May 24, 1967
Page 13737
PRESIDENT JOHNSON'S MEMORIAL DAY PROCLAMATION – A PRAYER FOR PEACE
Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, unhappily, this is not the first Memorial Day – nor perhaps the last – on which Americans will be fighting and dying for that elusive value – freedom – in a land once unknown.
But because it was once unknown; because it is thousands of miles away; who is to say that the American "national interest" is not involved?
The graves of young Americans all over the world testify to the fact that American sacrifice is a quality without national boundaries.
Americans have rarely sought wars. They have always tried to avoid them. But as President Johnson said in his 1967 Memorial Day proclamation:
As there were those who would make war, so there must be those who accept war. And if the strong do not accept for the weak, then what can the world expect for the future of the peace?
There is no more difficult responsibility than being President of the United States when decisions must be made to commit the Nation to a fight against those who would dominate their neighbors and the world.
President Johnson has accepted that responsibility. He has maintained a controlled policy responding neither to the extreme left nor the extreme right. He has maintained balance and perspective. He will – as his proclamation states – "continue to hold open the door to an honorable peace."
The Nation and the Congress must help him persevere. We must pray for him and with him. We must pray for this Nation and the cause of free men.