VIETNAM VETERANS FOR ACADEMIC REFORM
The University of Kansas Student Auxiliary
V.V.A.R.: Leading the student revolt on campus against speech codes, political correctness, multiculturalism, gender feminism, dormitory re-education, lying about Vietnam, and other instruments of academic oppression.
Leonard Magruder - Founder/President
Former professor of psychology - Suffolk College, N.Y.
Member: National Association of Scholars
CONTACT: Magruder44@aol.com - Phone: 785-312-9303
Vietnam vet contact: General Carl Schnieder (ret.) -Korea, Vietnam - at dukesch@aol.com or 1-480-595-7668.
“So lacking in intellectual substance is the Columbia curriculum in journalism that students can go through the entire program without having to read a book.”
(Carolyn Lewis, former Associate Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism - The Washington Monthly)
MEDIA TELLS VIETNAM VETS TO GET LOST. EDITORS AND REPORTERS OF “THE LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD” WALK RIGHT ON BY AS MAGRUDER PROTESTS COVER-UP FOR KERRY. PROTEST NOW GOES TO TOPEKA, KANSAS CITY, AND POINTS EAST.
WHAT MEDIA BIGOTRY FEELS LIKE
by Leonard Magruder
June 15, 2004
It isn’t just that media people are uneducated, or I should say miseducated, because most do graduate from universities. The other half of the equation is found in the title of CBS insider Bernard Goldberg’s second book on media bias, Arrogance: Rescuing America from the Media Elite. The unique juxtaposition of ignorance and arrogance best describes my own life-long experience with the American media. Although the media has always at some level covered my campaigns (see below), that unique formula of arrogance/ignorance really came out on this one.
Monday, beginning at one o’clock, I walked up and down for hours before the news office of The Lawrence Journal-World carrying a very large sign that said on both sides, “Stop the Media Cover-up for Kerry.” Being at an intersection, the news office on one side, the television news building across the street, hundreds of cars passed by, many honking their horns. I was ready to hand out copies of a press release telling of the issue, but nobody wanted one. Editors and reporters just walked on by, studiously avoiding the protest and the issue. They looked out windows but none would walk down the five steps from the building to where I was to ask me what I was doing. It was surreal. The Kerry cover-up in action.
What is wrong at The Lawrence Journal-World? Here is a fully documented issue, an issue of great importance to the American people, based on reports from dozens of Vietnam vet groups, and they treat you like you are an idiot. That is what it is like dealing with media bigots. Goldberg has it right, arrogance, from media elites who won’t listen, leaving the good people of Lawrence in the dark. Once again, the media is robbing the American people of the ability to make critical judgments about their most vital security interests in a time of war.
The issue (and the data was all there in the press release) is that the media is covering up the fact that a significant majority of Vietnam veterans, those people who know about war, say that Kerry is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief. This is obviously something the American people need to hear in this hour of deadly crisis.
We first complained about the cover-up in a press release of April 21, 2004, with a list of the anecdotal data on vet rejection of Kerry that had appeared by that time. We protested a second time, on May 3, 2005, this time appealing to world media. By then data was coming in from Vietnam vet groups all over the country confirming the vet rejection of Kerry and we began reporting it in our releases. A third press release went out on May 9. By this time we had been interviewed by two secondary national outlets, on Geoff Metcalf national radio and by Insight Magazine Online, and one article had appeared on NewsMax.com.
Our claim of a cover-up was strongly reinforced on May 4 at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth announced that 220 out of 229 Swift boat Vietnam veterans contacted (96%) had signed an open letter to Kerry challenging his fitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief. This included the entire chain of command above Lt. Kerry, including Admiral Roy Hoffman, who said “I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces.” They said in their letter, “By changing from an anti-war to a ‘war hero’ status, you have deceived the public and betrayed honorable men.” This deception of the public is being carried over in the media cover-up for Kerry.
NBC, ABC, and the Associated Press all refused to report to the American people on the conference. Vietnam vet Bob Turner wrote me, “The fact that AP made a decision not to carry the report of the Swift Boat vets is outrageous.” Dan Rather mentioned it briefly on CBS Evening News but dismissed it as “allied with the Bush campaign.” This was in keeping with a long history of CBS lies about Vietnam, most notably its lies about the Tet Offensive in 1968 and its lies about General Westmoreland in its film, The Uncounted Enemy. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth responded by stating, “These men are neither pawns nor shills. They deserve better than to be ignored and maligned by media organizations increasingly difficult to distinguish from the Kerry campaign itself. Their testimony should be presented fairly, without filters and distortions, so the public can weigh their assessment of Senator Kerry’s fitness to command.”
On May 16 we issued a fourth press release calling on vets to protest by turning off CBS Evening News. By then we were able to report the data from 21 Vietnam vet groups showing an estimated 75% rejection of Kerry as Commander-in-Chief. There was no group that supported him. Our last press release on the subject, some ten days ago, told of the upcoming protest in Lawrence and reviewed the facts to that date.
A second confirmation of the Magruder data came when Talon News out of Washington, in a press release titled, “Veterans Deserting Kerry,” said, “A CBS News poll released this week contained some devastating news for the Kerry campaign. After months of touting his military record and his combat heroism, the Massassachusetts Democrat is losing the veterans’s vote to President Bush by a landslide. Buried deep inside the internals of a CBS poll released Wednesday was this startling statistic: veterans prefer Bush over Kerry by a whopping 13 points, 54 to 41. Not surprisingly, coverage of the stunning poll poll result has been slim to none. Said Bush-Cheney spokesman Scott Stanzel, “It’s buried in every poll that I have seen.”
That is the issue. The mainstream media is cheating to help Kerry.
Kerry has his “Band of Brothers” with him at every speech. I too have a band of brothers. Shortly after the rally at Suffolk College in 1981 to honor the returned veterans of the Vietnam conflict, at which I resigned to protest how they were treated when they returned, I was, in a sense, “adopted” into a band of brothers, made an Associate Member by Vietnam Veterans of America, Suffolk Chapter 11, New York. Even though I am not a Vietnam veteran, just a friend, we went on many a mission together: the protest at Northport V.A. hospital, the POW/MIA march in Washington, the Brookhaven Welcome Home parade, funerals. They helped me distribute my expose of the CBS film The Uncounted Enemy, of which General Westmoreland wrote, “You have done an exhaustive bit of research and I congratulate you.” Through various large groups, tens of thousands of Vietnam vets joined me in appealing to Congress for an investigation of the media reporting on Vietnam. This mission was reported on the front page of The National Vietnam Veterans Review,” its publisher, Col. Chuck Allen, later becoming a charter member of the V.V.A.R. Board of Advisors. In New York they invited me to march with them, in Houston also. In Chicago they invited me to their parties and fifty of them joined me during the weekend of that parade for my protest against the PBS boycott of Television’s Vietnam and we also symbolically took back Grant Park from those who would not serve, in the name of “Honor, Duty, Country.” 62 vets helped me in Houston in the filming of my documentary How the Campus Lied About Vietnam, where later I was invited to a Westmoreland reception at which I presented him with the flag we had used in Chicago. It was also during those days that hundreds joined me in writing to the President of CBS to protest their boycott of the Vietnam Symposium at Stony Brook Univ., for which I had served as National Coordinator. Once, when there were dark days in Kansas, many years ago, and it looked like the organizaton might fold, it was Vietnam veteran friends here who encouraged me to keep going. And then they wrote me from all over the country in response to my request that they comment on the “blame America” comments by faculty following 9/11, which I used in a protest at the University of Kansas.
In the 60’s when they were over there, they were with me in spirit in a half-dozen protests on campuses against the lies of the war protestors.
Not being a Vietnam vet, I do not speak for them. I write about them and support their causes. And they help me. I get advice from them, those on my Board of Advisors, but only I am responsible for what is said, and any problem does not reflect on them, but is mine alone.
But this is the big one, and probably my last protest. The American people need help in making what is certainly the most crucial decison of our entire history, regarding who can best wage the war against terrorism, the true top priority issue of the upcoming election. What Vietnam veterans have to say about one of their own, John Kerry, is of extreme importance. As much as these veterans would like to see one of their own become president, and this situation is very sad, they are going to put the safety of the nation first, and warn the American public to stay away from Kerry. But they can’t do that if the media is covering up what they have to say.
Therefore, I will continue my campaign against the media. I will take my sign to Topeka and parade it at the newspaper there. If that fails, I will take it to Kansas City. If that fails, I will just keep going. Somebody is going to put this story on the newswire. None of my campaigns have ever failed, have always made the news in some form, often because my Vietnam vet friends had helped me. That is why this media cover-up for Kerry is going to fail. I call upon my brothers through “adoption,” to send an e-mail to The Journal -World, just a note to let them know what you think of their rejection of our story. Type this, with us included so we can see the response, and maybe protest there again (rbrack@ljworld.com, jtaylor@ljworld.com, magruder44@aol.com).
Let’s get moving. We have to end this farce. Kerry is not the veteran’s friend. If you have a copy of my documentary How the Campus Lied About Vietnam, use it to build a Public Access TV show with Vietnam vets telling how Kerry also lied. And be sure to plan to be in Washington for the giant rally by Vietnam Vets for the Truth on Sept. 12. Their theme: “Kerry Lied...While Good Men Died.”
Also, many of you have achieved high levels of influence in your community, maybe with the media. Consider taking this story to the attention of those in your community who might be able to help.
Following are some examples of media coverage of various of my campaigns over the years which I include as a warning to the media that they are just dreaming if they think they can keep me quiet or ignore this. The story is simple. 75% of all Vietnam vets, from what they know about war, say Kerry is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief. The nation must be allowed to hear what they have to say. In this hour of great national anxiety over things like nuclear attack, it is insane for the media to be playing games like this, pretending that they know what is best for the nation. Arrogance and ignorance on massive display. Everyone can see it and there is a huge backlash building that could destroy the credibility of the media for decades to come. We the people make the news; the job of the media is just to report it. We are not interested in their agendas, which at the moment is to jam Kerry down our throats. The media is to the left, and Kerry is to the left. It is a deadly combination and a conspiracy against the people. The terrorists know that Bush will stand up to them. But Kerry will try to appease them, and at that moment we lose the country.
“Leonard Magruder, National Coordinator for the Vietnam Symposium at Stony Brook University, New York, told reporters in Washington today that the Symposium was the most comprehensive, in-depth examination of the war ever put together.”
Veterans Press Syndicate
“Magruder, a former professor of psychology and founder/president of Vietnam Veterans for Academic Reform, ...announced plans for a protest on the K.U. campus attacking multiculturalism, dormitory re-eduction, political correctness, speech codes, and gender feminism.”
Perceptual Fix (Kansas newspaper)
“Magruder Critical of Liberals” (headline)
“He stated at a lecture at the university that he would lead the public in marches on the university to demand freedom for students from moral and intellectual oppression by faculty leftists.” Las Vegas Review Journal
“He has the backing of several Vietnam veteran groups with thousands of members,the White House, and General Westmoreland in getting PBS to air the film.”
Fayetteville Observer
“Magruder said the media portrayed a U.S. victory in the Tet Offensive as a defeat.”
The Associated Press
“He said it reflects the spirit of today’s liberal intellectuals who are tyrannizing our universities and betraying Western Civilization.”
The Dallas Morning News
“Magruder, a psychologist with the State Department of Institutions said that American universities have become breeding grounds of indoctrination and subversion.”
United Press International
“Probably the most dedicated has been Leonard Magruder, who has been campaigning on behalf of Vietnam veterans for the last 6 years.”
The Washington Inquirer
“I share General Westmoreland’s views on this and ask you to help Professor Magruder in his effort on our behalf in Chicago.”
Editorial by Col. Chuck Allen, National Vietnam Veterans Review
“Magruder held a one-man protest on the Univ. of Colorado campus here announcing a new movement to reform American universities.”
The Boulder Camera
“Sponsored several seminars and released a series of press statements claiming that the returned veterans of Vietnam were being biased against in the universites.”
Western Student Press
“Appointed National Coordinator of the semester-long Vietnam Symposium, helping design the program and inviting leading figures of the Vietnam period to speak.”
Lawrence Journal -World
“Magruder submitted to Congress 24 examples from leading histories of the Vietnam War that stated that the media had misled the American people.”
National Vietnam Veterans Review
Young American for Freedom have pledged the support of all 500 of its chapters to Magruder’s campaign.”
Topeka-Capital Journal
“Documents now show that the most significant American military victory was portrayed to the American people as a defeat.”
The Lincoln Star
“Paying for the showing of the film and waging a campaign to have it shown nationwide for Vietnam veterans.”
Topeka-Capital Journal
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Founder/President, V.V.A.R.
Phone: 785-312-9303
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