The U.S. vs John Lennon Page #2

a rebellious stance.

This, I think,

is the beginning,

where Lennon

sets out on the path

that's going to bring him

into direct conflict

with the Nixon administration

six years later.

The thing the '60s did

was show us the possibility

and the responsibility that we all had.

It wasn't the answer.

It just have us a glimpse

of the possibility.

We intend to convince

the communists

that we cannot be

defeated by force of arms

or by superior power.

I have today ordered to Vietnam

the Air Mobile Division

and certain other forces

which will raise

our fighting strength

from 75,000 to 125,000 men

almost immediately.

I joined the Marine Corps

out of high school

in September of 1964,

and I volunteered

to go to Vietnam.

They could not have sent

someone more dedicated.

They could not have sent

someone who was willing

to follow their policy

more than myself.

While leading my squad

across an open area,

I was shot to the right shoulder.

It went through my right lung,

collapsed my lung,

hit my spine,

and severed my spinal cord,

paralyzing me

from my mid-chest down.

Vietnam was not an easily accepted war

on the part of the population.

It didn't have a 9/11 that we had.

It didn't have a Pearl Harbor.

It didn't have

the motivating factors

that would have encouraged

a high degree of patriotism.

So it was an unpopular war,

and got to be more and more unpopular

as it lingered

and as people doubted

more and more

that it had any real purpose.

Some 2 million Vietnamese

died in that conflict.

That did not show life, liberty,

and the pursuit

of happiness at its best.

...2, 3, 4!

We don't want

to fight your war!

1, 2, 3, 4!

We don't want

to fight your war!

The ferment was considerable,

with a leading role played

by young people throughout.

People who were normally

supposed to be apathetic

and obedient and passive

were actually entering

the political arena

to press their own demands

and organizing to do something about it.

In this age of protest,

one of the most recent

finds 4,000 Londoners

decrying British support

for U.S. Action in Vietnam.

There were a few

minor scuffles, but no arrests.

The demonstrators were

stopped from approaching

Prime Minister Wilson's

Downing Street home.

The whole culture

had become radicalized,

and it's in this atmosphere

that The Beatles

were being forced

to engage with the world.

Do you mind being

asked questions?

For example, in America people keep

asking you questions about Vietnam.

Does this seem useful?

It seems a bit silly to be in America

and for none of them to mention Vietnam

as if nothing was happening.

But why should they ask you about it?

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