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Peter Hofman was born on November 12th, 1946 in Scarsdale, New York. Politically active at an early age, Peter worked for democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson, and was heavily influenced by the Ethical Culture movement. Peter has one younger brother, and his father was a member of the Dartmouth class of 1936. Mr. Hofman attended Dartmouth as a 3-2 student at Tuck Business School, graduating in 1969 (undergraduate Class of 1968). With a 1-A draft status, Mr. Hofman joined the Peace Corps MBA program in the summer of 1969. He trained in Escondido, California before going to Tacna, Peru in 1969. While there, Peter was assigned to work with the local branch of the government's economic development agency writing reports on a factory feasibility study. After this, Peter worked for the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture on a direct farm-to-market pilot project and market research of agriculture. After a catastrophic earthquake in 1970, Peter worked alongside US Marines doing relief work for the thousands affected. Since returning home from the Peace Corps, Peter has worked in the public sector largely in environmental work.
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Sherwood Guernsey ‘68 describes his childhood growing up in rural Schoharie, New York in a conservative and Presbyterian family. He discusses his family members’ politics and their influence upon him. He then discusses his positive high school experiences. At Dartmouth, Guernsey became interested in Spanish, and discovered a politically insightful group of friends and classmates. He describes his experiences with campus activism and his views of the Dartmouth community’s general attitude towards the Vietnam War and ROTC. After graduating cum laude, Guernsey moved to northern New Hampshire to teach, facing pushback for his progressive racial views. He later joined the Peace Corps with his wife in Panama. Afterwards, he attended Wharton School of Business and Antioch Law School before becoming a Massachusetts State
Representative. Guernsey concludes the interview by discussing work as a Peace Corps officer and his interactions with the Class of ‘68 at their 50th reunion.
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J. Donald Cohon. Class of 1965. Oral history interview with the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Cohon describes his childhood in Hartford, CT, and later being sent to the Taft School. He shares his challenges as a Jewish student at an Episcopalian boarding school. Cohon also describes the challenges he experienced growing up with an alcoholic father. He describes his Dartmouth experience to be that of the “traditional Dartmouth man.” Cohon describes his many activities as a Dartmouth student. He was an English major, was president of the fraternity Chi Phi (later named Chi Heorot), was a member of the Dragon Society, and played lacrosse under coach Aiden H. “Whitey” Burnham. Cohon describes his experience teaching English to students in White River Junction as a practicum for his English major. Cohon discusses applying to the Peace Corps and the International Voluntary Services (IVS). He chose to go to Vietnam to teach English with IVS. Cohon describes becoming very interested in learning Vietnamese and was placed in a town called Vũng Tàu. Cohon shares that after Vietnam he moved to the High Hope Farm in Plainfield, NH. He explains how he lived there for a few months and then received his draft notice. Cohon discusses enlisting in the U.S. Army Security Agency where he learned Mandarin and was then sent to Taiwan. He shares that after the Army he attended University of Southern California for his graduate and Ph.D. work in clinical psychology. His post-doc work was completed at California Pacific Medical Center where he began his Vietnamese speaking psychology work. Cohon discusses the various work he has done in his career to support Vietnamese refugees and other refugees with settlement.
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Peter Werner, Dartmouth Class of 1968 (father Class of 1934), was born in New York City on January 17, 1947. Werner had an older sister and one younger brother, Tom, who later founded the Carsey-Werner Television company. Werner attended St. Bernard’s Boys School for elementary school before going to Hotchkiss Boarding High School. Growing up attending the movies regularly, Werner fell in love with film, which he would later study at Dartmouth and work in professionally. While at Dartmouth, Werner was a member of the Dartmouth Film Society, filmed athletic events, and taught a course on film through the Dartmouth Experimental College. Werner, like many students, became more politically active while at Dartmouth and notably attended the pro vs anti-war silent standoff on the Green in the Spring of his junior year. A member of SDS, Werner helped organize a walkout during a Jacob Javits speech for the 1968 Dartmouth commencement. After graduating, Werner served with VISTA [Volunteers in Service to America] for a year. Trained under Saul Alinsky, Werner worked briefly in Dayton, OH, before being transferred to inner-city Detroit, MI, where he helped organize activities for children and lived among them. Continuing to the American Film Institute after a period of filmmaking in Vermont, Werner successfully directed the Oscar-winning film “In the Region of Ice” (Best Short Film, Live Action 1977), influenced heavily by personal experience while working in VISTA. Peter has since been a prolific and successful director, and he teaches film in Los Angeles today.
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Nancy Smoyer ‘67a recounts her experiences as a “Donut Dollie” with the American Red Cross during the Vietnam War. She describes her work providing morale-boosting services to American troops, including running recreation centers and visiting fire bases and landing zones. Smoyer discusses interactions with the GIs and the other Donut Dollies. She also describes the dangers inherent in traveling to the front and recalls mortar attacks during the Tet Offensive. After returning to the U.S., Smoyer faced tragedy when her brother, Billy Smoyer ‘67, a Marine lieutenant, was killed in Vietnam. Smoyer describes the lasting impact of her experiences in Vietnam as well as her continued work to support veterans, including volunteering with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and working as a counselor for veterans. At the end of the interview, Smoyer discusses returning to Vietnam in 1993 with the Veterans Vietnam Restoration Project, her perception of the way Vietnam veterans have been treated in the U.S., and becoming an adopted member of the Dartmouth Class of ‘67.
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Jim Smith was born on April 5th, 1946 in Norfolk, VA. Smith’s father graduated from the Naval Academy in 1940 and later worked in the rocket division at Chrysler. Growing up, Smith traveled around the country due to his parents’ work. Attending Dartmouth as a member of the class of 1968, Smith went to the “Confront the War Makers” march on Washington in November 1967. After graduation, Smith joined the Peace Corps briefly before being injured in Hawaii in a car crash and being medically discharged in August of 1968. On February 14th, 1969 Smith enlisted in the Army and went through basic training, infantry OCS, Airborne School, and Ranger School in Fort Benning, GA. Arriving in Vietnam in October 1970 and remaining there until October of 1971, Smith was an infantry rifle platoon leader in the First Cavalry Division operating in Binh Long, Phuoc Long, and Tay Ninh provinces along the Cambodian border northwest of Saigon. While there, Smith worked on interdiction of enemy forces along the Ho Chi Minh trail. After returning home, Smith became a lawyer and resides today in North Carolina.
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Jane Griffith, an antiwar activist, describes how she came to oppose US involvement in the Vietnam War. Her opposition led her to volunteer to serve as director of the humanitarian programs of the American Friends Service Committee (the Quakers) in Vietnam from 1970 to 1973. In this capacity, she oversaw a rehabilitation center for Vietnamese war victims in Quang Ngai province in South Vietnam.
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Oral history interview with Mark Battin '68, Dartmouth alum who went on to serve in the Peace Corps after graduation. Battin discusses his experience as a college student during the Vietnam War and his perceptions of the political climate at the time.
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Eagan, Jeff Interview Abstract:
1. Growing Up in Milwaukee, WI
2. Dartmouth Experience and Growing Political Consciousness
3. Occupying Parkhurst and Finding Activism
4. Post-Grad Career in Community Organizing and Environmental Policy
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Lewis J. Stein oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Stein describes growing up in New York City and attending Hunter College. He shares why he applied for the Peace Corps to avoid the draft. Stein describes attending Peace Corps training in French language immersion and cultural education at Dartmouth College. He discusses being assigned to a Peace Corps position in Togo. Stein describes what life was like in Togo and the work that he did with the Peace Corps. He explains how his experience in the Peace Corps reinforced his feelings of being in opposition to the Vietnam War. He shares why and how he petitioned to be a conscientious objector and what his two year service assignment was. Stein describes attending graduate school at the University of Connecticut and his career in special education administration.
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Keane, John Interview Abstract
1. Childhood and Political Awareness in Huntington, NY
2. Time at Dartmouth
3. Peace Corps Experience in Colombia
4. Time in Vietnam with the Foreign Service
5. Post-War Career and Final Thoughts
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Detweiler, Richard Interview Abstract
1. Early Childhood and Coming to Dartmouth with ROTC
2. College Experience
3. Transitioning into the Navy
4. Field Advising in Vietnam
5. Serving as a Naval Race Relations Specialist
6. Graduate School and Joining the Peace Corps
7. Additional Travel and Settling Down
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Long history of patriotism and military service on his fathers side of the family. Dates back to 1635 in New England.
Growing up in Gardner Ma, diversity in town –
Applying to Dartmouth
Choate dorms
Freshmen beanies
Coxswain crew
Freshmen teams vs varsity teams
President of Dartmouth rowing club
Beta
Happy as all male school – all male campus culture
Coached freshman crew as a student
Undergraduate Judiciary Committee
ROTC freshman year only
Lived in Casque & Gauntlet
Didn’t know what to do after college so joined peace corps
Honduras
New Mexico for training
Honduras – setup a clinic – went to Caribbean to setup a track & field event for kids
Organized student protests while at Michigan
Marched in Belzoni Mississippi
Freedom Now movement to Black Power movement - At the event in Greenwood Mississippi
Got in touch with PBS Eyes on the Prize series – they wanted to know about transition to Black Power – only white witness they could find
Protesting the war
Dinner with McNamamara
Worked for Warren Wiggins in Chicago
Wrote a book about the Vice Lords
Got a grant from Rockefeller Foundation to improve life with Vice Lords
Returned to Mass and began working for the state/governor
Worked at Dartmouth in development office
Guilt of not going
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David P. Barton. Class of 1966. Oral history interview for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Barton describes growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland. Barton shares that he attended Dartmouth because his brother was a student when he applied. He describes being very interested in sports as a child and continued playing tennis as a student at Dartmouth. He also discusses his involvement in the Dartmouth Christian Union, Delta Upsilon fraternity, Cask and Gauntlet, and the foreign study abroad program in France his junior and senior years. He describes his involvement with anti-Vietnam War activism on campus with events such as film screenings and teach-ins. Barton describes a breakfast he shared with Malcolm X when he was living in Cutter Hall at Dartmouth. Barton discusses his experience as a teaching fellow at Philips Andover Academy and as a graduate student at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He explains how he became involved with the American Friends Service Committee where he and his wife were sent to Quảng Ngãi Province in Vietnam. Barton describes the relationships he had with the Vietnamese people during the war. He discusses how the CIA was torturing political prisoners near the rehabilitation center where he worked. Barton describes how he was called to testify before Lee [H.] Hamilton’s subcommittee in Congress about what he knew of the torture of the political prisoners in Vietnam. Barton explains his involvement in the House-Senate Joint Inquiry into the 9/11/2001 attacks and his relationship with democracy in the United States and US foreign policy.