In her testimony before the U.S. Senate in 1988, Vietnam veteran Diane Carlson Evans posed the question: “Who decides whom America will remember?” This season, we answer her question by considering how Americans have remembered the wars of our history. What do we remember about wars, and conversely, what do we forget? Whose participation have we celebrated, and whose have we ignored? How and why have our memories of war often differed from the reality of what happened? And, who has decided the answers to these questions, policymakers or the people?
Audio Credits
38th Army Band. When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Greatest American Marches. 2017.
Carter, Wilif. Good-Bye Maria (I’m Off to Korea). Written by Don Larkin, Joe Simson, Ken O’Rourke. Recorded on January 24, 1952.
Clinton, Bill. Video Recording of President William Jefferson Clinton Delivering Remarks at the Dedication of the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C: United States. White House, 1995. Retrieved from Alexander Street database.
PBS NewsHour. “Watch Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery in 4K,” Arlington National Cemetery. Youtube. May 24, 2015.
Llazari, Alesjo. “TV Static Sound Effect – Bzz.” January 9, 2023. YouTube.
Riley Ford
Riley is a Ph.D. student and Graduate Assistant in the Department of History at Texas Christian University.
Kara Dixon Vuic
The LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Professor of War, Conflict, and Society in 20th-Century America, Dr. Vuic teaches courses on military history, war and society, gender, and memory.