cemetery at the Tombs of the Unknowns honoring those who gave their lives in two world wars and Korea." [FullText]