Scope and Contents

The collection consists of recordings and transcripts from interviews with various Vietnam veterans conducted by Dr. Jody Carlson. The interviews were conducted at an anti-war demonstration in Washington, DC hosted by Vietnam Veterans Against the War in April 1971.

Biographical / Historical

Dr. Josephine "Jody" Mayer Carlson was born August 11, 1938 in Charleston, SC. She graduated from Winthrop College in 1960 and married Captain John W. Carlson. The couple were stationed in Del Rio, Texas, where they had two daughters. Capt. Carlson trained as a USAF pilot at Laughlin Air Force Base and was later promoted to instructor pilot. He was deployed to Vietnam in May 1966. He was KIA/BNR on December 7, 1966. Dr. Carlson continued to work with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) to locate Capt. Carlson's crash site in hopes of identifying, recovering, and returning any possible remains. His DPAA case number is 0543.

Dr. Carlson and her daughters moved to New Jersey in 1967 so that she could study and pursue a career. She earned a Master of Science in Library Service and a PhD with a concentration in Political Sociology at Rutgers University. Her education helped launch a rewarding and varied career in New York City. Her early work focused on qualitative research and data analysis to support political activism and social justice for organizations including the National Jury Project, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and the Legal Aid Society of New York. Later, she rose to senior research executive positions at some of the world's largest advertising and public relations agencies, where she helped leading companies successfully launch new products and expand markets. In the last 20 years of her career, she ran her own marketing communications research firm servicing IT and healthcare clients. She also held the tenured position of Associate Professor of Sociology at Hunter College. Dr. Carlson died April 5, 2022.