Robert
O. (Bobby) Muller
is the President of Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF),
which he founded in 1980. VVAF is an international humanitarian
organization that provides aid to the victims of war; the organization
operates prosthetic and orthotics clinics in Cambodia, Vietnam,
El Salvador and Angola and was the co-founder and coordinator of
the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the U.S. Campaign
to Ban Landmines. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines received
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.
After graduating
with a degree in business administration from Hofstra University,
Muller joined the U.S. Marines and served as an infantry officer
in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. He returned from the war a paraplegic
as a result of combat injuries. After spending a year in a Veterans
Administration hospital in New York City, he returned to Hofstra
University where, in 1974, he earned his law degree.
Muller founded
Vietnam Veterans of America, a veterans membership organization,
in 1980. In 1981, he led the first delegation of Vietnam veterans
to return to Vietnam after the war. He led the organization in successful
efforts to establish court review of veterans' benefits and worked
to preserve and expand veterans counseling services. The organization
was chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1986. Muller stepped down
as president of VVA in 1987 to devote full time to leading VVAF's
humanitarian and advocacy programs.
Muller has
appeared on numerous television news talk shows and news magazines,
including "Today," "Good Morning America," "Nightline," ABC's "Day
One," "The Jim Lehrer News Hour," NPR's "Morning Edition," and the
McLaughlin News Hour's "One On One." He has lectured at over one
hundred universities and colleges on the lessons learned from the
Vietnam experience and the relevance of those lessons for the U.S.
role in the international community.
In 1991, Muller
led the effort to establish an international campaign to ban landmines.
The campaign has grown to include over 1000 organizations in sixty
nations. As a result of these efforts, more than 120 nations have
signed an international agreement banning antipersonnel landmines.
Bobby Muller
is 52 and lives in Washington, D.C.
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