jcookc6

Here is the article reprinted in the Harvard Crimson from 1970, Kerry doesnt sound like such a war Published on Wednesday, February 18, 1970
John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress

By SAMUEL Z. GOLDHABER
Crimson Staff Writer

Article Options
Email this article to a friend
Send a letter to the editor
Print this article





RELATED ARTICLES
Old Crimson Interview Reveals A More Radical John Kerry





Citizens'Caucus To Meet Saturday

Hundreds of opponents to the Vietnam War will meet this coming Saturday in a Third District Citizens Caucus to choose a Democrat strong enough in the September primary to oust Philip J. Philbin (D-Mass.) from the Congressional seat he has held for 26 years. Philbin, whose District stretches from Fitchburg to Newton, is the second-ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee and many people consider the 71-year-old Congressman a hawk on Vietnam and an all-around conservative. Any resident of the Third District, including college students under 21, will be eligible to vote at the open caucus, which will be held at Concord Carlisle Regional High School.

The caucus will assign electoral votes to each city and town in the Third District, based on the latest population figures. Residents from each locality will meet in Concord and the candidate who gets the majority of each locality's votes will take all the city's or town's electoral votes. For example, I come from Waban, a village of Newton, which happens to be the most populous city in the District. If I'm the only delegate who shows up from Newton, all of Newton's electoral votes will go to the candidate of my choice.

The leading contenders for the caucus's nomination are Father Robert F. Drinan, dean of the Boston College Law School; Harrison Chandler Stevens, who ran as an Independent against Philbin in 1968 and enjoyed the support of many college volunteers; and John F. Kerry, who favors immediate withdrawal, and was the first Vietnam veteran to run for Congress with a dovish platform on the War.

Drinan, for the moment, is considered the favorite. He is well known in academic circles and at the age of 49 has mustered an impressive list of credentials. He is distinguished especially as the first priest to run for Congress since 1822.

Stevens, who would have to change his registration from Independent to Democrat in order to oppose Philbin in the September primary, is shied away from not only because he is not a Democrat, but also because he refused to endorse any Presidential candidate when he ran in 1968. Although Stevens had built up an impressive political machine, he has been assistant to the governor of Puerto Rico for the past year and returned to the District only two weeks ago.

Kerry has the most explicit stand against the Vietnam War and although his youth is a plus, the fact that he is a political unknown does not help him. Now 26, he was honorably discharged from the Navy last month but has been laying the groundwork for the race ever since November. Occasionally, Kerry makes obvious his recent return to civilian life and the Third Congressional District. When he came into the CRIMSON building last Friday, I introduced myself, saying I was from Waban.

"Waban, where's that?" he asked.

"It's in the District."

"W-O-B-O-N? Wobon? That's not in my District," he said.

"There's no such thing as Wobon. You must be thinking of Woburn. Anyway, I'm in Waban, a village of Newton, and certainly you've heard of Newton, haven't you?"

"So Waban's in Newton? Well, you learn something new every day," he said.

At Yale, Kerry was chairman of the Political Union and later, as Commencement speaker, urged the United States to withdraw from Vietnam and to scale down foreign military operations. And this was way back in 1966.

When he approached his draft board for permission to study for a year in Paris, the draft board refused and Kerry decided to enlist in the Navy. The Navy assigned him to the USS Gridley which between December 1966 and July 1968 saw four months of action off the Vietnam coast. In August through November, 1968, Kerry was trained to be the skipper of a patrol boat for Vietnamese rivers. For the next five months, until April of 1969, Kerry was the commanding Lieutenant of a patrol boat in the Mekong Delta. He was wounded slightly on three different occasions and received a Silver Star for bravery. His patrol boat took part in Operation Sealords, mostly scouting out Viet Cong villages and transporting South Vietnamese marines to various destinations up and down narrow rivers covered with heavy foliage on either side. One time Kerry was ordered to destroy a Viet Cong village but disobeyed orders and suggested that the Navy Command simply send in a Psychological Warfare team to be friend the villagers with food, hospital supplies, and better educational facilities.

Pulling Out


Immediate withdrawal from Vietnam, Kerry said, would take about seven months due to complex logistics problems. During that interval he would allow only "self-defense return of fire." "Logistic suport is now what Nixon is talking about leaving there and I don't want to see that. I don't think we should leave support troops there and I don't think we should give Vietnam any more than the foreign aid given any other one country." He does not feel there would be a massive slaughter of American, sympathizers once the United States pulled out.

In America, "everybody who's against the war is suddenly considered anti-American," Kerry said. "But I don't think they can turn to me and say I don't know what's going on or I'm a draft dodger." Referring to the House Armed Services Committee, chaired by L. Mendel Rivers (D-S.C.), Kerry said, "I want to go down to Washington and confront Medel Rivers, who never fought in a war.

"I as effectively as anyone else in the country, can address myself to the issue of Vietnam," Kerry said. "I'm very realistic, though. I'm just going to be one man adding to the work of men like Lowenstein."

Kerry is a pilot, and on October 14 and 15 he flew Ted Kennedy's advisor Adam Walinsky by private plane throughout the State of New York so that Walinsky could give speeches against the Vietnam War. But Kerry was smart enough not to put down "Moratorium" on the Navy signout sheet for that Tuesday and Wednesday. The following month, Kerry was sick and did not engage in the November moratorium activities.

He supports a volunteer Army, "if and only if we can create the controls for it. You're going to have to prepare for the possibility of a national emergency, however." Kerry said that the United Nations should have control over most of our foreign military operations. "I'm an internationalist. I'd like to see our troops dispersed through the world only at the directive of the United Nations."

On other issues, Kerry wants "to almost eliminate CIA activity. The CIA is fighting its own war in Laos and nobody seems to care." He also favors a negative income tax and keeping unemployment at a very low level, "even if it means selective economic controls."

Kerry's Background


"I have a somewhat Establishment background," Kerry admitted modestly. Kerry, whose family comes from Groton, attended Fessenden, a prestigious private school in West Newton, until he was old enough to go to St. Paul's. From there he went on to Yale where he majored in political science.

Kerry's interest in politics began in 1960, when John Kennedy was running for President. Kerry gave his first political speeches for JFK and at St. Paul's founded a political group, the John Winant Society. In the summer of 1962, Kerry worked for Ted Kennedy, who was then making his first Senate bid. "I wanted to see how the political machine works."

At Yale, Kerry was instrumental in organizing the demonstrations for giving tenure to philosophy professor Dick Bernstein, even though Bernstein had not done very much publishing. As President of the Political Union, Kerry met an impressive array of political figures and spent much of his time fighting for a new YPU building, which Yale eventually built.

Kerry's style can turn people off at first because he gives the initial impression of being too good to be true, of being just a little bit insincere. His preppiness might make you think he's a blueblood WASP, but Kerry is really a Roman Catholic. However, an afternoon on the campaign trail with Kerry leaves you with quite a different impression.

Out in Bolton, a town smaller than Waban, he went to a genuine Yankee house, built in 1740, I watched Kerry as he tried to convince four ladies to go to Saturday's caucus in Concord. While the ladies drank tea. Kerry stuck to his guns and told the women that most welfare recipients did deserve to be on the lists. He said Spiro Agnew was one of the poorer vice-presidents, not one of our great statesmen.

Because of Kerry's background, and his style which the ladies adored, he may have succeeded in charming them into driving out to Concord on Saturday. And four Kerry votes from Bolton would probably mean all of Bolton's electoral votes for Kerry.

What if Kerry loses at the caucus? "If it's a representative group," he said, "I'll support the candidate that comes out." He said he might campaign for Stevens, if Stevens wins the caucus's approval. Another idea of his is creating a national citizen's lobby which would be primarily educational and which "would be a new kind of interest group that will demand attention from the men who are legislating."

In the last month, Kerry has driven 4000 miles back and forth across the District. "I should be at law school," he said, "but the problems are too great to sit back and watch them go by
hero then.

jcookc6

here is the link in case you are interested.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=352185

jcookc6

This was an article from 25 years ago, but I don't think Kerry's idea's have changed much, of course unless it is the prudent thing to do.
One thing this articles tells people, with the talk of Bush' Natl.
Guard service, Kerry tried to pull a Clinton and go to France. When that didnt work he JOINED the navy, probably the safest service to be in.
2 tours of duty in Viet Nam? Seving on a ship in the Gulf of Tonkin, though very boring was not dangerous. Why did he volunteer to serve on the swift boats? He is a Kennedy wanabe, and we have all heard the story of PT109. It says he was SLIGHTLY wounded twice. We have heard the story from the sailor he rescued, after he had originally pulled his boat out. Have we ever heard from the sailors that remained on the boat? Could it have been "Jawn boy, We better turn this tub around and go back and get him, or you will will swimming back to Saigon". Would just like to hear from the others. BRING IT ON!!!

Charlatan

This article is fairly irrelevant. What someone believes now and what they believe 34 years ago are not always going to jive.

It's called growing up. Getting new information.

The sad thing is this is going to be something that is bandied about in the context that Kerry can't make up his mind... etc.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Lebell

While I don't care for Kerry, I agree with Charlatan.

Interesting, but a person's views can change over 25 years.

Personally, I don't like him for some of the things he's said recently.

__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

The ONLY sponsors we have are YOU!

Please Donate!

jcookc6

Have guys, THEY HAVEN'T CHANGED. The gigolo has not changed, once a snake always a snake.

Ustwo

Hehe I bet he didn't expect a patroll boat

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

losthellhound

Its an interesting article, he is also a very interesting man. I think that he would do good things for the country (though, not being American Im not an expert)

__________________
"Life is possible only with illusions. And so, the question for the science of mental health must become an absolutely new and revolutionary one, yet one that reflects the essence of the human condition: On what level of illusion does one live?"
-- Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

Sparhawk

I'm pretty sure every single sailor on his swift boat endorsed or is actively campaigning for him. I also wonder why you deny Kerry the ability to change as an adult, but give it to Bush, the reformed alcoholic.

Ustwo, he volunteered for Swift Boat duty.

__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

Ustwo

Glad he volunteered, that is a plus for him.

The thing isn't that he could change, of course he could change, but that most of his votes over the years shows he did not really change. Liberal think tanks give him a higher 'liberal' rating then Teddy Kennedy, which sort of sums it up nicely.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Tomservo

I cannot comprehend how attempting to avoid war in Vietnam is somehow Anti-American. History shows us we *failed* in Vietnam, and *lost* the war. Lots of Americans died, and very few of those soldiers who lived hold that action as a wise move by a leader nation. By and large, Vietnam vets cherish the fact that they, and their friends/troopmates survived what was a brutal military engagement, not that they were standing up for their country in time of crisis.

If you were told today that you may be shipped away from your life, your family, everything you hold dear, and you may be dead in 6 months... for a cause you had no knowledge of or belief in, you have every right to avoid that. Kerry avoided it, and when he found he could not legally escape Vietnam, he volunteered for the duty he felt most comfortable with. He fought, he killed, he was injured, he saved lives. I am not a Kerry backer, but I have no ability to understand how his actions were anything but completely acceptable.

Keep in mind, folks aren't bashing Bush for joining the Guard- they're bashing him for joining the Guard, then avoiding duty without permission. Had Kerry joined the Navy, then failed a physical and returned to the US to work on politics, that would be very notable. He did his tours and *then* returned to state his case politically. There's nothing wrong with that- that's how our system works.