About the Author

Review of "Notes From An American Antiwarrior"

David A. Horowitz

History Professor

Portland State University

This is an engaging, fast-moving chronicle of Doug Weiskopf’s personal experiences as an antiwar activist during the Vietnam War and beyond. Several emotional highpoints speak to the heart of this narrative. They chronicle the significant early impact of a visit to the Berkeley Free Speech Movement in 1964, the reunion with a former high school friend who suffered life-long injuries after the North Vietnamese shot down his B-52 bomber, the patient organizing to ensure that protest on the PSU campus remained non-violent, the minute-by-minute account of the “police riot” against the student-faculty peace vigil on May 11, 1970, the courageous effort to defy authorities at Oregon State and deliver an antiwar speech that inspired a student campout at the conservative university, the clever publicity campaign to use the underground press to inspire national coverage of Portland’s People Army Jamboree in August 1970, the heartfelt references to his father’s experiences and escape from the Third Reich, and the touching moment when he gets to shake the hand of former Vietnam War opponent Muhammed Ali. Another powerful moment includes the expression by Weiskopf’s daughter following the ceremony commemorating the May 11th protest of her pride in her dad’s student activism. Another involves the author’s realization that the Dean of Students he had once harangued as a protester had been a World War II conscientious objector who had submitted to food deprivation experiments for military research on the potential effects of starvation on US prisoners of war.

Weiskopf’s honesty in these segments reveals both his strengths and vulnerabilities as an antiwar activist and his effectiveness as a writer. They provide an element of context to the narrative that makes the book something more than a triumphalist celebration of the antiwar tradition. These elements of surprise make it a valuable read for students of the period, one that contemporary activists could well benefit from.

AMAZON COMMENTS 

To understand what Amazon readers say about "Notes from an American Anti-Warrior," consider these insights:

• Readers appreciate the author's candid reflections on war and its impact on society.
• Many highlight the book's thought-provoking analysis of American foreign policy.
• The writing style is often described as engaging and accessible.
• Some readers note the emotional depth and personal anecdotes that resonate with them.

BORYANABOOKS REVIEW

"Notes From An American Antiwarrior: Reflections of An Unapologetic Vietnam War Protest Organizer" is a memoir published in May 2025 in which Doug M. Weiskopf recounts his experiences as a student antiwar activist during the Vietnam War, particularly at Portland State University. The book is both a personal autobiography and a firsthand account of the antiwar movement in the Pacific Northwest.

According to the publisher and the author's website, the memoir traces:

• Weiskopf's political awakening after visiting the Berkeley Free Speech Movement in 1964.
• His leadership role in organizing antiwar protests at Portland State University.
• The campus strikes and demonstrations that followed the U.S. invasion of Cambodia and the Kent State shootings in May 1970.
• Forcing President Nixon to permanently cancel a deadly 500 boxcar train load of VX and GD military nerve gas on May 23, 1970, as we had threatened to organize thousands of protesters in the Pacific Northwest to sit on the tracks ahead of the train the entire distance between Seattle, Wash. and Portland, Ore. The same nerve gas had killed 6,000 Utah sheep just two years earlier in March, 1968 resulting from an accidental leak at a US military base.
• His emphasis on keeping demonstrations peaceful despite heightened tensions.
• His later reflections on nonviolence, civil disobedience, and the moral questions surrounding the Vietnam War. 

The author's website reproduces a review by Portland State University historian David A. Horowitz, who highlights several episodes from the memoir, including:

• organizing the May 11, 1970 peace vigil at Portland State that ended in what Weiskopf characterizes as a "police riot";
• delivering an antiwar speech at Oregon State University that inspired a student encampment;
• organizing the 1970 "People's Army Jamboree" in Portland;
• reconnecting years later with a high school friend who had been seriously wounded after his B-52 was shot down over North Vietnam;
• reflections on his father's escape from Nazi Germany;
• later encounters with figures such as Muhammad Ali.

The subtitle—"Reflections of An Unapologetic Vietnam War Protest Organizer"—accurately signals the book's viewpoint. It is unapologetically written from the perspective of someone who believes the antiwar movement was morally justified and who continues to advocate nonviolent political activism. It is not intended as a balanced history of the Vietnam War or a survey of competing viewpoints. Instead, it is a participant's memoir.

Because it is a relatively recent, independently published memoir, there has been limited mainstream critical coverage. At present:

• It has been released in paperback, hardcover, and e-book editions. From a historical standpoint, the book's principal value is as a primary-source memoir. Such works are useful because they preserve the recollections of participants in major historical events. Like all memoirs, however, they reflect the author's memories, interpretations, and political convictions rather than serving as neutral historical analysis. Readers seeking a fuller understanding of the Vietnam-era protest movement would benefit from reading it alongside scholarly histories that incorporate multiple perspectives.

If you're interested specifically in the history of the antiwar movement at Portland State University or the events surrounding the May 1970 campus protests in Oregon, Weiskopf's memoir appears to provide detailed firsthand observations that are not widely available elsewhere

Review by retired Portland State University Professor, Dr. Dory Hylton

I just finished your book, Doug, and I’m left nearly in tears with despair as you bullet point Trump’s incredibly rapid march to dictatorship and certain destruction of our democracy should he (they) succeed. As I said earlier, your book succeeds as a memoir. You speak directly to your reader and hold attention by scattering in vivid descriptions of your surroundings while you narrate events.

Your description of recent PSU violent protests startlingly contrasts with the antiwar movement’s nonviolent activism. There’s no mistaking how the violent versions of youth protest are counterproductive and, as they were in our time, just plain stupid.

You have indeed created something valuable.

"Notes From An American Antiwarrior" on the shelf of Barnes & Noble stores in Hollywood and Studio City, Calif.

MAY 23, 1970 STUDENT ACTIVISTS STOPPED NERVE GAS TRAIN

In 1969, the U.S. military began planning to move sarin-like military nerve gas stored in Okinawa, Japan, transporting the shipments a dangerous 380 miles from Seattle, Wash., through Portland, Ore., and on to the Umatilla Army Depot in Eastern Oregon. A train derailment and resulting fire could have caused thousands of deaths and injuries in populated areas. On May 23, 1970, the shipment was canceled by the Nixon Administration, just 11 days after 4,000 students and faculty members protested a violent police attack by 150 Portland policemen at the campus of Portland State University on May 11, 1970, sending 31 students to the hospital with injuries. It was at this protest in front of Portland City Hall that PSU activists announced their commitment to joining Seattle protesters in organizing thousands in the Pacific Northwest to sit on the track and block the nerve gas train for its entire route between the two cities. This planned shipment was part of a program named "Operation Red Hat," aimed at better securing chemical weapons held by the armed forces. Although Oregon Governor Tom McCall initially approved the shipment, he quickly reversed his decision when his adviser Ron Schmidt presented research indicating that the amount of nerve gas planned for shipment could kill double the world’s current population. McCall gathered 62,000 signatures on a petition opposing the plan and personally delivered it to the White House. Additionally, a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in Portland seeking an injunction against the planned shipment. In late March 1970, the group People Against Nerve Gas (P.A.N.G.) was formed to support the lawsuit, with Portland State University chemistry professor Gordon L. Kilgour serving as its chair.

Despite these antiwar actions and statements protesting the planned shipment throughout March and April 1970, the Nixon administration initially ignored them. Ultimately, U.S. Senator for Washington, Henry "Scoop" Jackson, fearing the issue might affect his popularity, persuaded Nixon to cancel the shipment in late May. After considering a site in Alaska, the military ultimately chose to ship the nerve gas to Johnston Atoll, southwest of Oahu.

In the end, however, it was a victory for grassroots organizing, which had been active in stopping the nerve gas train for many months to compel politicians in Oregon and Washington State to finally support their cause and ultimately win the nerve gas train battle!

So I sure wish I'd known about the shocking 1968 nerve gas leak event in Utah when I wrote my book, where within just hours 6,000 grazing sheep died of an accidental exposure to the same kind of military nerve gas we PSU students & faculty members stopped from being shipped by rail through the Pacific NW in 500 boxcars just 2 yrs later.

The Dugway sheep incident, also known as the Skull Valley sheep kill, was a March 1968 sheep kill caused by the United States Army chemical and biological warfare programs at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. An F-4 Phantom aircraft flying a test dispersal mission of the nerve agent VX inadvertently released some of the agent at a higher altitude. Six thousand sheep were killed on ranches near the base, and the contemporary popular explanation blamed Army testing of chemical weapons for the incident, though alternative explanations were offered. A report, commissioned by Air Force Press Officer Jesse Stay and first made public in 1998, was called the "first documented admission" from the Army that a nerve agent killed the sheep at Skull Valley. The public outcry contributed to the Nixon Administration's 1969 Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs.

"Animal House", the beloved classical college scene movie, was filmed at the University of Oregon in 1977 but was based on actual 1970 events 90 minutes to the north at Portland State University, where Vietnam War protesters, as depicted hilariously in the film, were the subject of a comical student/faculty disciplinary hearing and had several confrontations with conservative fellow students, including a food fight in the cafeteria. In Aug. of '70, war protesting Portland State students famously created problems for a National American Legion Convention "Victory In Vietnam Parade" through Downtown Portland, along with a keynote speech by President Nixon (Nixon canceled his Portland appearance at the last moment due to his fears of our protests, according to an account in the diary of White House Chief of Staff, HR Haldeman), just as in the wild scene at the end of "Animal House". I recently wrote about all of the 1970 PSU events in my book, "Notes From An American Antiwarrior", available in both hard & soft cover and as an e-book.

Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com

This Oct. 17, 2025 Portland State University Vanguard newspaper column describes the current Trump assault on their city https://psuvanguard.com/whats-the-plan-if-the-national-guard-comes-to-campus/

May 2024 PSU Vanguard editorial comparing 1970 campus protests to recent student activism:

psuvanguard.com/the-protest/

2025 Fox News Reports

 "PORTLAND'S DANGEROUS ANTIFA SAFE HOUSE"

https://youtu.be/HicupHqxkzk