Jefferson LECTURE SERIES

War Veterans and American Democracy

James Wright, President Emeritus and Eleazar Wheelock Professor of History, Dartmouth College

February 02, 2010 — 4:10 PM
East Pauley Ballroom, MLK Student Union, 2nd Floor, Berkeley Campus

James Wright will describe some of the changing assumptions and attitudes that frame the history of veterans affairs in the United States. He will discuss some of the issues faced by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and reflect upon some changes in the popular view of these veterans as compared to the public attitude in the 1960s and 1970s regarding the Vietnam war veterans.

Also Available: A Forum on The Experience of Veterans in American Society (MP3) presented February 3, 2010

About James Wright

President Wright is recognized not only for his important scholarly writings to the field of American political history, but also for his many contributions to the welfare of American war veterans. In 2005, Wright began a series of visits to U.S. military medical facilities in Washington, D.C., where he met marines and other U.S. military personnel who had been wounded in the course of service in Iraq and Afghanistan. (He had himself enlisted in the Marine Corps for three years when he was seventeen years old. He was discharged at the rank of Lance-Corporal.) In 19 visits over four years, he has encouraged the injured servicemen and women to continue their education.

Conversations with History Interview:

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