Vietnam War Era
Robin Bartlett '67
"I was raised in a military family. My grandfather, father, and brother all attended West Point. I had enough of Army life. I attended 13 elementary schools and four high schools. I had never stayed in one place longer than three years until I came to Claremont. I loved it–the school, my classes, my dorm, Scripps students, and more. But the Vietnam War was starting to escalate, and 18-year-olds were being drafted every day, so ROTC was an easy choice and second nature. After graduation came the Army. I was feeling very cocky at 21 years of age, so I volunteered for Infantry, Airborne, Ranger School, and the 82nd Airborne Division. I got everything I asked for–and more. After training at Ft. Benning, Georgia, I jumped out of airplanes and helicopters at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina with the 82nd. Then it was off to Vietnam where I was an Infantry Platoon Leader leading 28 men through the jungle in I Corps along the DMZ with the 1st Cav Division. My CMC education and leadership training did not prepare me for the experience of war. Nothing could. But my happy CMC memories became a warm and safe refuge in my mind that I often retreated to after times of stress, fear, and violence. If you meet a Vietnam veteran like me, one friendly request: Please do not say 'Thank you for your service.' Rather, say, 'Welcome home.' That is so meaningful to us veterans.”
Sadly, among the many CMC graduates who served during the Vietnam War, five alumni were killed while on active duty. (Click on the images below to read each veteran’s story)
While the pressure of the draft was mounting during the war era, Claremont’s ROTC unit was flourishing. In 1967, more than sixty sophomores applied for thirty-three upper division places in the program. However, the era was also marked by increased student protests against the war and an increasingly antagonistic attitude toward the ROTC program and the military in general amongst some of the student population. On February 20, 1967, a student group calling itself “The Committee” picketed an ROTC drill, carrying signs that said, “Forgive them, for they not know what they do” and “Vietcong Si, ROTC No,” and presented flowers to the Sixth Army commander, Lieutenant General James L. Richardson, who was visiting campus that day. Seven days later, there was a sit-in at Sumner Hall at Pomona College protesting the visit of a recruiter from Dow Chemical, the sole producer of napalm for American forces. Pomona, in fact, was the center of anti-Vietnam War resistance, with protests taking place at CMC to a much lesser extent.
That is not to say, however, CMC was without student demonstrations or its war detractors. CMC freshman Jim Kelsey '69, for instance, helped organize the Student Committee to Support American Fighting Men in Vietnam in protest of the war. Faculty also debated the issue and on November 13, 1967, hawk (those in support of increasing the fighting in Vietnam) professor Harold Rood debated dove (those opposed) professor John Israel, who had recently volunteered to teach a history of Indochina-Vietnam as a regular offering in the history department. Following a 5-4 vote by the Associated Students Student Council in favor of American withdrawal from Vietnam in January 1968, John Israel took part in a debate in March with Colonel Bowen Smith on the ROTC program. Israel was incensed by a letter sent by the ROTC department to incoming freshmen, as “an example of the growing power of the military,” where Colonel Smith argued the letter was intended to do no more than encourage freshmen to discuss the program with their parents before enrolling. The next month, on April 22, 1968, Israel brought before the entire faculty his anti-ROTC debate with Colonel Smith. Colonel Smith again defended the program, noting that ROTC was a voluntary contractual agreement between CMC and Pomona and the Department of the Army. Some 191 students, including Harvey Mudd students, were now enrolled. The Army provided extensive scholarships. ROTC professors were nominated by the Army but had to be approved by the president of each college. Most important, ROTC represented an opportunity for students to obtain commissions and the Army to have educated men and women in its officer corps. On June 5, the faculty held a special meeting devoted solely to the ROTC question. By this time, Israel had restricted his anti-ROTC arguments to what he considered the privileged position of the program on campus and the granting of faculty status to ROTC instructors. ROTC, however, retained support among the majority of the faculty.
As demonstrations mounted, statement after statement was made–by the Alumni Association on June 11, for example, or most notably by the administration in a statement released on October 7–defending the rights of peaceful dissent and demonstrations but condemning the disruption or obstruction of classes, drill, athletic contests or practices, scheduled meetings, ceremonies, administrative and service operations, or other activities of the College. That such warnings were necessary, even at CMC, became evident on November 10 when about thirty demonstrators, most of them from other campuses but also some CMC students, mounted an hour-and-a-half demonstration protesting the appearance of two Navy recruiters at the Hub. Two Pomona students, members of the Students for a Democratic Society, set fire to some Navy literature. Their cases were turned over to Pomona authorities. Student Hub manager Lucien Levesque ‘69, however, himself an activist, was rather appalled by the burning of the pamphlets, describing it as “one of the most insidious acts of fascism I have ever witnessed.” On November 16, two firebombs were thrown at Dean MacLeod’s home near the campus, scorching the sidewalk in front of his house. Another firebomb was thrown at Collins Hall, scorching a trash bin. A fourth firebomb exploded in an adjoining parking lot. The situation was escalating.