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B’nai B’rith Proposes Johnson Call ‘blue Ribbon’ Panel to Evaluate Vietnam War

December 5, 1967
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President Johnson was urged by the B’nai B’rith today to convene a “blue ribbon” council of distinguished Americans with divergent views on the Vietnam war, to “make a fresh and thoroughgoing evaluation” of United States policy in Southeast Asia, “reduce abrasive arguments which are widening national disunity” and search out common agreement on objectives.

The proposal was contained in a resolution adopted at the annual meeting of the B’nai B’rith board of governors here, after hours of intense debate which reflected the divergent and ambivalent views of the B’nai B’rith’s 500,000 members. It noted that many Americans are experiencing “keen anxiety over the morality and wisdom of our nation’s unforeseen, large-scale involvement in Vietnam” and that there are “no easy answers for the President” whose “goal is an honorable peace” and who “faces a ruthless and intransigent foe.” The resolution also took note of the fact that “many powerful forces still persist in seeking a decisive military victory, without regard for consideration and risk.”

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