Highlighting Vietnam War's relevance, exhibit opens in New York

NEW YORK - 6 October 2017: When the idea for a Vietnam War exhibit came up at the New-York Historical Society a few years ago, Trustee James Grant recalls that even after more than four decades, passions about it were strong.

“I got into a lively discussion with another member of the executive committee about America’s motive and about the nature of the struggle and whether it was all for naught or not,” said Grant, a Navy veteran who served off Vietnam in 1965 and 1966.

The war, which divided the United States and exposed the limits of its military might, is the subject of a new exhibit that resonates with today’s divisive politics.

Nearly three years in the making, “The Vietnam War: 1945-1975” opens on Wednesday at the 200-year-old institution. The interactive exhibit has relevance to current times, said its curator, Marci Reaven.

“It may be that much of the political polarization since then may in fact derive from the conflicts that arose among Americans around the war,” said Reaven.

Through artifacts, video, audio and photographs, the exhibit tells the story of the conflict from its post-World War Two origins when the United States backed French troops trying to retain colonial rule over Indochina.

It depicts the escalation and de-escalation, as it was called at the time, of American troop numbers in Vietnam and the growing anti-war movement at home, as well as demonstrations supporting the war effort.