I think this is a terribly encouraging sign, and I think if nothing more, and this is a really sad poetic justice, if nothing more, this war when it is over, will ultimately probably have done more to awaken the conscience of this country than any other similar thing. own image were hard put to take up the fight against the threat we were In those votes you find the majority of hawks were usually nonveterans and the majority of doves were usually veterans. I wanted you to have a chance to respond to the question of Indochina in a large context. Senator Aiken: Do you think we are under obligation to furnish them with extensive economic assistance? Viet Cong terrorism - and yet we listened while this country tried to blame all I had direct experience with that. Mr. Kerry: As it does in Massachusetts, too. I am going to serve my country." The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular war in which Americans ever fought. It would have indicated we encouraged this kind of action. Mr. Kerry: Senator, if I may interject, I think that what we are trying to say is we do have a method. I have to preside at 1 o'clock. In our opinion, and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam, nothing which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America. Senator Aiken: Do you think they might help carry the bags for us? In 1971, John Kerry spoke on behalf of veterans opposed to the Vietnam War, citing the crimes committed by American soldiers and the lasting damage it … VVAW participated in and organized antiwar demonstrations, public education efforts, militant actions, and … What we are doing is very, very, hypocritical in our withdrawal, and we really should face up to that. The Constitution under test, and we are failing. Someone has to die so that President We are holding a press conference today, as a matter of fact, at the National Press Building- it might be going on at this minute- in which public information officers who are members of our group, and former Army reporters, are going to testify to direct orders of censorship in which they had to take out certain pictures, phrases they couldn't use and so on down the line and, in fact, the information they gave newsmen and directions they gave newsmen when an operation was going on when the military didn't want the press informed on what was going on they would offer them transportation to go someplace else, there is something else happened and they would fly a guy 55 miles from where the operation was. Mr. Chairman, I have just one further thing to do. You mentioned some new faces in the Congress. (Applause). We found also that all too often American men were dying in those rice paddies for want of support from their allies. The Unraveling. I think the public opinion in this country believes that, "The Selling of the Pentagon." Senator Symington: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Request for Letters Sent to Vietnam Veterans Against the War. But at the present moment that is not going to happen, so we are talking about men continuing to die for nothing and I think there is a tremendous moral question here which the Congress of the United States is ignoring. When it comes to the bits and pieces of information, you know, like you heard that Madam Ky is associated with the sale of narcotics or some other guy got a good meal, I hope you will understand as Senators and evaluators of testimony we have to take that in the context of many other things, but I couldn't think of anybody whose testimony I would rather have and act on from the point of view of what this is doing to our young men we are sending over there, how they feel about it, what the impact is on the conscience of a country, what the impact is on even the future of the military services from the point of view of the men who served, than your own. Mr. Kerry: It is not controllable in this country. Search for Library Items Search for Lists Search for Contacts Search for a Library. I realize that we cannot negotiate treaties and I realize that even my visits in Paris, precedents had been set by Senator McCarthy and others, in a sense are on the borderline of private individuals negotiating, et cetera. It is in these larger strategic implications, if anywhere, that may be found justification for our involvement. lose her sense of morality as she accepted very coolly a My Lai and refused to You are dealing now with the deficiencies of human nature, the failure of their education and their capacity for discrimination in the selection of their representatives. © Paul C. Gorski, 2006-2018. 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