Were Vietnam War Veterans Spit On?

Well, maybe? We likely don't know. And yet, the myth that Vietnam War veterans were spat on by anti-war protestors a lot persists.

Sources/further reading:
Lembcke, Jerry (1998). The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam. New York, NY: New York University Press. ISBN 9780814751473.
Beamish, Thomas D.; Molotch, Harvey; Flacks, Richard (August 1995). "Who Supports the Troops? Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the Making of Collective Memory". Social Problems. 42 (3): 344–360. doi:10.2307/3096852. JSTOR 3096852.

Join this channel to get access to perks:

For business inquiries or to send snail mail to Mr. Beat:

How to support and donate to my channel:
Subscribe to @iammrbeat & hit the notification bell 🔔
Subscribe to my second channel: The Beat Goes On

Connect with me:

Merch:

Affiliate Links:

I used to believe that MANY Vietnam War veterans were called “baby-killers” and even spat on by anti-war protestors when they returned home from the war. I bet many of you watching this right now believe this, too. In fact, there are videos on YouTube that bring it up.

But that’s another historical myth.

There is no conclusive evidence of this ever happening, despite many historians trying to uncover such evidence. In fact, according to one poll, only 1% of Vietnam War vets said that their homecoming was “not at all friendly.” Now, I’m not saying a spitting incident didn’t happen at all, but if it did, the evidence proving it is shaky.

So how did this myth originate? Eh, it maybe started with this G.I. Joe cartoon from the 1980s, then was later repeated by politicians making fun of anti-war protestors.

[iammrbeat]

Not only did I believe the myth until recently, I used to teach it to my high school students. I'm sorry for amplifying this myth.

Edit: Ok, the myth is NOT that it never happened. Personally, I think it happened to at least a few vets.

The myth is that it was widespread. Also, if you don't like the information I am reporting, that says more about you than me. Sources are linked in the description. As always, I encourage you to research this for yourselves.

Don't get it twisted. Vietnam veterans were mostly heroes just trying to survive.

[notorioustori]

My dad fought in Vietnam. His homecoming was, indeed, not at all friendly. But that's probably not because he was a Vietnam war vet but because he was Black. 🙃

[lesterpossum]

I didn’t get spit on at the airport . Someone ahead of me on the escalator farted, but I’m not sure it was intentional

[degarmo]

My father spent 4 tours in Vietnam and said that he got nothing but respect and appreciation for his service. He stayed in the service for 19 years.
And to be clear, he was Marine grunt for three years and then joined the US Army Special Forces. He was in the thick shit.

[jas]

I personally came back from Iraq and Afghanistan and was called a baby killer in a college class room lol

[jacobritthaler]

Many vets in my area speak on how the government made them do war crimes and are very anti war these days

[alexmccorkle]

My grandpa can testify to the spitting and hatefulness he received when he came home from Vietnam

[joefrye]

My grandpa got spit on and called a baby killer in the San Francisco airport

[evansmith]

My grandpa, when he does talk about Vietnam often mentions the poor welcome home he received

[pk_]

"I came home unwelcome from war"
"But do you have a SOURCE for that?!"

[cjleipert]

My grandfather was called baby killer along with his entire platoon fresh off the boat.

[caidenreid]

“There’s no conclusive proof that vets were spat on aside from the numerous first hand reports of vets being spat on”

[zenthous]

This video is poorly worded. It is definitely not a myth, that much is sure, you should've just said that the AMOUNT of cases of this have been exaggerated

[resourceress]

Wait, wasn't that clip of the guy at the beginning saying "we were spit on" considered a primary source?

[haveawonderfulday]

My papa is a Vietnam vet. When he got home after fighting in Vietnam, the anti-war movement had really begun heating up. So much so that my papa was afraid to even indicate he fought in Vietnam. If it tells you anything, my papa wears a lot of baseball hats, especially military related ones. He has one for POWs, rangers (he was a ranger), army, korea, etc. He refused to wear a vitnam vet hat all the way up until about 2009.

Edit: I'm not saying you're wrong, Mr. Beat. Just showing how terrible the war was for those who fought it.

[TakoyakiStore]

I remember being told countless times by biologists that nine banded armadillos could not roll into a ball for defense. And yet in a wildlife book it shows a picture of a nine banded armadillo rolled up into a ball.

I bring this up because just because no apparent evidence of a hostile reception towards Vietnam vets happening on a large scale exists doesn't mean that it never happened. There is also another aspect that I'm not seeing being brought up is that simply having PTSD would make those believe that such hostility actually happened.

[jordantowner]

If a vet is spit on by only a few people, but thousands give a cheerful welcome, then the vet could still report having a "friendly homecoming". The two are not mutually exclusive.

I would also be curious what kinds of empirical evidence would be considered to be relevant or not. Lembcke cites lack of police reports and news reports as indications of the myth, but that is hardly meaningful to the point. Would we really expect to see vets running to the police and press because someone spit on them? I doubt it.

In my opinion the best and most notable evidence would be the firsthand accounts of veterans themselves. And judging by the volume of comments in just this single video that claim a poor reception of themselves or family members, I would be inclined to think that it happened quite a bit. Not every veteran; probably not even most. But based on the information we have, to conclude that "the truth is that nobody spat on Vietnam veterans" as the author of most of your sources did is absolutely insane.

[Will-geri]

This guy’s logic is off. Specifically his argument from a lack of evidence and the percentage cited. Calling it a myth is crazy.

[chrisconway]

I got spit on coming home from basic in 2008. I was in uniform in the Portland Airport.

[ICHope]

And a lot of Vietnam vets returning from the war joined the protesters in protesting the war as did the conscientious objectors.