How Ehrhart Was Viewed as a Student

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Recommended: The impact Vietnam had on veterans

In the fall of 1969, Ehrhart attended Swarthmore College at the age of twenty-one. Also during this time the student body of Swarthmore College “were middle class, academically paranoid, politically aware, and the students were antiwar” (Ehrhart 7). This proposed a problem for Ehrhart because during the spring of 1968, while Ehrhart was still over seas, the college had asked for a picture of him in his Marine uniform. Ehrhart realized that after he sent the photo, it would be used for the school’s Freshman booklet while all the commotion in school existed. He spent most of his days alone to avoid publicity and to keep a “low profile”. By October, however, the reporter for the campus newspaper Phoenix asked if he could interview Ehrhart. Ehrhart went to college to experience a normal life but after he revealed his secret about being a veteran in the school newspaper, he realized that he was only a celebrity.
After Ehrhart was mentioned in the Phoenix newspaper, the effect was so polarizing that students would drop by and check on him. Students would come to his dorm room, the library, and the students would interrupt Eahrhart’s meals. Ehrhart described the event as “instant celebrity” (Ehrhart 9). Ehrhart loved being the center of attention and meeting the entire student body. No one was ever rude to him and students seemed interested in Ehrhart’s story. Ehrhart just wanted the students to understand his hardship and the struggle that went along with being in the Marines for three years, which played a major role in his life because Ehrhart truly wanted to serve for his country. As time progressed, however, Ehrhart realized that a “pattern to the process began to emerge” (Ehrhart 9). Ehrhart began to have doubts abo...

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...o get to know that veteran as well. It was all superficial. A veteran isn’t really recognized for their valiant effort to defend their country during this time period, but you have folk hero’s according to Ehrhart. Folk hero’s such as John Braxton. John Braxton was considered to be a hero because he was a senior facing a prison sentence for his open refusal to register for the draft. Basically students such as John Braxton and Bill Ehrhart were just objects during this time. They were both celebrities because society allowed them to be celebrities. The students didn’t really understand why each individual took the route that they did. It was just convenient to support their troops. As a result of Ehrhart disclosing his “secret” identity to the student newspaper, the Phoenix, he lost sight of being a normal person and was only a celebrity or just another figure.

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