Until the Last Man Comes Home : POWs, MIAs, and the Unending Vietnam War

Fewer Americans were captured or missing during the Vietnam War than in any major military conflict in U.S. history to that time. Yet despite their small numbers, American POWs inspired an outpouring of concern that slowly eroded support for the war. Michael J. Allen reveals how wartime loss transformed U.S. politics well before, and long after, the war's official end. Throughout the war's last years and in the decades since, Allen argues, the effort to recover lost warriors was as much a means to establish responsibility for their loss as it was a search for answers about their fate. Though millions of Americans and Vietnamese took part in that effort, POW and MIA families and activists dominated it. Insisting that the war was not over "until the last man comes home," this small, determined group turned the unprecedented accounting effort against those they blamed for their suffering. Allen demonstrates that POW/MIA activism prolonged the hostility between the United States and Vietnam even as the search for the missing became the basis for closer ties between the two countries in the 1990s. Equally important, he explains, POW/MIA families' disdain for the antiwar left and contempt for federal authority fueled the conservative ascendancy after 1968. Mixing political, cultural, and diplomatic history, Until the Last Man Comes Home presents the full and lasting impact of the Vietnam War in ways that are both familiar and surprising. Fewer Americans were captured or missing during the Vietnam War than in any previous major military conflict in U.S. history. Yet despite their small numbers, American POWs inspired an outpouring of concern that slowly eroded support for the war. Michael J. Allen reveals how wartime loss transformed U.S. politics well before, and long after, the war's official end. Throughout the war's last years and in the decades since, Allen argues, the effort to recover lost warriors was as much a means to establish responsibility for their loss as it was a search for answers about their fate. Though millions of Americans and Vietnamese took part in that effort, POW and MIA families and activists dominated it. Insisting that the war was not over "until the last man comes home," this small, determined group turned the unprecedented accounting effort against those they blamed for their suffering. Allen demonstrates that POW/MIA activism prolonged the hostility between the United States and Vietnam even as the search for the missing became the basis for closer ties between the two countries in the 1990s. Equally important, he explains, POW/MIA families' disdain for the antiwar left and contempt for federal authority fueled the conservative ascendancy after 1968. Mixing political, cultural, and diplomatic history, Until the Last Man Comes Home presents the full and lasting impact of the Vietnam War in ways that are both familiar and surprising. Despite Their Small Numbers, American Pows And Mias Inspired An Outpouring Of Concern That Slowly Eroded Support For The War. Bringing Exhaustive Archival Research To An Arena Where Americans Consistently Struggled Over The Causes And Consequences Of Their Nation's Defeat In Vietnam - The Recovery Of Lost Warriors - Michael J. Allen Reveals How Wartime Loss Transformed Us Politics Well Before, And Long After, The War's Official End. Introduction: The Politics Of Loss -- Go Public : The Construction Of Loss -- For Us The War Still Goes On : The Limits Of Homecoming -- As It Has In The Past : A Short History Of Oblivion -- Fullest Possible Accounting : The Persistence Of The Past -- The Wilderness Years : Life After Death -- Highest National Priority : Resurrection And Retribution -- Not To Close The Door, But To Open It : The Ambiguity Of Recovery -- Conclusion: This Thing Has Consumed American Politics For Years. Michael J. Allen. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Allen analyzes the effects that activism by POW and MIA families had on U.S. politics before and after the Vietnam War's official end. He argues that POW/MIA activism prolonged the hostility between the United States and Vietnam even as the search for the missing became the basis for closer ties between the two countries in the 1990s. Equally important, he explains, POW/MIA families' disdain for the antiwar left and contempt for federal authority fueled the conservative ascendancy after 1968