Ethics in the Dirty War

Extract

In the days following President Johnson's April 7 Vietnam policy speech at Johns Hopkins University, it has seemed more difficult than ever to gain a morally secure vantage point from which to view American involvement in that “dirty and brutal and difficult war.“

There was a chorus of acclamation which included U Thant, the leaders of many nations, and a generous press. Joseph Alsop credited the President with a “great speech” of “noble aims, high aspirations, and warmly humane feelings,” the high paint of which was the quotation from Deuteronomy: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death….“

Several days later, the morning mail brought the simultaneous complaints of Human Events and the Fellowship of Reconciliation against Mr. Johnson.