RESIST DRAFT IF LBJ DOESN’T ACT: PIKE
uncredited writer, Chicago Tribune, 8 January 1967
Gettysburg, Pa., Feb. — Bishop James A. Pike said today that if President Johnson refuses to negotiate for peace in Viet Nam, the young men in this country, "as a last resort," should refuse to go into the armed forces.
"Peace in Viet Nam depends on Johnson's willingness to negotiate," the former Episcopal bishop of California said at a press conference on the Gettysburg college campus. "What's holding us up is that Johnson is not willing to negotiate."
"As a last resort, we would give serious consideration to conscientious objection on a mass basis. The boys should stick together in refusing to go sin.
"The alternative of being put into a penitentiary is better than having to murder people."
Bishop Pike said that altho he faked an eye test to join the navy in World War II he could not in good conscience go to Viet Nam.
"I do not believe it is a just war," he said.
He added however, that he is opposed to the United States pulling out of Viet Nam because it would leave that country "in a chaotic state." He said we should stay there and negotiate, but that the bombing should be stopped.
Bishop Pike came to Gettysburg yesterday to deliver a two-day series of lectures.
