ABSTRACT
In the midst of the Cold War President Truman desegregated the armed forces and during the Vietnam War no special effort was made on the part of either blacks or whites to enroll young black men in the armed services. While it would be incorrect to stereotype the black soldier as a rebel in arms, subtle and not-so-subtle rebellion in the ranks became a reality that even the Department of Defense acknowledged. The antiwar movement championed Smith's case, as well as those of other openly defiant black soldiers, such as the Fort Hood Three; the military prosecuted Smith and others to the fullest extent of the law. Newcomers to the civil rights movement, most notably the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and the Black Panther Party, along with independent black activists, joined Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and CORE in condemning the war, offering some of the sharpest attacks on the government made during the entire Vietnam War era.
