Vietnam

  If you didn’t try to stop the Vietnam War you can join the Peace Corps today and show your apologies to the Vietnamese people personally.   By William Evensen (Peru 1964–66) Sweet William © 2016 • Anyone who knew anything about warfare, from Gen. MacArthur to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, knew it was foolhardy to wage a land war in Asia where you had to travel 11,000 miles to fight and all the enemy had to do was to walk across the street. We stood out and they blended in. Many saw LBJ’s escalation in Vietnam as a military disaster, morally indefensible, and politically repugnant in its propping up of a dictatorship. Few, though, stood up for truth, justice, and the American Way. In 1966 Muhammad Ali was only 24 when he courageously voiced his opposition, “I ain’t got no quarrel against them Vietcong.” In the Spring of ’67 . . .

Remarks at a Peace Corps Signing Ceremony Remarks John Kerry Secretary of State Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Minh and Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet Government House Hanoi, Vietnam May 24, 2016   MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) On the occasion of the official visit to Vietnam by the Honorable Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, and (inaudible) between His Excellency Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and His Excellency John Kerry, Secretary of State, the two sides will sign the framework agreement concerning the program of the Peace Corps in Vietnam. Allow me the pleasure to introduce and invite His Excellency Secretary of State John Kerry and His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh to witness the signing of the framework agreement. Now I’d like to invite Madame Carolyn Hessler-Radelet, Director of the Peace Corps, to have some remarks. . . .