Newspapers / Salem College Student Newspaper / Oct. 15, 1969, edition 1 / Page 4
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Page Four THE SALEMITE Wednesday, October is; 19 Student Statement: “We Won’t Go” On April 22, 1969, the student leaders of major univer sities throughout the country issued a declaration to Presi dent Nixon saying that they would go to prison to evade the draft as long as the United States continued fighting in South Vietnam. They issued the statement at a news conference in the House Agriculture Committee Room. Saying they represented the majority of opinion in their campuses, the leaders denounced the Vietnam war as im moral and unjust: You Have Not Students have, for a long time, made known their desire for a peaceful settlement. The present negotiations, how ever, are not an end in themselves, but rather, the means to a complete cease-fire and American extrication. And until that ce^se-fire is reached, or until the Selective Ser vice System is constructively altered, young men who op pose this war will continue to face the momentous decision of how to respond to the draft. In December of 1966, our predecessors as student body presidents and editors, in a letter to President Johnson, warned that “a great many of those faced with the prospect of military duty find it hard to square performance of the duty with concepts of personal integrity and conscience.” Many of draft age have raised this issue. In the spring of 1967, over 1000 seminarians wrote to Secretary of De fense McNamara suggesting the recognition of conscien tious objection to particular wars as a way of “easing the coming confrontation between the demands of law and those whose conscience will not permit them to fight in Vietnam.” In June of 1967, our predecessors submitted, along with a second letter to the President, a petition signed by over 10,000 draft eligible students from nine cam puses, calling for alternative service for those who cannot fight in Vietnam. There have been many other similar attempts to influence Congress and the Administration. Nonetheless, despite all our efforts, the Selective Service System has remained impervious to constructive change. Presently, thousands of fellow students face the probability of immediate induction into the armed forces. Most of us have worked in electoral politics and through other channels to change the course of America’s foreign policy and to remove the inequities of the draft system. We will continue to work in these ways, but the possible results of these efforts will come too late for those whose deferments will soon expire. We must make an agonizing choice: to accept induction into the armed forces, which we feel would be irresponsible to ourselves, our country, and our fellow man; or to refuse induction, which is con trary to our respect for law and involves injury to our personal lives and careers. Left without a third alternative, we will act according to pur conscience. Along with thousands of our fellow stu dents, we campus leaders cannot participate in a war which we believe to be Immoral and unjust. Although this, for each of us, is—an intensely personal decision, we publicly and collectively express our intention to refuse induction and to aid and support those who decide to refuse. We wdl not serve in the military as long as the war in Vietnam continues. Converted A Man Because You Have Silenced Him —John Viscount Morley "On Compromise" - AND HERE’S A TROOP REDUCTION AND HERE’S NO DRAET CALL FOR OCTOBER AND HERE’S Hatfield Gives Viev On War And Draf (Ed. Note: The following is a statement bv Sen,* , Hatfield.) ^ 1 It is now clear that attempts to reform moHf liberalize our Vietnam war policy and the draft t ^ ' self-deceiving, and bound to fail. Such efforts^"^"'*” the issues involved. The war in Vietnam must be f i not merely modified. What must be recognized is th t military presence on the Asian mainland is contrary t interest. The issue to be decided at Paris is the^ * ■■can troop and implementation of the withdrawal of American Nor can the draft be merely reformed. The presentV , system is a drastic invasion of individual liberty. Con tion is involuntary servitude, pure and simple. As the w'' Street Journal stated editorially, it is “about the odious form of Government control we have vet The draft must be abolished. ^ I think it is imperative that we seek to understand tk terrible dilemma which these young men face. Man our nation’s most idealistic young men are torn betvve' the recognition of their duty to serve their country an their duty to apply an individual moral standard to tf actions they perform. Though I must disavow their potej tial contravention of the law, I would hope that we w not ignore the integrity of their decision or the agony j their action. I cannot help contrasting the bitterness of today’s yoi» men drafted to fight in Vietnam with the call my generatioi felt to serve in the Second World War. I was proud t serve in the Navy in the South Pacific at Iwo Jima Okin awa and Indochina because the purpose and necessity o our struggle was clear. Today I question the avowed pur pose of the war in Vietnam, and I question a system.o conscription which forces young men to contradict thei own moral commitments. Moreover, the employment of conscription to provide mei for Vietnam further denigrates the quality of our nationi life. The widespread acceptance and utilization of teeb niques to evade present obligations undermines our youtfi's respect for law and authority. This situation must be dc' plored. The words of the student leaders’ statement m the war and the draft echo the feelings of so many young men who are deeply tormented by the sacrifice of values which is demanded by participation in a war which they believe is immoral. As long, as, this continues, or, even worse, as young men leave the country or violate the law, the spiritual wounds of personal, family and natio.nal dis unity cannot begin to heal. This is a time when many students are questioning whether there is either reason or wisdom in adhering to our democratic processes, not because they fail to believe in democracy, but because they do believe and have .seen it failing to function adequately. The efforts of these stu dent leaders here today; while remaining uncompromising about their convictions and ideals, .are, by attempting to discuss their concerns with those in positions of power and influence, exploring the viability of the democratic process, The war and draft are two pressing and relevant issues that, hopefully, can be influenced by student conviction and action. For the government to ignore their kind of efforts is to risk further alienating large segments of our young peqple. 'The Vietnam Moratorium is the most significant demonstration of opposition to the war in Vietnam since the primary re sults of 1968. It is the only way that the people of the country can demonstrate o second judgment on the war in Vietnam to those who hold political power." —Senator Eugene J. McCarthy "I would hope that the Moratorium ob servance will make clear to the Admini stration that in the continuance of this senseless bloodshed lies the seed of no tional tragedy. It is an effort which merits the responsible participation of all Ameri cans who are anxious to reverse a policy of military attrition and moral disaster. —Senator George S. McGovern "Everyone who has been lecturing stO' dents on the wickedness of violence should welcome this opportunity to reassert peacefully their opposition to the tinued pressure from the military leader- ship." -John Kenneth Gailbraitn "let us all support the students who ore trying to stop, by their Moratorium, this disastrous, costly and pointless war." -Reinhold Niebuhf "Only public pressure for immediate withdrawal will persuade Nixon to 6’' the war. The Vietnam Moratorium help build that pressure." . —Benjamin Spock, M- "By the awful grace of God, we are the survivors. Others have given their liv» for us in Vietnam and here in America- On October 15, we begin to poy debts." -Adam Walinsl‘f
Salem College Student Newspaper
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Oct. 15, 1969, edition 1
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