About this ebook
A disturbing chronicle of the US government’s mistreatment of American soldiers and veterans throughout history, with a new introduction by Charles Sheehan-Miles
Time and time again, the sacrifices made by veterans and their families have been repaid with scorn, discrimination, lack of health services, scant financial compensation, and other indignities. This injustice dates back as far as the American Revolution, when troops came home penniless and without prospects for work, yet had to wait decades before the government paid them the wages they were owed. When soldiers returned from the Cuban campaign after the Spanish-American War, they were riddled with malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, and dysentery—but the government refused to acknowledge their illnesses, and finally dumped them in a makeshift tent city on Long Island, where they were left to starve and die.
Perhaps the most infamous case of disgraceful behavior toward veterans happened after the Vietnam War, when soldiers were forced to battle bureaucrats and lawyers, and suffer media slander, because they asked the government and chemical industry to help them cope with the toxic aftereffects of Agent Orange. In The Wages of War, authors Richard Severo and Lewis Milford not only uncover new information about the controversial use of this defoliant in Vietnam and the subsequent class action suit brought against its manufacturers, but also present fresh information on every war in US history. The result is exhaustive proof that—save for the treatment of soldiers in the aftermath of World War II—the government’s behavior towards American servicemen has been more like that of “a slippery insurance company than a policy rooted in the idea of justice and fair reward.”
Time and time again, the sacrifices made by veterans and their families have been repaid with scorn, discrimination, lack of health services, scant financial compensation, and other indignities. This injustice dates back as far as the American Revolution, when troops came home penniless and without prospects for work, yet had to wait decades before the government paid them the wages they were owed. When soldiers returned from the Cuban campaign after the Spanish-American War, they were riddled with malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, and dysentery—but the government refused to acknowledge their illnesses, and finally dumped them in a makeshift tent city on Long Island, where they were left to starve and die.
Perhaps the most infamous case of disgraceful behavior toward veterans happened after the Vietnam War, when soldiers were forced to battle bureaucrats and lawyers, and suffer media slander, because they asked the government and chemical industry to help them cope with the toxic aftereffects of Agent Orange. In The Wages of War, authors Richard Severo and Lewis Milford not only uncover new information about the controversial use of this defoliant in Vietnam and the subsequent class action suit brought against its manufacturers, but also present fresh information on every war in US history. The result is exhaustive proof that—save for the treatment of soldiers in the aftermath of World War II—the government’s behavior towards American servicemen has been more like that of “a slippery insurance company than a policy rooted in the idea of justice and fair reward.”
About the author
Richard Severo has long combined his interests in science and the environment with a social conscience. He worked in broadcast journalism at CBS News, wrote for the New York Herald Tribune and the Associated Press, and was an investigative reporter for the Washington Post and the New York Times. He also taught at Vassar College. During his tenure at the Times, Severo was the recipient of the George Polk Award and Columbia University’s Berger Award. He is the author of the widely acclaimed biography Lisa H.: The Story of an Extraordinary and Courageous Woman (1985). He lives in Newberg, New York.
Lewis Milford, JD, Georgetown University Law Center, is president and founder of Clean Energy Group (CEG) and Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), two national nonprofits that work with state, federal, and international organizations to promote clean energy technology, policy, finance, and innovation. Before founding these two organizations, he was vice president of Conservation Law Foundation, New England’s leading environmental group. Prior to that, he served as a government prosecutor on the Love Canal hazardous waste case in New York and directed the public interest law clinic at American University Law School, where he represented veterans on a range of legal issues, including gaining compensation for their harmful exposure to Agent Orange and nuclear radiation. Milford is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Lewis Milford, JD, Georgetown University Law Center, is president and founder of Clean Energy Group (CEG) and Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), two national nonprofits that work with state, federal, and international organizations to promote clean energy technology, policy, finance, and innovation. Before founding these two organizations, he was vice president of Conservation Law Foundation, New England’s leading environmental group. Prior to that, he served as a government prosecutor on the Love Canal hazardous waste case in New York and directed the public interest law clinic at American University Law School, where he represented veterans on a range of legal issues, including gaining compensation for their harmful exposure to Agent Orange and nuclear radiation. Milford is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
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