I have decided today to participate
in the March on Washington
on November 15. I reached this
decision with some reluctance
because my professional obligations
permit me little free time. But you
and the Vice President leave me and
I believe thousands of loyal Americans
like me no alternative because
you have, in effect, asked us to
stand up and be counted either on
the side of your Vietnam Policy or
against it. You have called upon the
"silent majority" to have faith in
your ability to end the war despite
the fact that your recent public
statements have sounded very much
like these made by former President
Johnson whose war policy has
clearly been repudiated by a majority
of Americans. You and others in
your administration have strongly
implied that those who do not
support your Vietnam policy are at
best unpatriotic and at worst
treasonous.
I love my country as much as
any man, and today being Veterans'
Day I would like to point out to
you that I served in our armed
forces during the Korean War. But
my concept of the American ideal
leads me to protest vigorously
against American intervention in a
civil war abroad in support of a
government which has continuously
violated democratic principle to the
extent of suppressing any, and all
opposition to it. The fact that you
do not admit that the war in
Vietnam is a civil war and you do
not repudiate the government of
South Vietnam is a clear indication
that you are adopting those disastrous
premises that destroyed the
political career of your predecessor.
I intend to carry an American flag
in the march in order to demonstrate
my firm belief that a
genuinely patriotic Vietnam policy
must be one that will prevent the
less of any more American lives on
behalf of the tyrannical Thieu-Ky
regime and that will bring all our
troops home within the next few
months.
When you took office last year,
you announced your intention of
bringing the American people together
again, but how can this be
possible when Vice President
Agnew insults these Americans who
exercise their constitutional right to
assemble peacefully in support of
their political convictions, and
when you invoke patriotism in
support of the unamerican principle
of presidential infallibility. You
know very well, Mr. President, that
this country will not be united
again until the war in Vietnam is
over, and I would respectfully
submit that it is your responsibility
as commander-in-chief to extricate
us from a war we should have never
become involved in before the
bitterness that has been generated
by the war destroys what is left of
American idealism.
