Tokens for Reconciliation?

Abstract

In 2017, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick released their latest documentary series, The Vietnam War, with a clear goal in mind: proposing a narrative that would “heal the wounds” generated by the war in the United States. This paper dwells on the role devoted to the “Viet’ vets” in this series. We argue that these veterans played a crucial role in this reconciliatory undertaking since they served as main conveyors of a critical vision of the war, close to what some scholars have called the “orthodox school”. In this regard, the emphasis put on them is indicative of a much broader mutation: the sacralisation of these “Viet’ vets” in official narratives and their progressive rehabilitation in U.S. popular culture.