The War Is Over

Eight months after the Tet Offensive, The album, "The War is Over" was released and it seems like a direct response to the continuous nature of the war. The song directly stems from a comment made in the Los Angeles Free Press by Allan Ginsburg. Ginsburg was feeling disfranchised by the protest movement (as many people were) and he told a reporter for the newspaper to do what he did, and declare the war over. Ginsburg wanted to disturb America’s complacency, which allowed them to live with an almost never-ending war. Ochs used this idea in formulating his song, and then took it a step further. Again appealing to the American Dream and American Values, the song poses the question: what is more patriotic, agreeing with an unjust war because American political leaders say so, or declare the war is over and refusing to comply with a wrongful government? Accompanying the release of the single were protest rallies put together by Ochs himself, also entitled “The War Is Over.” Ochs published articles in leftist publications like The Los Angeles Free Press and the Village Voice publicizing these rallies. He told Village Voice readers, “Do what I and thousands of other Americans have done—declare the war over…After all, this is our country, our taxes, our war. We pay for it, we die for it…we should at least have the right to end it…Ludicrous as this may appear, it is certainly far less so than the war itself.” He felt the war was unjust and since America prides itself in being a country of democracy, run for the people and by the people; he was giving the people a chance to end the war. This approach to protesting the war resonates throughout the entire song. He draws upon American patriotic values to create action within the public.