Rick Worland

The TV series MASH, a sitcom set during the Korean War, debuted on television just as the war in Vietnam was winding down. Running from 1972 to 1983, MASH became one of the most popular shows in the history of television, and this success was due in part to its ability to harness the antiwar mood of the nation in the wake of Vietnam. The show centered around a clearly pacifist theme, that of a group of doctors trying to save lives in the middle of a war. High—ranking officers on MASH were portrayed as inept and callous, while the show's most likable characters were pacifists of lower military rank who reveled in ridiculing anticommunist paranoia. Though ostensibly a comedy series, many episodes dealt with more...