Echoes of Vietnam in presidential campaign 35 years later

Echoes of Vietnam in presidential campaign 35 years later

(EXCERPT) NANCY BENAC, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, February 8, 2004

(02-08) 10:32 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

They were two years apart, these two Yale boys, these sons of
privilege, and so the moment of truth came first for John Kerry, later
for George W. Bush. Each faced the same life-changing question as did
so many others of their generation: what to do about Vietnam.

Kerry, part of the class of 1966, signed on with the Navy late in
1965, then had months to ponder his decision before actually enlisting
after graduation. The war, his decision, his doubts, all hung over him
as he spoke at commencement the following June.

"What was an excess of isolationism has become an excess of
interventionism," he told fellow students. He had to know his life was
set on a course for Vietnam.

For Bush, a member of the class of 1968, his last year in college
seemed t...

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Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com