Joseph Ellis - Controversy Over War Service

Controversy Over War Service

In June 2001 the Boston Globe published an article revealing that Ellis had lied to his students in lectures about American culture and the Vietnam War years by claiming to have fought in Vietnam. (He had served in uniform but in the United States during those years.) Ellis issued a public apology in August. In the ensuing controversy, Mount Holyoke suspended him without pay from his endowed chair until further review, as well as from teaching during the 2001-2002 academic year. In May 2005, Mount Holyoke restored his chair.

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