Give peace a chance

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Peninsula readers' letters: June 17

From Daily News Group readers
Posted: 06/16/2011 05:58:03 PM PDT
Updated: 06/16/2011 11:32:35 PM PDT

Give peace a chance

Dear Editor: Wayne Lyman Morse was a politician and attorney from Oregon known for his proclivity for opposing his party's leadership, and specifically for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds. Morse was one of only two senators who opposed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized the president to take military action in Vietnam without a declaration of war. He continued to speak out against the war in the ensuing years.

Barbara Lee is notable as the only member of either house of Congress to vote against the authorization of use of force following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. This made her a hero among many in the anti-war movement. Lee has been a vocal critic of the war in Iraq and supports legislation creating a Department of Peace. The peace movement in the United States has a proposed legislative history that dates to the first years of the republic.

Dr. Benjamin Rush, a "Founding Father" and signatory of the Declaration of Independence, wrote an essay titled "A plan of a Peace-Office for the United States." Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, re-introduced a bill to create a U.S. Department of Peace. This bill has since been introduced in each session of Congress from 2001 to 2009. It was reintroduced as H.R. 808 on Feb. 3, 2009 and is currently supported by 72 co-sponsors.

Ted Rudow III, MA

Palo Alto