The aim is to build a powerful peace bloc
that can really have influence
in the 1968 elections.
And we must make it clear
that we aren't going to let our
political forces
and the politicians ignore Vietnam in 1968.
This must be an issue
if that tragic war is still going on.
And so as the Warhawks escal
ate the war in Vietnam,
we must escalate our protest
against the war.
I oppose the war in Vietnam
because I love America.
I speak out against it not in anger,
but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart,
and above all with a passionate desire
to see our beloved country stand
as the moral example of the world.
I speak out against this war
because I am disappointed with America.
The promises of the great society
have been shot down
on the battlefield of Vietnam,
making the poor, white, and Negro
bear the heaviest burdens
at the front and at home.
The world now demands a
maturity of America
that we may not be able to achieve.
It demands that we admit
that we have been wrong
from the beginning
of our adventure 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
from our present ways.
The New Testament says, repent.
It is time for America to repent now.
for the kingdom of God is at hand.
As we counsel young men
concerning military service,
we must clarify for them
our nation's role in Vietnam
and challenge them with the alternatives
of conscientious objection.
And I say this morning that it is my hope
Every young man in this country
who finds this war objectionable and
abominable and untrustful,
as far as the conscientious
objector.
Now let me tell you the truth about it.
They must see Americans
as strange liberators.
Do you realize that the Vietnamese people
proclaimed their own independence
in 1945
after a combined French and
Japanese occupation?
And incidentally, this was before the
Communist Revolution in China.
They were led by Ho Chi Minh.
This is a little known fact.
These people declared themselves
independent in 1945.
They quoted our declaration
of independence
in their document of freedom.
Yet our government refused to recognize.