Anyone who visits museums & historical societies knows, every Thing has a story.

Is it possible that such a small object like a button can tell the story of the Vietnam War?

My guest, author Trudy Knowles, answers this question by sharing the story of her 1969 light blue Work for Peace Nov 13 & 14 button.

She went to all the Chicago moratorium aka Peace marches in 1969 & has buttons from everyone.

But she chose THIS one for show and tell.

Sadly the November Peace march turned violent when the police, emboldened by Mayor Daley, stormed the crowd & tear gassed the marchers. But the protestors didn’t give up! They learned to apply Vaseline & wear red bandanas to protect their faces so they could continue speaking up & out against the war.

This button is one of thousands in her collection.

She was a child of peace & justice activists. She inherited a passion for justice from her mother & father who both come from long lines of ministers going all the back to William Tyndale.

Her parents loved people who feed the hungry, cloth the naked, welcome the immigrant, visit the imprisoned, loved the unloveable, wanted peace and go out and LOVE.

She started her button collection when her parents returned from protests & marches and gave her the buttons they brought home. She has a button they gave her from when MLK spoke.

But back to this seemingly insignificant button… after government documents were declassified many years later… this lowly button tells the story of the start of the end of the Vietnam War.

Trudy learned that Nixon was thinking about using nuclear bombs in Vietnam, but because of the outpouring of people speaking out against the war he didn’t.

The November peace moratorium was THE pivotal event that changed the course of history. The biggest lesson: We’ve GOT to speak OUT even if things don’t change right away.

Trudy continues to speak up & out through her new book Radishes and Red Bandanas. It talks about how Vietnam defined her generation, gave insight into the angst of the 60’s and how the legacy of her lineage continues with her love of family & friends. This love can get us through any tragedy.

She let me in on a secret about her button collection. She can’t buy the buttons. They are always gifted to her or she’s found them. That’s why she doesn’t have one button that she wants. The Biden-Harris button. If you have one & send it to her she’ll send you a signed copy of Radishes and Red Bandanas.

Find out more about this funny & fierce woman here: https://www.trudyknowles.com

Let’s build more connections, community & legacy by sharing & listening to the stories of the Things that matter. Things don’t matter, but the stories that get attached to them often do.

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