Digital Exhibits

Robin Cady oral history recording

An audio recording of an oral history of Robin Cady recorded in May, 2001, on the Vietnam War and how it affected Hillsboro, Oregon. Cady, a native of Hillsboro, did not serve in the military, but wrote articles about the war. He describes the reactions to the war in Oregon, which was influenced by there not being military bases in Oregon and a senator who did not support the war. He talks extensively about how the Vietnam War became, for the US as a whole, a situation of “how to get out” versus the historical “how to win”. He talks about the importance of honor and how that impacted the way that the US dealt with the war. The war was eventually seen as a civil war between north and south Vietnam and the South Vietnamese would have to be the ones to win the war. The US involvement was seen as a police action to go in and help the south rather than try to win the war. Cady talks about a gentleman named Jack Kirkland, a teacher in the area who also wrote about the Vietnam War, and how their opinions differed. Cady comments on contemporary Vietnam and the effects the war had on it. He also talks about Ho Chi Minh and his involvement, the Asian democracies and admits that the US might have pushed western democracy too much, and how the war was a popular discussion of debate in schools in the US. He finishes by talking about the people who were brought into the draft were the poorer people who were not going to college. There were many ways to avoid entering the military during this time of war. There is a lot of white noise and background noise including a phone ringing, doorbell ringing, and people’s voices throughout the recording. There is a short transcript of the first couple of minutes of the recording.

Cady, Robin

Century High School collection

Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Personal narratives, American

Washington County (Or.) -- History

Washington County (Or.)

Hillsboro (Or.)

1 sound cassette (47 min.)

English

WCM_OH_280

In Copyright

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Five Oaks Museum

Johnson, Kevin

Spiering, Andrew

Audiocassettes

Sound