Global InformationSwift Vets and POWs for Truth information
Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, formerly known as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), was a political group (527 group) of United States Swift boat veterans and former prisoners of war of the Vietnam War, formed during the 2004 presidential election campaign for the purpose of opposing John Kerry's candidacy for the presidency. The campaign inspired the widely used political pejorative "swiftboating", to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The group disbanded and ceased operations on May 31, 2008.[1]
SBVT asserted that Kerry was "unfit to serve" as president based upon his alleged "willful distortion of the conduct" of American servicemen during that war, and his alleged "withholding and/or distortion of material facts" as to his own conduct during that war.[2] SBVT stated that "Kerry's phony war crimes charges, his exaggerated claims about his own service in Vietnam, and his deliberate misrepresentation of the nature and effectiveness of Swift boat operations compel us to step forward."[3] The group challenged the legitimacy of each of the combat medals awarded to Kerry by the U.S. Navy and the disposition of his discharge. (See John Kerry military service controversy.) Further, SBVT said that Kerry's later criticism of the war was a "betrayal of trust" with other soldiers, and that by his activism he had caused direct "harm" to soldiers still at war.
These claims caused tremendous controversy during the election, particularly because the organization's members had not been in a place to assess Kerry, while the Vietnam veterans who had served under him supported Kerry's version of events.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][excessive citations]
Registered under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, SBVT publicized its criticisms of Kerry during the election campaign in a book, in television advertisements that the group ran in swing states and in the media coverage some members received. The group was the subject of several complaints to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). After the election, the group was credited by media and praised by conservatives as contributing to Kerry's defeat.[11] The group's tactics are considered an example of a successful political smear campaign[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][excessive citations] for its widely publicized[19] and later discredited claims.[20][21]
- ^ "Swiftboat Vets and POWs for Truth". Swift Vets and POWs for Truth. May 31, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
- ^ "Swift Veterans Letter to John Kerry". Swift Vets and POWs for Truth. May 4, 2004. Retrieved October 25, 2007.
- ^ "Swift Vets and POWs for Truth home page". SwiftVets.com. 2004. Archived from the original on August 26, 2004. Retrieved February 8, 2013.
- ^ "Republican-funded Group Attacks Kerry's War Record". FactCheck.org. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Lehigh, Scot (August 20, 2004). "Kerry comrades have credibility on their side". Boston Globe.
- ^ Dobbs, Michael (August 22, 2004). "Swift Boat Accounts Incomplete". Washington Post. pp. A01. Retrieved March 28, 2007.
- ^ VandeHei, Jim (July 29, 2004). "Kerry returns home with 'band of brothers'". Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved March 28, 2007.
- ^ Coile, Zachary (August 6, 2004). "Vets group attacks Kerry; McCain defends Democrat". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Zernke, Kate (May 28, 2006). "Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long After Loss". The New York Times. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
- ^ Akers, Mary Ann (June 20, 2008). "John Kerry's Vietnam Crew Mates Still Fighting Swift Boating". The Washington Post.
- ^ Vlahos, Kelley Beaucar (February 16, 2005). "Conservatives Laud Swift Boat Veterans". Fox News. Archived from the original on February 22, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
- ^ Allen, Michael Joe (2009). Until the last man comes home: POWs, MIAs, and the unending Vietnam War. Univ of North Carolina Press. pp. 294–299. ISBN 978-0-8078-3261-5.
- ^ Zernike, Kate (June 30, 2008). "Veterans Long to Reclaim the Name 'Swift Boat'". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2010.
- ^ Donaldson, Gary (2009). The Making of Modern America: The Nation from 1945 to the Present. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 333. ISBN 978-0-7425-4820-6.
- ^ Conason, Joe (May 4, 2004). "Smear Boat Veterans for Bush". Salon.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2007.
- ^ Boehlert, Eric (2006). Lapdogs: How the Press Lay Down for the Bush White House. Simon & Schuster. p. 198. ISBN 0-7432-9916-7.
- ^ Cogan, Brian; Kelso, Tony (2009). Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-313-34379-7.
- ^ Casey, Leo (Spring 2009). "No redemption song: The Case of Bill Ayers". Dissent. 56 (2). University of Pennsylvania Press: 107–111. doi:10.1353/dss.0.0041. ISSN 0012-3846. S2CID 143605641.
In recent elections, the patriotism and good names of Democratic war hero candidates, from John Kerry to Max Cleland, had been impugned so successfully that a neologism for such smears—to 'swift boat'—was coined out of the assault on Kerry.
- ^ "University of Pennsylvania National Annenberg Election Survey". PollingReport.com. August 9–16, 2004. Retrieved March 30, 2007.
- ^ Cogan, Brian; Kelso, Tony (2009). Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture. ABC-CLIO. pp. 155, 187, 335. ISBN 978-0-313-34379-7.
- ^ Thomas, Evan (November 14, 2004). "THE VETS ATTACK". Newsweek. Archived from the original on June 10, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2013.