Editing Swift Vets and POWs for Truth (section)

{{Overly detailed|date=January 2025}}
{{Short description|American political group (2004-08) opposing John Kerry}}
{{Use American English|date = October 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = October 2019}}
[[Image:Swiftpowlogo.png|thumb|right|290px|Logo]]
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Swift Vets and POWs for Truth}}
'''Swift Vets and POWs for Truth''', formerly known as the '''Swift Boat Veterans for Truth''' ('''SBVT'''), was a political group ([[527 group]]) of United States [[Fast Patrol Craft|Swift boat]] veterans; former [[Prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] of the [[Vietnam War]], formed during the [[U.S. presidential election, 2004|2004 presidential election campaign]]. It was done for the purpose of opposing [[John Kerry]]'s candidacy for the [[President of the United States|presidency]]; the campaign inspired the widely used political pejorative "[[swiftboating]]", to describe an unfair or untrue political attack. The group disbanded and ceased operations on May 31, 2008.<ref name="swiftvets">{{cite web|title=Swiftboat Vets and POWs for Truth|publisher=Swift Vets and POWs for Truth|date=2008-05-31|url=http://swiftvets.com/|access-date=2009-08-24}}</ref>

SBVT asserted that Kerry was "unfit to serve" as president, based upon his alleged "willful distortion of the conduct" of American servicemen during that war, and his alleged "withholding and/or distortion of material facts" as to his own conduct during that war.<ref name="lettertokerry">{{cite web|title=Swift Veterans Letter to John Kerry|publisher=Swift Vets and POWs for Truth|date=2004-05-04|url=http://horse.he.net/~swiftpow/article.php?story=20040629220813790|access-date=2007-10-25}}</ref> SBVT stated that "Kerry's phony war crimes charges, his exaggerated claims about his own service in Vietnam, and his deliberate misrepresentation of the nature and effectiveness of Swift boat operations compel us to step forward."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.swiftvets.com/index.php|title=Swift Vets and POWs for Truth home page|publisher=SwiftVets.com|year=2004|access-date=2013-02-08|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20040826235448/http://www2.swiftvets.com/index.php |archive-date=August 26, 2004 }}</ref> The group [[John Kerry military service controversy|challenged]] the legitimacy of each of the combat medals awarded to Kerry by the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] and the disposition of his discharge. Further, SBVT said that Kerry's later criticism of the war was a "betrayal of trust" with other soldiers, and that by his [[activism]] he had caused direct "harm" to soldiers still at war.

These claims caused tremendous controversy during the election, particularly because the organization's members had not been in a place to assess Kerry, while the Vietnam veterans who had served under him supported Kerry's version of events.<ref name=FactCheck2004>{{cite web|title=Republican-funded Group Attacks Kerry's War Record |publisher=FactCheck.org. |url=http://www.factcheck.org/article231.html |access-date=2015-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080703204151/http://www.factcheck.org/article231.html |archive-date=July 3, 2008 |url-status=unfit }}</ref><ref name="Lehigh">{{cite news|first=Scot|last=Lehigh|title=Kerry comrades have credibility on their side|url=https://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/kerry/articles/2004/08/20/kerry_comrades_have_credibility_on_their_side/|work=Boston Globe|date=2004-08-20}}</ref><ref name="acctsincomplete">{{cite news|last=Dobbs|first=Michael|title=Swift Boat Accounts Incomplete|pages=A01|newspaper=Washington Post|date=2004-08-22|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21239-2004Aug21.html|access-date=2007-03-28}}</ref><ref name="returnshome">{{cite news|last=VandeHei|first=Jim|title=Kerry returns home with 'band of brothers'|work=Lawrence Journal-World|date=2004-07-29|url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/jul/29/kerry_returns_home/|access-date=2007-03-28}}</ref><ref name="Coile">{{cite news |first=Zachary |last=Coile |title=Vets group attacks Kerry; McCain defends Democrat |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/08/06/MNGUT83SS41.DTL |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=August 6, 2004 }}</ref><ref name=Zernke>{{cite news |first=Kate |last=Zernke |title=Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long After Loss |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/washington/28kerry.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 28, 2006 |access-date=May 4, 2014 }}</ref><ref name=Akers>{{cite news |first=Mary Ann |last=Akers |title=John Kerry's Vietnam Crew Mates Still Fighting Swift Boating |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/06/john_kerrys_vietnam_crew_mates.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224074845/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/06/john_kerrys_vietnam_crew_mates.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 24, 2012 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=June 20, 2008 }}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=April 2023}}

Registered under [[527 group|Section 527]] of the [[Internal Revenue Code]], SBVT publicized its criticisms of Kerry during the election campaign in a book, in television advertisements that the group ran in [[swing state]]s and in the media coverage some members received. The group was the subject of several complaints to the [[Federal Election Commission]] (FEC). After the election, the group was credited by media and praised by [[American conservatism|conservatives]] as contributing to Kerry's defeat.<ref name="conservativeslaud">{{cite news|last=Vlahos|first=Kelley Beaucar|title=Conservatives Laud Swift Boat Veterans|publisher=Fox News|date=2005-02-16|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,147728,00.html|access-date=2007-02-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070222055104/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,147728,00.html|archive-date=2007-02-22|url-status=dead}}</ref> The group's tactics are considered an example of a successful political [[smear campaign]]<ref name=Allen1>{{cite book|title=Until the last man comes home: POWs, MIAs, and the unending Vietnam War|url=https://archive.org/details/untillastmancome00alle_614|url-access=limited|first1=Michael Joe|last1=Allen|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|year=2009|pages=[https://archive.org/details/untillastmancome00alle_614/page/n346 294]–299|isbn=978-0-8078-3261-5}}</ref><ref name=Reclaim>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/us/politics/30swift.html|work=The New York Times|title=Veterans Long to Reclaim the Name 'Swift Boat'|first=Kate|last=Zernike|date=2008-06-30|access-date=2010-03-27}}</ref><ref name=Donaldson1>{{cite book|title=The Making of Modern America: The Nation from 1945 to the Present|url=https://archive.org/details/makingmodernamer00dona|url-access=limited|first1=Gary|last1=Donaldson|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2009|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmodernamer00dona/page/n345 333]|isbn=978-0-7425-4820-6}}</ref><ref name="smearboat">{{cite news|last=Conason|first=Joe|title=Smear Boat Veterans for Bush|work=Salon.com|date=May 4, 2004|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/conason/2004/05/04/swift/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103082930/http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/conason/2004/05/04/swift/index.html|archive-date=January 3, 2007}}</ref><ref name=Boehlert1>{{cite book|title=Lapdogs: How the Press Lay Down for the Bush White House|first1=Eric|last1=Boehlert|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2006|page=198|isbn=0-7432-9916-7}}</ref><ref name=Cogan1>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture|first1=Brian|last1=Cogan|first2=Tony|last2=Kelso|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2009|page=187|isbn=978-0-313-34379-7}}</ref><ref name="Casey">{{cite journal|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/dissent/v056/56.2.casey.html|title=No redemption song: The Case of Bill Ayers|last=Casey|first=Leo|date=Spring 2009|journal=Dissent|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|volume=56|number=2|pages=107–111|issn=0012-3846|doi=10.1353/dss.0.0041|s2cid=143605641|quote=In recent elections, the patriotism and good names of Democratic war hero candidates, from John Kerry to Max Cleland, had been impugned so successfully that a neologism for such smears—to 'swift boat'—was coined out of the assault on Kerry.|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=April 2023}} for its widely publicized<ref name="annenberg">{{cite web|title=University of Pennsylvania National Annenberg Election Survey|publisher=PollingReport.com|date=August 9–16, 2004|url=http://www.pollingreport.com/wh04misc2.htm|access-date=2007-03-30}}</ref> and later discredited claims.<ref name=Cogan2>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Politics, the Media, and Popular Culture|first1=Brian|last1=Cogan|first2=Tony|last2=Kelso|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2009|pages=155, 187, 335|isbn=978-0-313-34379-7}}</ref><ref name="vetsattack">{{cite news|title=THE VETS ATTACK|first=Evan|last=Thomas|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/55728/output/print|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610022244/http://www.newsweek.com/id/55728/output/print|archive-date=2008-06-10|work=Newsweek|date=14 November 2004|access-date=6 February 2013 }}</ref>