James Reston - A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial

Advance Praise for A Rift in the Earth

The divisions that ripped the country apart during the Vietnam War were rekindled in the struggle to bring the Vietnam Memorial to life. But unlike the war itself, that second struggle resulted in a shared reconciliation this extraordinary book charts.

Ken Burns, filmmaker

Searing and sweeping, Restons narrative captures the political, cultural, and social ferment of those heady days of Vietnam and its aftermath with great skill and erudition. A Rift in the Earth is an indispensable guide through the cultural wars at the heart of the memorial itself, and a powerful reminder why it was so important that we find a way to move forward from the division of war to begin a healing within our country and between the United States and Vietnam.

John F. Kerry, 68th US Secretary of State

This is a story that needs to be told, and James Reston, Jr., tells it very well. I believe that readers will soon find themselves taking and even changing sides as the Art War in his account heats up and then reaches its conclusion. For me, the Wall and the entranceway that resulted from the Art War controversy provide a place to find closure for those who fought the war, those whose loved ones did not return, and even those who violently opposed it.

Lieutenant General Ron Christmas, USMC (Retired), Former President & CEO, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation

A Rift in the Earth is an absolutely fascinating account of the artistic, political, personal, and cultural tensions that arose from Americas most divisive war, and that led to one the countrys greatest works of public art. I followed the controversy over the Vietnam Veterans memorial when it was underway, but I learned from almost every page of this book. This is a great narrative and reportorial success.

James Fallows, The Atlantic

James Restons clear-eyed account of how the Vietnam Veterans Memorial came to be is fascinating, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting. He illuminates the war and its complicated aftermath with a dramatic narrative of the fierce battle behind the Memorials creation. Told from a deeply affecting personal perspective, this is an important story about the significance of art to the nation.

Bobbie Ann Mason, author of In Country and The Girl in the Blue Beret

Restons riveting history of the battle for Maya Lins unconventional and moving monument brings to life the personalities on both sides as well as the emotions that galvanized such intense disagreement and mirrored the deep rift of the war itself. Equally powerful is Restons final Authors Reflection, about his journey to Vietnam today to recapture the last days of a friend killed in Hue whose name is on the Wall.

Myra MacPherson, author of the bestselling Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the Haunted Generation and the award-winning All Governments Lie: The Life and Times of Rebel Journalist I. F. Stone

Powerful Readers will find it nearly impossible not to have visceral reactions, taking sides in these events that, in light of fights over Civil War monuments today, still seem fresh.

Kirkus , starred review

Also by James Reston, Jr.

To Defend, To Destroy: A Novel , 1971

The Amnesty of John David Herndon , 1973

The Knock at Midnight: A Novel , 1975

The Innocence of Joan Little: A Southern Mystery , 1977

Our Father Who Art in Hell: The Life and Death of Jim Jones , 1981

Shermans March and Vietnam , 1987

The Lone Star: The Life of John Connally , 1989

Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti , 1991

Galileo: A Life , 1994

The Last Apocalypse: Europe at the Year 1000 A.D. , 1998

Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade , 2001

Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors , 2005

Fragile Innocence: A Fathers Memoir of His Daughters Courageous Journey , 2006

The Conviction of Richard Nixon: The Untold Story of the Frost/Nixon Interviews , 2007

Defenders of the Faith: Christianity and Islam Battle for the Soul of Europe , 2009

The Accidental Victim: JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, and the Real Target in Dallas , 2013

Luthers Fortress: Martin Luther and His Reformation Under Siege , 2015

Copyright 2017 by James Reston, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Arcade Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

First Edition

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Reston, James, Jr., 1941author.

Title: A rift in the Earth: art, memory, and the fight for a Vietnam War memorial / James Reston, Jr.

Description: First edition. | New York: Arcade Publishing, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017012314 (print) | LCCN 2017029092 (ebook) | ISBN 9781628728583 (ebook) | ISBN 9781628728569 (hardcover: alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Washington, D.C.)History. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975MonumentsWashington (D.C.) | Lin, Maya Ying. | Hart, Frederick, 1943- | Washington (D.C.)Buildings, structures, etc.

Classification: LCC F203.4.V54 (ebook) | LCC F203.4.V54 R47 2017 (print) | DDC 959.704/36dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017012314

Cover design by Brian Peterson

Cover photo: iStock photo

Printed in the United States of America

In Memoriam

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

T his is a book about the memory of the Vietnam War and the five-year battle, from 1979 to 1984, to define that memory in the building of a memorial in Washington, DC. Initially, the effort was intended to honor those men and women who fought in the war, and by doing so, to aid in healing the wounds of a fractured nation. But the healing balm did not emerge from the ferocious fight over what manner of public art would serve the purpose. Indeed, the reverse was true. It was as if the Vietnam War was being fought all over again.

The competition for an appropriate design to commemorate Americas first national experience with a lost war was, at the time, the largest contest of its kind in the history of American or European art. The 1,421 entries represented a remarkable explosion of creativity. The surprising winner was a twenty-one-year-old Yale undergraduate named Maya Lin. But her concept of a simple, chevron-shaped black granite wall was instantly controversial. A cabal of well-connected, forceful veterans led the charge against it, denigrating the design as shameful and nihilistic, an insult to veterans and a paean to anti-war protesters. They did everything they could to scuttle the winning design and replace it with something more heroic and they almost succeeded. When that effort failed, they did ultimately manage to impose an entirely different work of art on the winning design: a classical sculpture representing three soldiers in combat gear, fashioned by another remarkable artist, Frederick Hart.