President Biden, fighting for peace
Those old enough to remember the tumultuous year 1968, or who have studied the events of that year, know that it was an earthquake in American politics, changing the course of the nation and the world. Overhanging everything was dissatisfaction with the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which had been growing for several years. 1968 began with the Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, which, though ultimately unsuccessful, inflicted many U.S. casualties and helped turn American public sentiment further against the war. On March 31, incumbent U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, facing criticism of the war effort from all sides, shockingly announced that he was ending his presidential re-election campaign. Just four days later, civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. , who preached nonviolent civil disobedience, was assassinated, leading to a further tearing of the fabric of our society. In June, Democratic presidential challenger Robert F. Kennedy, who based his campaign on criticism of Johnson over Vietnam, was also assassinated. By then, America had turned into a powder keg of unrest. In August, when the Democrats held their national convention in Chicago, things turned even worse, as police brutally assaulted antiwar protesters outside, while Democratic candidates and their supporters clashed politically inside the hall. As a result, Republican Richard Nixon, shrewdly campaigning on “law and order,” rode to victory.
A number of Republicans, media outlets, and even sometimes Democratic Party friend Bernie Sanders, are trying to draw parallels between 2024 and 1968. That is because currently, on the far left, there are university protests against President Joe Biden‘s support of America’s ally Israel in its war against terrorist group Hamas. Republicans, unsurprisingly, are exploiting these protests, with which they completely disagree, in order to play up criticism of President Biden and sow social disorder, which they hope could lead to a 1968-style GOP election victory. The news media, meanwhile, are more than happy to air lots of footage of the protests, giving them outsize importance.
However, 1968 and 2024 are very different. Here is a partial list of such differences:
–First and foremost, the U.S. is not directly involved in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The current war started when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killed and raped innocent civilians, and took civilian hostages.
–In 1968, young American men were subject to the military draft, and could be called into combat thousands of miles away at any time. This automatically raised the Vietnam war to the top of the list of issues of concern to American families. However, the U.S. military draft ended in 1973. Today’s campus protesters are safe from the call of military duty.
–The U.S. and Israel are allies and close friends, and the relationship between the two nations is often described as a “special relationship,” similar to America’s relationship with Great Britain. This U.S.-Israel friendship is also strongly bipartisan. Indeed, Republicans often try to portray Democrats as inadequate friends of Israel, in order cynically to attract more Jewish voters. These efforts, however, never work.
–Unlike the Johnson administration’s all-in support of South Vietnam in 1968, President Biden has publicly criticized Israel’s conduct of the Gaza War. Moreover, just yesterday, the Biden administration announced that it is delaying a weapons shipment to Israel, due to concerns over danger to civilians. Thus, while the protesters may never be satisfied, Biden is skillfully carrying out a foreign policy balancing act, addressing the protesters’ concerns while maintaining our alliance with Israel. Those with foreign policy knowledge realize that, while the USA can and should exert influence on our allies when we think they are making mistakes, we cannot abandon our allies, as some protesters might want. That would cause our other allies around the world, such as Ukraine, to lose confidence in America’s leadership, which could have devastating international consequences that would play right into the hands of our enemies, including Russia.
–President Biden has been on the forefront of calling and working for a cease-fire, and an ultimate peace agreement between the parties, including a two-state solution, release of all hostages held by Hamas, and more. Of course, since the war is between two other countries as described above, President Biden cannot force the parties to agree. However, Biden will receive credit for any positive steps, such as temporary cease-fire agreements, that are achieved. Again, this is far different than 1968, when U.S. policy was to double down on efforts to conduct and win the Vietnam War.
There are more such differences between 1968 and 2024 than can be covered here. Suffice it to say that the Gaza war is not paralyzing America the way the Vietnam war did, and U.S. international prestige is not on the line in Gaza the way it was in Vietnam. Moreover, there are equities on both sides in the Gaza war, especially Israel’s right under international law to defend itself and retaliate against Hamas for the brutal October 7 attack, as well as to bring back Israeli hostages which Hamas keeps to this day (besides killing a number of them already). Accordingly, despite news media attention with their obligatory “dramatic video,” the campus protests and their underlying basis rank low among issues of concern to U.S. voters.
As usual, therefore, the lesson is to consume news media, Republican talking points, and, sadly, the claims of the far left, with a critical eye.
Photo by U.S. Secretary of Defense, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/JVmvQS
