John Kerry was typically (i.e., ponderously) effusive as he spoke to the VFW last week.
Thank you. I am proud to be a lifetime member of this organization and grateful for your continued deep commitment to veterans and to the defense and security of our nation. For more than 100 years now, you have had many distinguished veterans come before you – some Republican, some Democrat, some presidents. But as a fellow veteran, I can proudly say that there is one title that is more important than all, and that is patriot. You have all earned that title and I am proud to stand with you today.
However, the Washington Times reports that Kerry and his new friends spoke a bit differently back in the 1970s when leading the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Mr. Kerry, whose presidential campaign has emphasized his service as a Navy lieutenant in Vietnam, joined VVAW in 1970, after returning from Vietnam and denounced the VFW in a 1971 book."We will not quickly join those who march on Veterans Day waving small flags, calling to memory those thousands who died for the 'greater glory of the United States.' ... We will not readily join the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars," he wrote then.
A 1971 VVAW fund-raising letter, titled "Men of Peace" and signed "yours in peace," accused the VFW and the American Legion of promoting an agenda of "world domination."
A copy of the letter, obtained by The Washington Times, is part of an extensive collection of VVAW's papers in the collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Madison. Records do not indicate whether the letter was sent.
The American Legion and the VFW "were partly responsible for the military attitudes in this country though their unlimited lobbying power — somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 million," the VVAW letter said. "That kind of influence must be confronted and dealt with."
VVAW "could support counteractions that will allow men to exist without the threat of nuclear annihilation or constant military ones," said the fund-raising letter.
The letter suggests that Mr. Kerry's group might replace both the VFW and the American Legion, which it said "have not been able, at the national level in the past five years, to recruit successfully among the younger veterans. These younger veterans are obviously not content with a paramilitary, pro-war organization representing them. We are their answer."
The VVAW letter suggests to potential donors that the dissident group could in time diversify and offer benefits similar what the VFW and the American Legion were offering, "but with a view toward total world peace rather than world domination."
Kerry will speak to the American Legion Convention next week. We can expect the same candor.
Posted by Alan at August 22, 2004 05:00 PM