The Vietnam conflict caused an uproar among many Americans who felt that the violent and merciless war going on abroad should not be integrated into American lives. The most vocal group of Americans to protest the war was college students with radical left-wing ideals. James Kunen's The Strawberry Statement is a book written in journal form about a Columbia University student's opposition to the American involvement in Vietnam.
Kunen, the narrator of the book, began his story as a sophomore at Columbia University. He outlined the revolts at Columbia that occurred in April, 1968, and continued to write about his experiences as a young protestor. Kunen was only one of many students in opposition to the American government's decision regarding intervention in Vietnam. His group was led by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Mark Rudd. Kunen's journal entries recount the many protests that the students conducted, many of which included occupying various Columbia buildings. Kunen's leftist ideas pitted him against the ideals of the university, which supported American involvement in the war. Kunen revolted against the university, but was actually protesting against the country.
The war in Vietnam was brought about by a struggle for power between North and South Vietnam. Vietnam was an independent country and a major power in its geographical region for a very long time. However, Vietnam was also a subjugated province of China. Its people were both proud of their past and painfully aware of their many years of subjugation (Brinkley 1048). Vietnam became a French colony in the mid-nineteenth century, but fell under Japanese control during World War II. At the end of World War II, two forces were vying for control of Vietnam: France and the nationalist Vietnamese, under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. The Vietminh, the group under Minh's leadership, had been fighting Japan in World War II while the French remained in Vietnam during the war. After the fall of Japan in the autumn of 1945, the Vietminh declared Vietnam an independent nation under Ho Chi Minh before the Western powers had a chance to return.
Both nationalist Vietnam and France reached out to the United States for help, but President Truman helped neither. However, he did not stop France from invading Vietnam in 1946. After the French successfully drove out Vietminh forces from Hanoi, Truman, decided to provide France with direct military and economic aid in 1950. However, France lost an ensuing war with the Vietminh and pulled out. At an international conference in Geneva, an agreement was reached that would split control of Vietnam at the 17th parallel. The Vietminh would have control of North Vietnam, while a pro-Western regime would control South Vietnam.
France backed out of Vietnam after this agreement, and the United States became involved with Ngo Dinh Diem's South Vietnam. The United States began actively supplying military and economic aid to South Vietnam, and by 1956, it was the second largest recipient of American military aid in the world. When Lyndon B. Johnson inherited the Presidency, the United States already had a commitment to help South Vietnam. Johnson extended this commitment, increasing the amount of aid given to the effort. During Johnson's first few months in office, he sent an additional 5,000 military advisers; by 1967, there were over 500,000 American soldiers in Vietnam.
As the war dragged on, more and more Americans started to protest the American involvement in Vietnam. A series of protests at universities sparked a national movement against the United States involvement, and students became a vital part of this fight. The opposition became evident in popular culture, especially in music. Many folk singers were against the war and sang about it in their music.
In The Strawberry Statement, the student movement was relatively small, and could have easily been stopped by police action. However, Columbia University told the police not to interfere with the demonstrators. The police involvement with these protests exposed a violent side of the police officers, as there were many instances in which the police attacked students with their clubs. There was even an instance when an officer pushed a girl through a glass door, shattering it completely.
Kunen believed that he was only one small person who could not make a huge difference, but he was quoted as saying that he "would do anything to feel like [he's] doing something," (Kunen 27) to help his country. He believed in his cause and committed a huge portion of his life to it. Kunen did not understand how President Johnson could send so many Americans to Vietnam to pointlessly kill people. Kunen's sentiments on the war were clear in the following statement:
He drew many people into his cause, making friends in his journeys throughout New England. There were many people in the United States at that time who shared his sentiments about the war in Vietnam. Kunen tried to convince even more Americans to share his vision by making appearances on national television programs. Kunen preached his radical ideas on these programs, but often fell victim to the powers of a host with a differing opinion. Kunen was made to appear as a wacky revolutionary with no real goal in life. The two opposing American opinions about the war were evident, as Kunen was silenced by conservative and powerful media personalities.
A source of great frustration for Kunen was the stubbornness of Columbia University's leaders. The title of the book came from an infamous quote made by Dean Deane on April 25, 1967, in which he said:
"A university is definitely not a democratic institution. When decisions begin to be made democratically around here, I will not be here any longer. Whether students vote yes or no on an issue is like telling me they like strawberries." (Kunen 121)
The leaders of Columbia University assumed that the students would not have enough manpower or ambition to launch a successful protest, and thus held off police intervention for as long as possible. However, after realizing that the students were not going to give in, the university finally called on the police for support. The university officials tried to stop the students from protesting in many ways, but none worked.
Kunen split the book into two main sections: the actual protests, and his experiences as a protester after the protests. The section that was most elaborated on was not the protests, but the period afterward. Kunen was not only proud of his actions as a protestor, but he wanted to be recognized for what he represented: opposition to the war in Vietnam. He felt that the war had no purpose and that the United States should not be supporting such a ridiculous conflict. Kunen spent his entire summer rebelling against the war, identifying himself as a radical. He grew his hair long, wore radical buttons and patches on this clothing, and attended many protests and events that supported his cause. He was very persistent in making sure that he was clearly and recognizably a radical.
At the end of Kunen's book, the Vietnam conflict was still in progress. Kunen's stance on the war had not changed, and he still could not understand how the American government could be so inconsiderate of so many people's lives. Kunen said that "so long as it is considered acceptable for the government to kill hundreds of thousands for no reason at all, individuals will consider it all right to kill just one person whom they hate very much for what they consider to be a very good reason" (Kunen 128). Kunen was not alone in his sentiments, as thousands of other Americans supported his cause.
