The ghosts of Vietnam. (war veterans snub President Clinton at Memorial Day ceremonies) (American Survey) (Column)

Economist (US), The, June, 1993

Vietnam veterans heckled and turned their backs on Pres Clinton at his Memorial Day speech at the Vietnam War Memorial. The veterans will not forgive or forget the fact that Pres Clinton managed to avoid the Vietnam draft. America's divisions over the Vietnam war continue.

TWENTY-FOUR hours after the Memorial Day celebrations, the Vietnam Veterans' memorial was back to normal. The usual slow-moving line of visitors filed past the black buried wall. As usual, plenty were red-eyed, plenty rubbing impressions of the names of their dead onto paper. And there was the usual squad of veterans, some selling T-shirts, many with POW/MIA hats and stickers. Many were dressed in fatigues; some, with unkempt hair and pot-bellies, looked as if they had started to go to seed long ago....