By Paul Wesslund
During one of the hardest chapters in American history, electric co-ops volunteered to win the war in Vietnam.
They didn’t win the war, but in his new book Poles, Wires and War, The Remarkable Untold Story of Rural Electrification and the Vietnam War, author Ted Case tells a riveting story of how they tried. He argues that the success electric co-ops had in the conflict that divided our nation just might have helped that Southeast Asian nation recover more quickly by demonstrating the value of bringing electricity to the countryside.
Case brings authority to the book as executive director of the Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He also makes good use of his masters degree in fiction writing to tell a compelling story of an audacious offer from Clyde Ellis, the head of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, to President Lyndon Johnson. Give the South Vietnamese electricity, Ellis said, and you’ll win their hearts and minds in the fight against communism.
What followed was a classic battle of enormous personalities, foreign and domestic political and military maneuvering, and a determined band of people who brought electricity to the American countryside, fighting the odds to bring light to a warzone halfway around the world.
Case creates a fast-paced narrative as the crews race the collapsing war to pass bylaws, organize the co-ops and tangle with corruption, bureaucracy, in-fighting and Viet Cong soldiers determined to destroy what they were creating. In the end, in less than four years, three electric co-ops were bringing electricity to more than 8,000 members.
It was a service the South Vietnamese villagers valued and owned. They even felt strong enough to literally fight for it, in a doomed battle against an assault from Viet Cong armored tanks.
Case creates a highly readable, deep and unique American history of overcoming the highest of hurdles to show people how they could bring power to themselves; first in America, and then to the world.
You can order the book online at TedCaseAuthor.com.
Paul Wesslund writes on cooperative issues for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.