{"id":45,"date":"2020-11-05T09:24:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T14:24:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/?page_id=45"},"modified":"2020-12-21T16:46:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T21:46:22","slug":"primary-source-analysis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/primary-source-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Committee on Veteran’s Affairs – August, 1993"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 4<\/span>th<\/span>, 1993 there was a hearing held in front of the House Veterans <\/span>Affairs<\/span> Committee to <\/span>shed light on the evidence of Agent Orange\u2019s true impact and make recommendations for researching and funding. <\/span>Admiral E.R. Zumwalt<\/span>, a commander in the U.S. <\/span>Navy during the Vietnam war providing testimony during the hearing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The opening of the testimony describes <\/span>the<\/span> dire situation of fatalities in Vietnam before the <\/span>government<\/span> sent the <\/span>herbicides<\/span>. Admiral Zumwalt sites that \u201cour casualties were running at a rat<\/span>e of 6% a month, which meant the average <\/span>young<\/span> man had a 70% chance of being killed <\/span>or wounded during his year’s tour in the naval craft. The <\/span>defoliation<\/span> rapidly reduced casualties to less than <\/span>1% <\/span>per month<\/span> (National Academy of Sciences)<\/span>.<\/span> This statistic provides important framework for the controversy of these chemicals, as they did serve their purpose in prot<\/span>ecting U.S soldiers and causing fewer casualties. <\/span>Even as a senior officer, Zumwalt goes on to say that he believes \u201cno one in the Vietnam theatre was aware that Agent Orange could have harmful <\/span>health effects for humans\u201d at the time that it was being used (National Academy of Sciences). There does not seem to be a clear answer on how much was truly understood about the toxicity of the chemicals before they <\/span>were deployed, but this testimony along with the account of Zon Blackburn another <\/span>veteran who describes being told the <\/span>herbicide<\/span> was being used to kill mosquitos and prevent <\/span>malaria<\/span>, <\/span>it is clear that at<\/span> the very least the people spraying the chemicals were not doing so under the assumption that they would <\/span>cause<\/span> so much damage <\/span>(Timeline)<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The most significant piece of this testimony however Zumwalt\u2019s <\/span>discussion on the United States Government\u2019s intentional actions after the war to avoid responsibility for any of their actions relating to Agent Orange that <\/span>caused<\/span> harm. Zumwalt <\/span>cites that past hearings done by the Human Resources and Intergovernmental Involvement Relations <\/span>Subcommittee<\/span> \u201cconclusively proved <\/span>that the government <\/span>maneuvered<\/span> to evade its responsibility to be objective in determining possibly health effects\u201d (National Academy of Sciences). He goes on to speci<\/span>fy that this series of five hearings from 19<\/span>89 to 1992 showed that the government studies on Agent Orange had been manipulated<\/span> intentionally<\/span> to make any results inconclusive (<\/span>National Academy of Sciences).<\/span> The fact that the government authorized the use of the chemical without knowing the potential for <\/span>damages<\/span> is clearly <\/span>problematic, however<\/span>, even more concerning is the intentional effort to cover u<\/span>p information that would force the federal government to accept responsibility. For veterans this kind of manipulatio<\/span>n of facts could have serious impacts. While U.S. veterans are compensated now if they experience adverse health effects, covering up the extend of those <\/span>damages<\/span> will make it harder for those soldiers t<\/span>o get the assistance that they need. Zumwalt talks about his responsibility during the war to protect his men, and yet when they returned to their home country their <\/span>government<\/span> prioritized <\/span>avoiding international backlash instead of helping <\/span>their own<\/span> veterans.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The hearing that this testimony comes from <\/span>provides<\/span> a report on the health concerns that have been shown to have a direct link to Agent Orange exposure. <\/span>Zumwalt cites that this is the first report he believes to be accurate after the government and chemical company reports that manipulated results (National Academy of Sciences). <\/span>This is an interesting point to consider, where it might be expected that the chemical companies would <\/span>attempt<\/span> to get themselves off the hook for producing something with extreme levels of toxicity, the government acted in an eerily similar manner. <\/span>These hearings recommended to Congress that further research should be done in order to develop a more complete understanding of the effects of the chemicals.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The report outlined seven diseases that preset at least likely positive association to Agent Orange Exposure with another <\/span>twenty diseases and <\/span>disorders<\/span>\u00a0requiring further testing to conclusively state an association<\/span>\u00a0(National Academy of Sciences).<\/span>\u00a0This testimony also <\/span>outlines<\/span> how <\/span>immensely<\/span> difficult it is for veterans to receive compensation, <\/span>essentially<\/span> outlining that only \u201c<\/span>death<\/span> or total disab<\/span>ility\u201d <\/span>qualified<\/span> veterans for aide at this time <\/span>(National Academy of Sciences). <\/span>This hearing happened in 1993, nearly twenty years after the end of the Vietnam war and over twenty years since the discontinuation of Agent Orange. It is st<\/span>ri<\/span>kingly apparent from the statistics, the reports of manipulation and false reporting, and lack of research done that <\/span>across-the-board<\/span> coverup attempts were <\/span>rampant<\/span>. T<\/span>he goal of the government was to avoid being held <\/span>responsible<\/span> for the fallout of the war, regardless of if this hurt many citizens of the United States, as well as Vietnam. <\/span>These hearings at the very least discredited the faulty reports done <\/span>previously<\/span> and shed light on the <\/span>manipulation<\/span> of the U.S. government<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Z<\/span>umwalt does not provide whether he <\/span>believes<\/span> the government to be in the wrong for providing the <\/span>herbicide<\/span> in the first <\/span>place but<\/span> based off his assumption that no one knew the true effects, the main problem to be considered is the lack of effort to except <\/span>blame<\/span> and fix <\/span>the fallout after the war ended.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a newspaper clipping that discusses Admiral Zumwalt and his son who was a soldier in Vietnam and suffered from cancer, which he and his father attribute to his extended exposure to Agent Orange Toxins. Admiral Zumwalt Grandson also faces significant developmental delays(Zumwalt 1986).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 4th, 1993 there was a hearing held in front of the House Veterans Affairs Committee to shed light on the evidence of Agent Orange\u2019s true impact and make recommendations for researching and funding. Admiral E.R. Zumwalt, a commander in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam war providing testimony during the hearing.\u00a0\u00a0 The opening … Continue reading “The Committee on Veteran’s Affairs – August, 1993”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-45","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/45\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/history-2203-fall-2020-edudley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}