Vietnam: A Crisis of Conscience

it has been fb the pittsburgh from the name of the

riverside church in new york city we present vietnam a crisis of conscience the principal speaker this evening in a program sponsored by the national committee of clergy and laymen concerned about vietnam is the reverend dr martin luther king following dr king's speech entitled beyond vietnam there will be a commentary by dr henry still come and you're the historian and responses by dr john c bennett president of union theological seminary in new york and by rabbi abraham heschel professor professor of ethics at the jewish theological seminary also a new rules a big question unanswered very you now is dr martin luther king ladies and gentlemen i made not

always to say how are delighted i am to be here tonight and albert delighted i am to see you expressing your concerned about the issues that will be discussed the night by turning out in such large numbers i also want to say that i consider it a great honor to share this program with dr bennet dr kahneman for an rabbi has show some of the distinguished leaders and personalities of our nation and of course as always good to come back to riverside church over the last eight years i have had the privilege of preaching

here are almost every year in that period it is always a rich and rewarding experience who come to this great church and this great quote right i'm going to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me in all the charts i joined you and this meeting because i'm in deep dish agreement with the ame zion work of the organization which has brought us together our jay and laymen concerned about vietnam the recent statement of your executive committee all the sentiments of my own heart and i found myself in for local coal

and i read its old mainline time comes when silence is betrayal the time has come for in relation to vietnam the truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission the words or call us is the most difficult one even when pressed modern man and they're not easily assume the task of opposing backed government's policy especially in time of war not those are human spirit move without great difficulty against all that they've failed and almost all than ones own bozo man and the surrounding war moreover when they issues at hand

same as complex and as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty we must move some of those who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that call in to speak is often a vocation of agony but we must speak we must be worth all that you know that they are that is a proper to our limited vision but we must be and we most rejoice as well for sure this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophet's eyeing

of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of the foreign descent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history and perhaps a new spirit is rising homeowners are intruders let us trace its movements and pray that our own enemy may be sensitive to its guidelines where they planned native a new way beyond the darkness that same so close around over the past two years as i have moved to break the betrayal of my own silences and to speak from the burnings of my own heart as i have called for radical departures from the destruction of vietnam minute what persons have questioned me about the wisdom of my car

at the heart of their concerns are square has often wounded margin while while you're speaking about the war daugherty why you joining the voices of dissent peace and civil rights don't mix they say aunt you hurting the cause of real people they act and where when i hear them dolphin understand the source of their concern it's a great list such questions may mean that employers have not really known me my commitment or my calling and get back question suggests that they do not know of the world in which they live and misunderstandings i'd be a negative signal importance to trod state clearly and i trust concise and a

walk i believe that the path from dexter avenue baptist church the church in montgomery alabama where i began my pastor at least clear lead to this century where tonight i come to this but fong tonight and made a passionate plea to modern love nation this speech is not addressed to her nor a part of the national liberation front it is not addressed to china are to russia like is it an attempt to overlook the ambiguity of the situation and the need for a collective solution to the tragedy of vietnam neither is it an attempt to make north vietnam other national never liberation front howard runs a virtue not all the local role they must play and a successful resolution of the problem

why how they both may have justifiable reasons to be suspicious of the good faith of the united states life and history development just to monitor the fact that conflicts another is all without fossil give and take on bullseye tonight however i was not to speak the national liberation front since i'm a preacher by calling i suppose it is not surprising that i have seven major reasons for bringing vietnam into the field of my moral vision that is at the outset of the obvious and almost has some connection between the war in vietnam and the store brian others have been waging an american a few years ago

a shining moment in the struggle i'm saying that as if that was a real promise of hope for the poor both black and white through the poverty problem there what experiments holt's new beginning then came the buildup in vietnam now what's this program broke on and be eviscerated as if it was some idled political plaything of a society gone mad on war and i knew that america would never invest the masses are fun saw images in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like vietnam continued to draw man and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction true so i was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the pool

and two attackers set perhaps a more tragic recognition of reality to race and it became clear to me that the wall was blowing fall more than devastating the hopes of the pool at home it was sending their sons and their brothers and their husbands to fight and to die an extraordinary high proportions relative to the rest of the population we were taking the black young man who had been crippled by our society and sending them eight thousand miles away guarantee liberty years and south east asia words they had not found in southwest georgia then he's tall so we have been repeatedly faced with a pearl arnie watson and ron wyden was on tv screens as they kill and die together for the

nation that has been on a boat to see them together in the same school so we want them and brutal solidarity burning the huts of a poor village we realize that they were probably live on the same block in chicago i cannot be silent in the face of such chrome manipulation of the pool my third reason most to an even deeper level of awareness or grows out of my experience in the ghettos of them also the last three years especially the last three summer as a firewall among the desperate rejected and angry young man i have told them that molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems i have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining

my conviction social change comes most meaningful action but they ask and right michelle what about vietnam they ask of our own nation wasn't using masters doses of almonds to solve its problem bring about the changes it wanted their questions hit home and i know that i could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghetto without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today my own government on the sake of those boys on the sake of this government for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our problems i cannot be silent for those who ask question of your civil rights leader and

thereby made to exclude me from the movement for peace on elvis for that answer in nineteen fifty seven when a group of us farm the southern christian leadership conference we chose ms amato to save the soul of america we were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights of black people but instead affirmed that conviction that america would never be free oh saved it from itself until the descendents of the slaves were loose completely from the shackles a spiel where in a way we were agreeing with langston hughes that but barbara holland you had written earlier oh yes i say it america never was america to me and yet i swear this all

america will be now it should be incandescent very clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of america but they can ignore the present war if america sold becomes total applause and probably all cops in most read vietnam it can never be a safe so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over four ears of those of us who are yet determined that america will be on loud ahmed down the path of protest and dissent working for the health of our land as if the waiter such a commitment to the light can help of america will not enough another burden of responsibility or was placed upon me in nineteen fifty four and i cannot forget that the nobel peace prize was also a commission

a commission to work hard and i had ever worked before for the brotherhood of man this is a calling that takes maybe on national allegiances but even if it were not present i would get have to live with the meaning of my commitment to the ministry of jesus christ for me the relationship with his ministry to them making peace is so obvious that i sometimes mob one of those who asked me why i'm speaking against a wall critic david they do not know that the good news was meant for all men and of communism capitalists for their children hours for black and for quite a revolutionary and conservative they've forgotten that my ministry as an obedience to the one love is an initial former that he died for them or been can i say

to the vietcong other castro optimal as the fateful minister all this one and i've written them with death must i not share with them my life finally as i've tried to explain for you and for myself the role that leads from montgomery to this place i would have all five all that was most violent if i simply said that i must be true to my conviction but i share with all man we're calling to be a son of the libyan paul young the calling of race a nation or creed is its vocation of song ship and brother because i believe that the fall that is deeply concerned especially if our his suffering and hepburn as an outcast children i come tonight to speak for them this i believe to be the privilege and the burden on all of those who dream

ourselves bomb by allegiances on warrior is which are broader than deep of the nationalism and which will be on the nation's soul to find more words than position we'll call to speak for the week father bossed lives father victims of our nation and for those it calls intimate formal document from human hands and make these humans in ls our brother and as i've pondered the madness of vietnam and such within myself for ways to understand and respond in compassion my mind was constantly it to the people of that peninsula i speak now none of the soldiers agreed side not of the ideologies of the liberation front not avant inside gone but simply of the people

who have been living under the cursor war almost create continuous decades now i think of them to because it is clear the neighbor that would be no meaningful solution until summer camp has made to know them and hear that broken pipe they might see americans as strange liberate years people were crying on independence in nineteen fifty four a nineteen forty five rather after a combined french german japanese occupation and before the communist revolution in china they were met by a militia man even though they quoted the american declaration of independence and their own documentary freedom we refuse to recognize them instead we decided to support friends and had to re

conquest of a farmer colony our government fell and that libyan vietnamese people were not ready for independence we're game fell victim to the deadly western arrogance that has laws and international atmosphere for so long that tragic decision we rejected a revolutionary government seeking self determination in a government that had been established not by china among the vietnamese have normally love the back to la indigenous forces that included some condoms well the president says new government meant real man recall one of the most important needs and ally nine years following nineteen forty five we denied the people of vietnam the right of independence for nine years we vigorously supported the french and that a broader effort to re colonize

vietnam before the end of the war we were meeting eighty percent of the french law calls even before the french were defeated at the nba and who they began to this battleground reckless action but we did not we encourage them with it moves financial and military supplies to continue the wall even after they had lost a wheel soon we would be banned almost a full cost of this tragic attempted rape colonization after the funds were defeated it looked as if independence and lamb were falling would come again three of the geneva agreement and spit sped back in the united states determined that whole should not unifying the temporarily a divided nation dozens watched the game as we support of one of the most vicious mob and

dictators our chills unmanned premier beyond dozens watched and cleanses pm roof listener wrote about all opposition reported that expulsion as mann law center a few even to discuss a reunification with them all as and swamps as all this was presided over by united states and phones than by increasing numbers of united states troops who came to help quell the insurgency that the ams methods had around the ham was overthrown they may have been happy with a long line of military dictators same de waal formal religion especially in terms of them need for land in peace the only change came from america as we increased our

troop commitments in support of governments which was single on a corrupt and ap and without popular support all the while the people read out leaflets and received a regular promises of peace and democracy a man would fall now they line wears on there are bombs and consent us not that fellow vietnamese the rail thin and they move sadly and apathetic as we heard them all the land of the fall and the concentration camps where many most also needs around in there they know they must move on a be destroyed by our bombs so they going primarily women and children and at their watches way paulson the award as we kill a million acres of that rockets they must week as the bulldozers roll through their areas

preparing to destroy the precious trees they wandered into the hospital with at least twenty eight casualties from american firepower one clear common inflicted injury so far we may have killed a million of them mostly children they wander into the towns and see thousands of their children homeless without polls run impacts on the streets like animals they see the children degraded by us soldiers as they beg for food they see their children selling brass sisters to our soldiers soliciting for them otherwise what do the bears in sync as we allow cells with the landlord's and every refused to preventing action and two are many words concerning land reform what do they think is we test out our latest weapons on

them just as the germans just about new medicine in new partners and the concentration camps of europe where all the roots of the independent vietnam we claim to be building is it among these false ms wong we have this far back to most cherished institution of the family and we have destroyed their land and their crops we have cooperated impression in the question of the nation's only a non communist revolutionary a political force the unified buddhist church we have supportive than in those of the presence of saigon we have corrupted that women children and killed by a man now that he's logos left to build on say bitterness so known as solid solid physical foundations remaining would be found at our military

bases in the concrete of the concentration camps we call a fortified hamlet cousins may well wonder if we planned to bill allen new vietnam on such rounds as these we blame them for such start we must speak for them and raise the questions they cannot raise these to our brother perhaps a more difficult with no less necessary task is to speak for those who have been designated as it in and is one of the national liberation front that strangely anonymous group we called the sea a communist what must they think of the united states of america they were allies and we permitted the repression and grow to be home which helped to bring them into being as a resistance group and the sorrow what do

they think of our condoning the violence which led to a valet in picking up along how can they believe in our the integrity of one now we speak of aggression from the mall as if that one nothing more essential tool how can they trust us and now we charge them with violence after the murderous reign of the ham johnson with violence while we will ever new weapon of death and through their land sure we must understand that humans evolving if we do not condone backpack seems sure we must say that the man we supported press them to the bottoms sure we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simpler de waal greatest acts of the range of just one hour officials mold that their membership there's less than

twenty five percent communist yet insist on giving them the blanket name what must they be thinking when they know that we all wear out of their control of major sections of vietnam and yet we appear ready to allow national elections in which this highly organized political parallel government will not have a party they as how we can speak of free elections when the saigon press is censored and controlled by the military junta and they assure the right to wonder what kind of new government we plan to help vong party in rio touch with the voters their quest on our political goals and they deny the reality of a peace settlement from which they will be excluded that questions of frighteningly relevant as our nation planning to build on political maverick game very short run

the power to move mountains here it is a true meaning and value of compassion and non violent when it helps us to see a van and this point of view they hear these questions in our ears assessment about so far from his view we may indeed see the basic weaknesses of our own condition and if we are mature we may learn and grow and profit from the wisdom of the brothers who are called the opposition so too with an hour and the north well bombs now pummeled the land and our minds in danger the waterways we ahmed body but understandable mistrusts speak for them is to explain this lack of confidence and western wear and especially of that distrust of american

intentions now in hanoi on the man who led the nation to independence against japanese and different the man who sought membership in the french commonwealth and were betrayed by the weakness of paris and the world for most of the colonial army it was a letter second struggle against friend's nomination at tremendous course then were persuaded to give up the land they control between the thirteenth in seventeenth parallel as a temporary measure that geneva after nineteen fifty four they watched us can spy would be him to prevent elections which could have shown a broader religion and apollo over the united vietnam they realize they had been betrayed again when we asked why they do not lead to negotiate these things must be remembered also it must be clear that the leaders of them are considered the presence of american

troops in support of libyan regime who have been the initial military breech of the geneva agreements concerning foreign troops they remind us that they did not began to send troops in large numbers and even supplying do this i'll do american forces had moved into the tens of thousands moore remembers refused martha be among these overtures the piece how the president claimed that none existed when they had commanded in may you or two man has watched as america has opened peace and built up its forces now he has sure heard the increasing international romans of american planned saw an invasion of the north he knows a bombing and shelling in mining we're going a part of traditional pre invasion strategy perhaps

only a sense of your mom and a minor can save him winning is the most powerful nation of the world speaking of aggression as a jobs thousands of bombs on a poor weak nation more than eight hundred air of a thousand miles away from that show at this point i should make it clear that while fighting these last few minutes to do oboist to the bosphorus in vietnam to understand arguments of those who will call in a man i am as deeply concerned about our own troops that is anything else or it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in vietnam is not some live the brutalizing process that goes on and in a wall where armies faced each other and steve drew destroy and we urban centers has improved the process

but they must know after this short period that that none of the things we claim to be fighting for really involved before long they must know that that government and send them into a struggle among vietnamese the more sophisticated shirl eyes that way on the side of the wealthy and the secure why we created a halo for the poor somehow this madness must cease we must stop now i speak as a child of god and brother to the suffering for the vietnam i speak for those whose land is being laid waste whose names are being destroyed whose coach it is being subverted i speak of that speak for the port of america who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and dealt

death and corruption in vietnam i speak as a citizen of the world for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken ice because one who loves america to really those of our own nation the great initiative and those was olive the initiative to stop it must be ours this is a message of the great buddhist leaders of vietnam recently one of them wrote these words in a school each day the walls along the hatred increases and the heart of the vietnamese and the hearts of those of humanitarian instinct americans are forcing the bombast friends into becoming very intimate it is curious that the americans who calculate so carefully on the possibility is a military victory do not realize that in the process they incurred

during deep psychological and political because the image of america will never again be that image of revolution freedom and democracy were famines of violence and militarism and paul we continue that would be no doubt in my mind and in the mind of the world we have an honorable in tensions in vietnam we do not stop our wardens the people of vietnam immediately the world will be left with no other alternative and to see this as some harbaugh clumsy and deadly game we have decided to play world now demands a maturity of america that we may not be able to achieve its demands and we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning about invented in vietnam that we have been detrimental to the life of the vietnamese people the situation is

one in which we must be ready to turn sharply are not present a way in order to atone fine sand and arrows in vietnam we should take the initiative in bringing a halt to this tragic wall i would like to suggest five concrete things about government should do immediately began the long and difficult process of it extricating ourselves from this nightmarish conflict number one an all bombing and north and south vietnam and the two declare their you know unilateral cease fire and the hole that such action will create the atmosphere of the negotiation parade take immediate steps to prevent other battlegrounds and southeast asia like her telling our military buildup and thailand an hour and to parents in laos falk

realistic goal except the fact that the national liberation front has substantial support in south vietnam most that might play a role in any meaningful negotiations and any future of vietnam government seventy eight that we will remove all foreign troops from vietnam in accordance with the nineteen fifty four geneva agreement the pain hot of our ongoing commitment might well express itself in and offered to grant asylum to enter vietnamese who fears for his life under the new regime which included the liberation front and we must make reparations week and for that damage we have done we must provide the medical aid that is badly needed making it available

in this country it necessarily meanwhile meanwhile we end the churches and synagogues have a continuing pants or where's our government to disengage itself from a disgraceful commitment we must continue to raise our bosses mr lyons yvonne mason persists in its various ways in vietnam we must be prepared to enact actions with words by seeking out every creative method of protest possible as we bounce or young men concerning military service we must clarify for them on our nation's role in vietnam and challenges them where the alternative of conscientious objection the pope

that is to say that this is a bad man chosen by more than seven to students at my own alma mater morehouse college and i recommend it to all who find the american course in vietnam a dishonorable and i'm just one half mold i would encourage all ministers of draft age to give up their ministerial exemptions and seek status as conscientious objector fb whose of the times for real choices and not fall so long we are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line of our

nation is to survive its own father every man a humane convictions must decide on the protests that best suits his convictions but we must all protests now that is something seductive leg temping about stopping band and sending us all all home what in some circles has become a popular crusade against the war in vietnam i say we must end of that struggle and i wished it wrong now on to say something even more disturbing the war in vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper mallory within the american spirit and we ignore the sultan reallocate hand if we ignore the sobering reality we will find ourselves organized and clergy and laymen concern committees file the next generation they will be concerned about water

mark guatemala and rude they would be concerned about thailand and cambodia they would be concerned about mozambique and south africa we will be marching for these and a dozen other names on attending rally isnt about and unless that is a significant and profound change and american life in policy yeah so so so that goes beyond vietnam but not beyond our calling songs of the living role in nineteen fifty seven a sensitive

american official was he said that'd same to him that our nation was on the wrong side of a world revolution during the past ten years we have seen emerge a pattern of suppression which is now justify the presence of us military advisers in venezuela this need to maintain social stability for our investments council of the counterrevolution action of american forces in guatemala details while american helicopters are being used against the runners in cambodia and why american napalm in green beret forces have already been active against rebels in the room it is with such activity in mind that the words of the late john f kennedy come back to haunt us five years ago he said those who made peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable

happened increasingly admired show us all by accident this is a role our nation has taken rows of those who made peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits overseas investments i am convinced that we ought to get on the right side of the law or a revolution we as a nation was on the whole a radical revolution a band we most rapidly began we most rapidly began the shift from a thing oriented society to a person oriented society when machines and computers profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people the giant triplets of racism strain

materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquerors a true revolution of thirty years on the fairness and justice are many of our past and present policy on the one hand we are called to play the good samaritan own life rolled sign that will be on an initial act one day we must come to see that the whole gerrit cole rolled must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and rob as they make that journey own lives highway true compassion is more than flying a call and to a better comes to see them an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring i act for evolution of their lives will soon look and easily

on the bahrain conference of poverty in well with the righteous indignation it will look across a c and c individual campus of the west investing huge sums of money in asia africa and south america on that could take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries and say this is not just it will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of south america and say this is not just weston albums of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing too line from them is not just true revolution of barriers will lay a hand on the world on earth and sail wall this way of settling differences is not jobs this business of burning human beings with maple filling our nation's homes with

all friends and widow of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples anomaly human sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged cannot be reconciled with wisdom justice and love nation that continues year after year spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death the pope their riches and most powerful nation in the world and well lead the way in this revolution a band that is

nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from riyadh having our priorities conservative views will take precedence over the bassoon there's nothing to keep us from all moving recalcitrance status quo with those hand until we have fashioned it into a brother this kind of positive revolution of that is is our best defense against communism was not the answer communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs and nuclear weapons are those knobs on those who shower wall and through their misguided passions birds are united states to remain which it's but as a patient in the united nations these are days which the man awad restraint and calm reasonableness we must not engaged in a negative anti communism but rather in a

positive thoughts on democracy realizing that our greatest defenses against communism is to take the offensive action and better health of justice we must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty and security and investors which other for a solemn words the seat of communism grows and develops these are revolutionary time all over the bowl man our vote and against old systems of exploitation and oppression and out of the wounds of a frail were living systems of justice and equality of being born you should listen back for the people of the land are rising up as never before people who set in darkness have same a great light

we in the west must support these revolutions it is a sad fact that because of conflict complacency a morbid fear of communism and our opponents to adjust to ingest this the western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become bots anti revolutionary is this as driven manager theo that own the marxism has a revolutionary spirit that for communism has a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions that we initiated are they liars and our abilities to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world crying eternal hostility poverty racism and militarism this powerful commitment we show boat to

challenge the status quo and i'm just more rains that might speed the day whenever about it shall be exalted and every mountain and he'll still be made low the credential be made straight and the rough places genuine revolution about is means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than section every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best and i individuals inside this call falwell were wide fellowship and lots of neighborly concern beyond ones five race class and nation it is in reality a calls on all embrace to embrace in an unconditional lung for all mankind this all so misunderstood there's often misinterpreted

concepts or read it and they're dismissed by the natives of the world as a weakened college reforms now become an absolute necessity or the survival of man when i speak of love i must begin a song sentimental and weak response bridges just been more shallow marsh i'm speaking of that was with all the great religions as same as the supreme unifying principal of my nervous somehow the key that are lots of door which leads to alternate reality is hindu muslim christian jewish buddhist belief about ultimately an ultimate reality is beautiful is summed up in the first epistle a saint jerome meadows love one another love is god and everyone that love of his bonn of god in north gaza

he that love if not north not god for god's love we love one another god weapons and his love is affected announced that oslo this parrot will become the law of the day we can no longer afford to watch a lot of hay a bow before a lot of retaliation history made by the rising tide of it history is cluttered with the wreckage and nations and individuals that the suit this self defeating path of a song or congress says love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving jaws of life and good dancer downing shots of death and even that for the first holden i inventory let's be the hope that lovers drawn to have the last word on will we are now faced with a fact my friend that

tomorrow is today we're confronted with the fierce urgency of now and that song of life in history that is such a thing as being too late procrastination is still the favorite time life all the leaves are standing by alan acted and dejected with a last opportunity tied in their affairs of men does not remain a lot of errors we made crowd desperate effort time to paulson the passage of time is adamant to have ripley in russia's own over the bridge bones and jumble residues of numerous civilizations written the prophetic words too late that is an invisible bulk of light the faithfully recalls our vigilance pollinate like omar khayyam has arrived the moving finger writes and had been ripped moves own

we still have a cellist and a non violent coexistence of amanpour annihilation we must move past indecision direction we must find new ways to speak for peace in vietnam and justice throughout the developing world we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possessed powell without compassion might without more gravity and strength without sight now let us began now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter beautiful as yours is recording of the song now brothers wait eagerly if our response

shall we say the odds are too great show without them and the struggle is too hard la message to be that the forces of american life know a paper games are ravenous for men and we send our deepest regrets well there'd be another message of longing of hope of solidarity with their yearnings of commitment to back almost whatever the cause of joyce's hours though we might preferred otherwise we must choose and it's crucial moment of human history that noble bought him yesterday james russell moore there quint list at once to ever man the nation comes a moment to decide in the strife of truth and false hope for the good or evil side some great cause god's new messiah offer needs to bring light and that's our schools by

far toward said darkness and that line though the calls the revolt cross yet to strength alone is strong or apportion be the scaffold and upon the phone be wrong yet that scaffolds waves of future behind the dam unknown stand of god within the shadow keeping watch above his own that we will only make the right short we will be able to try and psalm this and then calls an ecology and her creative psalm a piece we will make the right source we will be able to transform the jangling to scholars of our world into a beautiful symphony of brother we will but make the right songs we will be able to speed up that day all over america and all over the world and justice will rolled down like waters and righteousness like a

mighty stream direct from the nave of the riverside church in new york city you've heard dr martin luther king in his first major policy speech on vietnam and titled the ambient now dr king's speech was the first part of the evening program vietnam a crisis of conscience sponsored by the national committee of georgie hanlin concerned about we will continue in a moment this is the eastern educational radio network fb still conjure the amherst college historian then there will be a brief remarks by dr john c bennett president of union theological seminary

in new york and rabbi abraham heschel professor at the jewish theological seminary also in new york last on the program a question and answer period here to conduct the remainder of the program is the moderator dr philip sharper dr king there is no need to attempts to express in words what has been so eloquently expressed by the response of your carrots are deep appreciation that you about once again shared your vision with us and reminded us that as a nation we are called upon to imitate our god nothin but most attempts to allocate power but in the only

way that man can imitate his creator in mercy and compassion may i call your attention to the fact that in the pilgrims you will find pads of paper on which you are invited to write questions please direct your questions specifically to one of the speakers in this evening's program after the commentary by dr commandeer the us here is we'll collect what questions will already have been written by would request the ushers if i might to bring the questions forward down the far i'll on my last so that

neither dr bennet your rabbi herschel would be interrupted has been it is most fitting that a commentary on dr king's address should be offered by the dean oh american historians dr henry steel common the pope that decaying and president bennett and i had a show and ladies and gentlemen your commentary is inappropriate should read rather attribute it would be to propose

that indeed be presumptuous for anyone to attempt critique on interpretation of what their thinking has said this address to which we have all this stands as a great work of art eloquent calmly and noble based on the most profound philosophy in exalted my righteousness and by virtue of this occasion i think that we consider it gradually maybe to speak very briefly about not a new bike at an important limitation one to wait out the king referred in passing that which he did not emphasize

it is important i believe to put our intervention in vietnam and a lot of southeast asia it in historical perspective important if we are to find our way out of the labyrinth into which we have wanted an invasion we are lost important if we are to avoid involving other is an even larger catastrophe at yesterday's race mike needless to say in golf ball of the world are writing that that it curious war which americans waged against the filipino rebels at the close of the last century oh we're somehow prefer to forget the board with him on what he does in his two a soldier fallen in the philippines we said let him never dreamed that his bullet stream went wide and its iowa mark home to the heart of his darling land where he

stumbled and stand in the bar alaska can't even be certain extenuating of this monstrous war in vietnam that we have stumbled and sea and in the dark we have embarked upon this war with eyes wide open you know what we are about almost that we do and we are proud of it and the administration and its supporters not only fight this war with defiant determination very low self righteous about it ever claim to an incredulous world that we are fighting a battle of freedom and peace worse yet we are prepared not only to justify and defend our poem that we are prepared to rationalize it and to generalize it and to make it a central part of a larger and more ominous audie of principles what we propose

to implement some of the sinking flying to find excuses for the complexities facing our administration and our government regard this war somehow an aberration something into a three am indeed blundered without quite meaning to do so something to wait no one the israeli to blame and no one responsible because the escalation has been on planned an imperceptible but it is not that we have not even that feeble excuse for our conduct or misconduct will quite deliberately moved in we moved in to support the french and their war to put down the native independence movement and to bolster a colonial regime we quite deliberately sabotaged the geneva agreement

calling for elections in the united and in southern vietnam and providing that the seventy parallel with the temporary military line we quite deliberately put up and maintain him along three could just as we deliberately put up and maintain and in europe earlier he endured him even when he repudiates our own policies something no one in the united states there is to do pass quite deliberately quite deliberately stepped up their war transformed advisors into soldiers increase increase the soldiers from some ten thousand to have a million large bombing raids from the north on a scale as great as that of world war two against germany and japan and we're quite deliberately justify all of this not in the ground a military necessity underground a far reaching policy it is this which is more dominant it

is the switch unless you can somehow this way the administration to change its faithful course it is this which is a shadow of things you come the war itself is a product nobody had more of a psychological obsessions and the body of political and historical miscalculations it as a product of an obsession with communism he called those who oppose as members of the communist conspiracy yesterday communists used to talk about capital as conspiracies something that is therefore not merely a rival political or economic system and an ineradicable evil something that is not local in temporary but prominent in universal something that is non organic like other forms of government and therefore subject to change but monolithic an unchangeable this is the nature of

communism which we have conjured up with which we have you know to ourselves for the last twenty years in the face of evidence overwhelming me to the contrary war is a product of a gigantic miscalculation or a series of miscalculations but the world after nineteen forty five was and would remain divided into two great blocks one representing like in the other darkness and that we who represented the light stood on armageddon and battled for the lord this involved a second great miscalculation of the laura problems or history as i was selected the american people but to do the baffling and to save mankind people and ruin the pope the war is the product of a gigantic miscalculation about china and nobody should probably the largest most

fatal miscalculation of the whole range of the planet's history the notion that sean frye ship representing still represents china the pavilions did not represent china and we're not really here to stay and we therefore be recognized it was a live britain and france and won on recognizing confederates recognizing the confederate states of america as the legitimate government of the united states twenty years after apple netflix the war is a bit of an almost the money usually not only called upon to seventy the rest of the world's great but that we had the material the intellectual and the more resources to do this it is a product of a grave miscalculation because

we were a world power we had power and could use it everywhere in the world and that nations and peoples everywhere would recognize the validity of our claims and there are protections and bowed to them and this melancholy body of obsessions and miscalculations have come those notions now so familiar and we got the united nations but we you know the peacekeeping unit of the modern world that we're called upon and we're called upon a required reasons to reconsider communist aggression everywhere with all that we have a vital interest everywhere not only in southeast asia but everywhere and asia and we have somehow in a position to impose our will our ideas our principles and that bass turbulent npr the continent it's just in a sort of different people and with a population of the globe once except he's excelled assumptions assumptions almost paranoid in their sweep and that's the us and our

war in vietnam takes on a kind of nightmare logic once accept these assumptions and live and get on a new year in history and here in which way or irretrievably connected to be an asian power as well as the atlantic power was except these assumptions and given american power and american recklessness not only we but the rest of the world of like an unchartered and perilous ways or if you accept the principle that we are responsible for the rest of the world but we are required to release communism everywhere that we're not only in atlantic power and western hemispheric howard an asian power and usually african powers well we will enter a plan the long era of involvement in warfare racial distract the whole of mankind from the business of solving the problems we see says the glare upon us from every side and which may end in all problems

may end in a nuclear holocaust all of this has the dimensions of a greek tragedy or we do in fact have the resources not to impose our will on all mankind but to help mankind for peace and prosperity and progress to read what would our power is not primarily military as we usually suppose it is not it is to be sure a material that is technologically a scientific it as intellectual it might even be moral as it has been in the past what we have here what you're confronted with is a gigantic failure of sympathy and an imagination when we force is the people's of other conflicts to question america's credentials to world leadership we witnessed today the greatest revolution in the best five centuries rights revolution sweeping the globe says surveys of the renaissance in the reformation the age of

discovery and the shift in the centre of gravity from the mediterranean to the atlantic from the east into the western hemisphere as we went to see an upsurge of two thirds of the peoples of the globe for independence and prosperity and i'll sit and desperate effort into billions of men and women which even a few generations but it took european men to achieve over five centuries of time the masses and cleaning populations of asia africa latin america people is greatly outnumber western people of europe and north america are throwing up a subdivision of centuries throwing off colonialism through it all the exploitation clamoring for equality of status and equality of opportunity or whether now is that right just the other day when american agent rescued the spectrum and

underdeveloped people's of the ball forgotten because all eyes or turn now on the spectacle of vietnam all there is attuned to the cries of anguish coming up for that portrait land all mine preoccupied with these new gesture toward asserting the right of western european men who dominate the people the nation who generations ago the great justice holmes sane of the civil war generation that generation to save the yearling in a freed slave but by a great good fortune and our youth our hearts were touched with fire it has given us to learn that life is a profound and passionate than we have seen whether or nineties across the fields of gold are snowy white it is not certain that our own generation and reach the story height of honor we will not reach them if we permit ourselves to be distracted from our responsibilities and defected from our traditions and the

temptations of power we will not reach them if we allow ourselves to be drawn into a war of confidently in scotland or more of race against race in order to satisfy our own notions of self righteousness we may reach them and even dwell upon them if we keep ever in our mind in our hearts that nothing so becomes a great power and magnanimity the pope thank

you doctor commenter for reminding us with the irony of an artist and the insight of an historian that the crisis of conscience surrounding vietnam made us during an understanding that crisis can be indeed a band a break an opportunity where by we maybe lead to a deeper understanding of what our power and position in the world amounts the first response to be addressed by doctor king and the commentary by dr comment or will be given

by dr john bennett who in his writings in his preaching and in his academic leadership has contributed for decades to america's moral self understanding dr john bennett the piano commoner like a show i know that many of you probably think enough has been set and that after awhile speeches become rather ritualistic and i can promise you that those of us who speak now speak very briefly there's no one can speak to the conscience of the american people as powerfully as martin luther king i hope

but he will continue to speak to us and to our fellow citizens in such a way that we will see the depth of the evil of what we do in vietnam there's no one who knows more than just a comment you about the history of our nationals of deception about our difficulty in seeing what we do as it appears to others because of our assurance that we are i don't know what is good for everyone out if we could see ourselves and our policies stripped of presidential rhetoric an official illusions it's now surround them are people on all sides would cry out in protest they would

cry out because we sacrifice young americans in an unjust war and because of our brutal destruction of helpless people in northern south vietnam our leaders may have begun our intervention with good intentions but now they're carried along by the momentum of our power the men will make decisions for us are prisoners of their past mistakes and instead of admitting it they use more of the same power that brought us to our present woeful situation and increase the sacrifice americans and vietnamese recently rival neighbors said disconnection trouble is a government they never admit that you are wrong and i'm shocked often but the number of americans with say that we should not have become involved in vietnam but now that we're there we must see it through and save face no matter how many victims there may be is there any end to the price that we will ask the people of south vietnam to pay

as we use our enormous power to force our will upon them with fire and soared in the name of an unrepresentative government in saigon where we bombed and burned in north and south vietnam for five years or for ten years and sometimes it is suggested and i'm impressed by the cruel wrongs that we inflict on this helpless people but i'm also impressed by the utility as well as the immorality of it all now our government seemed to be pressing for what is called a military solution we don't talk too much about victory not to talk about a military solution we are most likely define the military success will produce moral and political failure no one is it as this more vividly than the un armored all the swedish scholar whose book the american dilemma shows so well how much he understands and loves our country he said recently like quote there

might today even the majority of americans in favor of escalating the vietnam war in order to get your way they don't see that having them all around and destroyed a very poor country the real help for americans would begin if people having already been at war against foreign domination for a quarter of a century will not quiet please submit and in their quest for getting rid of the intruders they would have the sympathy of the whole world more than a year ago general board of the national council churches express much the same thing in a message to the american church is they said we believe the unites states follows a unilateral policy in vietnam no conceivable victory there and compensate for the distrust and hatred of united states is being generated each day throughout the world because we're seen as a predominantly white nation using

overwhelming military strength the kill more and more asians that is even more obviously true that was when those words are written it is often suggested that only a small minority on the fringe of american society share the views expressed here tonight on the contrary the views and similar views are commonly held in most of what we might call the arctic in the communities in our nation in academic world among the clergy among writers and artists among journalists among senators indeed there are a surprising number of critics of the war among politicians i keep wondering when will other professions businessman college presidents and university president i mention them because their silence has been unanimous when will these other people cry out they face the same human realities

why are they still silent if the war continues much longer version of the greatest conflict between the churches and our government and that we've ever had in time the war one of the most telling criticisms of the policy as come from a group of student leaders not persons on the french the president's first of a hundred now of two hundred of the student body is of our leading colleges and universities a thoughtful representatives of a generation is being sent to fight other men described by vassar college or who are control my illusions in addition to raising questions about the presuppositions of policy the student leaders said the following a great many of those faced with the prospect of military duty find it hard to square performance of their duty with concepts of personal integrity and conscience and as this conflict can be eased united states will find some of her most loyal

and courageous young people choosing to go to jail road to bear their country's arms the pope for such words to come from the responsible student leaders in our country in time of war in these greatest matters of life and death how large a minority does it take to raise doubts in the minds of those who make policy when will that small hard bitten group of men will decide the fate of so many when will a listen when we reconsider decisions that commit a country divided in mind and conscience or the escalation war when will their own consciences stop them from drafting americans science to kill

and die in an unjust war and the self defeating caught the pope before the next response may i remind you again that you are invited to write your questions on a small paper located hopefully in each field and might i also requested

that you direct your question specifically to one of the speakers of this evening the next response will be given by a doctor or by rabbi abraham heschel the pope dr king did dr bennet dr kahneman jet this is not going to be ours we'll have to see this war the supreme example of thick steam

absurdity men over the world and detested it do men women all over the united states is a source of dismay well those who participate in it are played by the awareness of being unloaded and a bit closed as if in battle we are rolling up until a huge stone because constantly you told them that what is the use overwhelming when you were on the wrong wrong we have the wrong ourselves into this will the course of self inflicted nation nurtured on stereotypes the longer we stay in vietnam the more the loser will be the higher the escalation the more difficult to disengage its sheer falling futility only surpassed by immortality it is a war that cannot be waged according to minimum

standards of civilized warfare it is awarding so which are both again and confused the state requires the void for years and show duties but this is also the duty of a citizen who after careful study becomes convinced that this country is involved in a baltimore live longer but it really upset that those couples to stop accepting a shrimp and global former derby have no other feelings our phone from vietnam our source this drawing talent to us marine go most cherished permit mintz with the bones of shame we are pleased to record with bain and it is our duty as citizens to say no to some of the sadness of all government

raw policy images are ruining the values regeneration the american promise it is our duty to say no to a policy that moved from falling into madness and liquidate it's our conscience spiritually the blood to be shed in vietnam makes a mockery of oil proclamations their vacations and celebrations as our conscience become a fossil is almost egon you for mercy the mother of humanity is below are you how can we say yes to iowa bringing got to meet the tormented country it is a war we cannot win or indeed superior weapons may well the story the city's

homeless the fighting forces and the villagers who support them however what will only have left behind tomes graves directs hauber acrimony and past the incentives to hatred and that age we are sambo because only integrity as human beings is decaying and to me the most solace getting done in our name the story's us modi remember in a free society somehow duty but all are responsible toby ideological abundant in this nation to a standstill and to consider

noto include move employees of the toe which we permit blaine remember the blood of innocent price far indeed sure and humanity will cease to be more substance of america is at stake with every human being killed in vietnam apart before so is rotting away we had lung isn't making value of audio our conscience grant means let there be an end to the dismay and then through agony i conclude that the words of dr king the great initiative of this war is ours the initiative to stop it must be ours the

actual thank you rabbi herschel i would like to apologize if i might to rabbi herschel for tripping momentarily not on his name but on his title the hesitancy was occasioned by the fact that there are some who call him father abraham man i think that in the name of your soles and manet

we can say we are coming father abraham the first question is directed to dr king if present american policy does not change will you advocate wholesale resistance to the draft especially by black man in keeping with your philosophy of non violence what are the implications of such a policy the time has come those of us who feel that this war

is him online and just to advise young man all applaud the alternative to the major averages as on the bases of the selective service act that is served as conscientious objector i think this will do a great deal to rouse the conscience of the nation are on this whole situation and certainly if the war is continually escalated i think this is absolutely a world be absolutely necessary and i also mention the fact that well we are not only caught up in a situation where i belong in vietnam whether they're not some changes and our national direction and character rwanda been several more wars like this many potential move vietnam's in latin

america and in africa and other places in asia and a young man of our generation than other generations will continually confront this problem i'm going into the armed services that so erroneous serving as a counter revolutionary forces of the work i mean somewhere this has to stop and this is why i have already advised many young men that i have talk with his service conscientious objectors and i think those things if things continue to go along well do it anyways was quoted in the defendant's speech college students have already started responding with the kind of disenchantment and the kind of dismayed because managers

say they will go to jail if it continues like this before and they will find in an unjust war my conviction will do everything within our power to bring an end to this drive to come in the next question is also addressed to dr king would you please comment envoys president hubert humphrey's position this one is specified that it would be better for the people who criticize are bombing to condemn instead vietcong terror i'm sorry i missed that last august first descendants then comment on for various

reasons edition i missed the opposition and they will learn would you please comment on vice president hubert humphrey's position that it would be better for the people who criticize our bombing to condemn instead the attic on terror whether it's a fire said i am opposed to violence i think i've said that i'm not now will is low as twelve years who people know my philosophy at that point i happen to be a pacifist well as self righteous pacifist because i understand the moral dilemma of the modern memos of the non passing ships but i do think we have come to stay

can no longer serve as the negative good that it may have served against evil and some force like hitler and because of the potential destructiveness of nuclear weapons and warfare we've just got to find some alternative to war now would revive never bothered to see this alternative including the vietcong about an impression that i am saying that this is the best way far and about how far that we've come to the day that we can deal with all these problems over the peace table and through the un and then the long night of war that we face so long and i don't think as i tried to say in my tell that there are some firms that we are we have must begin them with all the might that we have

and i think that that's something that the viet cong can say if we only listened to it to explain why they are acting as they are acting and i think has said earlier that we initiated this after all the vietcong came into being during the period that gm was raining and tim was going through however that suppresses our prices than for its methods and delaying well there is opposition it was a viet nam before with the crab and condoms and forties you know trying to hold off the attempt to go back into a colonial status as a result of the french are seeking to place somewhere and to a large extent the vietcong came into being as a result of the

pressure and as a result all the rails sabotage which took place and getting weird all the end destroying the promises of the geneva or a call and i think businesses are forced to honestly say this and the viet cong as many tried to say in chinese hal did not represent a force coming from them off on what it represented forces right there in the south we've certainly gained supporters time went on from the no there were basically forces rights and asylum seeking to overthrow are a government that had proved to be on jobs and committed to evil and brazil's won numerous say that this is basically a civil war and the united states should've done that in the beginning so i'm very sorry that i have to disagree with our

vice president and i might say very strongly ought to stop the bombings and the mole and then the side hatch dr common tour has asked a team a comment on dr king's response no i don't want it and i'm worried because this this particular point you raised all the time president johnson agrees that could be taken more seriously than the other one and the other and this scene is part of one of these arguments it comes up for our history and that became well those to favor an argument of based label has the south was to quell argument they said what you people talk about slavery for how about your industrial workers how about all your cities those guilty

and aware of their guilt are always asking us dollars to look somewhere else don't look at them and we honestly believe that are unfair because more older they're a fan even though they were as guilty as mr humphrey majid doesn't think they were that would not use you as a christian people a domain people for their guilt in this matter we're not tomorrow our moral combat an atom an asiatic people were foreign people are an enemy it makes no different how they conduct war we do not and that war or conduct diplomacy argued that anything else on the lowest level that some other nations that says we must wear our combat with our own mortality the

pope there is a question addressed to professor commentary there is widespread acceptance of our government's claim that we have done everything possible for peace but the no way does not want it and must be punished enough to accept what are the facts as seen by an objective authority such as yourself even i know all of that they couldn't tell them into a three minutes as the very large story that it and the surface quite preposterous to supposedly no he does not want peace is invisible feasible are they welcome a bombing heavier than that we ever raided with which we ever raided japan is

a debatable is are they welcome the intrusion of a great western power after fighting for ten years to get rid of friends they have made a number of overtures of one another or the mohicans now that without satisfactory but they do not carry that element of reciprocity that our government requires our government requires reciprocity us in this elsewhere as he was there with me you were the reputations of the river kwai is reciprocity not only fair skin whatsoever they say first he's not running it was not everything else and they try to blame we have not wanting the infiltration as part of the corruption of languages going on we land so you play infiltrate fight but they carry out terrorist tactics as a very infiltration goes right i'm our infiltration goes right onto an attempt i can pull larger scale than that of the selfie a north vietnamese what would we

say they told us to stop supplying our troops were negotiations when dan no of course the first thing to do is to stop the bombing then we can square off and see what other reciprocity may be called for and i suspect some might i had no doubt whatsoever that the initiative for peace and that begins it must come from us initiative award came from us the additional power come from us we can afford to make any gestures i can't and then one for the thing and i guess you'd be astonished at the lack of imagination of the part of the people i empower they expect an eye to come to the peace table under reina bombs what would be upset at churchill ceased supplying troops in the mediterranean africa when london would be embalmed what we have said and washington agreed to negotiate with the british or the british occupied new york he didn't agree he refused to talk to them straight you refused to deal with the germans while bombs were raining

down on no self sufficient it was going to come to the peace table and it's extraordinary that anyone with american traditions an experience you'd expect that it should require this is to require at a subdivision is require an act of humiliation that we have no right to oppose any other people the pain a question addressed to rabbi heschel as a jewish leader how can you possibly agree with dr king's analogy between the nazi treatment of the jewish people and the present treatment of the vietnamese people by the united

states or your mother where the dark became clear made such an analogy he made only referenced the concentration camps which apparently and the main we're in the mind of this listener on the contrary dr king louisville sharp lying by saying that all is a citizen he would would be or he was already to improve over the war against hitler as a question addressed to dr bennet what is the proper use of american military power in the world today

i am really a camera roams answered that in a comprehensive fashion i think the important thing to those stresses that it is good you have a certain balance of power in the world i i i believe it it is good that there is american military power the glee that we do have no nuclear monopoly in another nation i think this is this is going but i think the second thing to say is american military power must be usually utmost restraint and among other things we should not try to use military power had to create a nation viva we can use it sometimes to come to the defense of the nation nation has enough substance so if you can give fan as we did in the case of a nation western europe in the second world war and of it but what to do to

try to use military power to create a nation on top of the scorched earth something we don't do or should not do so i would i would combine an emphasis upon the validity of a measure of military power to preserve a certain balance with great stress upon restraint and also upon very great discrimination and prudence concerning the leave the points where i can even the role and ceo of the travel the mountains that have been made on both dr king and dr come under as saint why isn't the opinion of our executive director to terminate the questioning might i ask you please if you would like to be on

the mailing list of the committee of clergy and laymen concerned about vietnam to replace your name and address on the un hopes provide unfortunately i must also suggest another course of action as well my father used to say that it is no disgrace to be poor it's just so damned inconvenient that's rather than convenient for the committee of clergy and laymen because until august what we are attempting we are quite poor we would therefore deeply appreciate any contribution that you might possibly care to make these two can be placed in the on books provided

and left with the watchers at the rear of the church you have expressed through your applause and your questions your gratitude to our speakers of the evening i know that i would wish in their name to thank you not only for your presence but for the fact that you have been creative listeners thank you so very much and that includes this evening's program vietnam a crisis of conscience the program was held in the riverside church in new york and was sponsored by the national committee of clergy and laymen concerned about vietnam participating where dr martin luther king dr henry still come under a professor of american history at amherst college dr john c bennett president of union theological seminary in new york and rabbi abraham heschel professor of ethics at the jurors theological seminary also in new

york production than technicals a routine for this broadcast was by pete filled with audio engineer and by bob french john smith and martin book award the program was produced by wor dr the non commercial cultural and information station of the riverside church in new york city who knows thank you

he's being neither years those

well he did

we rap christian it's

beans no need the piece be the police

beat