Gary Clark: A First-time Voting Experience and Voting in Vietnam, Florida

In early 2020 (just weeks before the pandemic), Smithsonian staff and their storytelling partners at the Peale, Baltimore, traveled to multiple states in the U.S. to ask residents of those states about voting experiences, the current state of American democracy, what issues brought them to the polls, how they made a difference in their communities, and what Americans' civic responsibilities were, among other complex questions.

Gary Clark (00:01): My most interesting voting experience. The first time I voted, I was in college. I was old enough to vote for the first time. I thought that was... I can still remember walking to the polling place from where I lived on campus, walking to the polling place and casting my vote. I thought, what an awesome experience to be able to have a voice in who your leadership is going to be. Now, at the time, I was a cadet and I knew what it was like within the military structure to be promoted, to take leadership positions, to be appointed of leadership positions, things like that. And it was based on merit and all the things that count, grades and what you've done, contribution you made and stuff like that.

(01:07): Now I get a chance at the national level, oh my gosh, this is for a farm boy from Kansas, this was a big deal. This was a big deal that not only did I get to vote for the president, but I got to vote for the governor, who's going to be the governor and all the others that go, some of which I didn't recognize the names at all. Because as you go down the ballot, there's ones that you will not recognize unless you've done the due diligence of all of them. And that's important too. I fear that some people just vote because, "I like that name." Now let's do the due diligence. That's the thing we try to emphasize too. Understand who it is. We used to do it in the military. We would discuss some of the candidates. What do you know about this guy? What do you know about this guy? Even when we did absentee ballots.

(02:03): I think the one I did, probably the most significant one that I remember other than my first one was voting in Vietnam. It was an election year, 1972. It was an election year and you voted absentee. I sent in my ballot. There were some on the ballot that I did not know or didn't recognize, and I left blank because I'm not going to vote for somebody that I don't know. But the others on there that I knew, and it was a particularly difficult time, that period in history with Vietnam. And fortunately, the folks today that serve are viewed a lot differently than we were back then.

(02:56): But that was probably the most memorable one because it was a time at which there were things, there were currents in the country that were going to have lasting effects. We have seen that. Up until that point, I think, up until the Vietnam War, people generally trusted government. I think people generally felt that those who represented them were honorable people. I won't say that's still not true, honorable people. But what we saw with Vietnam is the start of what I would call a trend of distrusting government, being more cautious and sometimes in a very far-reaching effect. But I think the danger of that was not just distrusting government, but I think distrusting authority in general, and it's filtered down where you hear teachers saying, for example, "I won't go back in the classroom."

(04:12): There was an article not too long ago about the number of teachers who've been attacked by students. I know what would've happened if I had ever done anything to Sister Joanna. First of all, she'd have whacked me severely with that rubber strap that she always carried. And secondly, my dad would've beaten me blue if he'd have found out. And so the idea of distrusting of authority, and not just distrusting authority, but actually putting yourself on the same plane and being that you could attack those in authority, whether they be law enforcement, teachers, government officials, whatever the case may be. That's something I think that really has its cradle back in the Vietnam period. In my mind, that's where that... I've always said there's really four inflections in our history where real changes took place.

(05:20): The first was the Declaration of Independence in the Constitution. That set a foundation for what the founders wanted this nation to be. And it said, we're not listening to Gil King George anymore. The second was the Civil War, and that was a penance. We lost a significant portion of the population in the Civil War to write what was viewed as a wrong, and rightly so. So we atone in a very dramatic way, in a very bloody way for the inequity and the sin of slavery.

(06:07): So the founding, the Civil War, the third one was really World War II, which brought us out of the Depression, made the United States and this society at a pinnacle within the rest of the world. And the third inflection, or the fourth inflection was Vietnam. For all the reasons that I've indicated. All of a sudden it changed from patriotism is important, serving the nation is important, serving the community is important to let's challenge some of those things. And we're still seeing it today. So those are the four inflection points I see in our history. And hopefully, we can right some of that, but it's going to take a long time. The foundation of doing it is going to be a true understanding of civics and what makes this nation unique. Why in all the world, are we unique in the terms of self-governing that's not experienced any place else.

Asset ID: 2022.37.11.e-f
Themes: Veterans, Military Service, Freedom, Leadership, Voting, First-time Voting, 1972, Ballots, History, Turning Points, Patriotism, Education, World War II, Civil War
Date recorded: January 9, 2020
Length of recording: 0:07:20
Related traveling exhibition: Voices and Votes: Democracy in America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Polk County History Center, Bartow, Florida, in conjunction with Florida Humanities
More information or related assets: https://polk-county.net/events/event-details/2020/10/23/history-center/new-smithsonian-institution-exhibit-opens-voices-votes-democracy-in-america. See Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad-XVIbusC4