“I’m Not a Pacifist”: On Militarists, Pacifists, and Vietnam

Abstract

“Strongly urge showdown with communism now. More Christians in South Korea per capita than any part of the world. We cannot let them down.”¹ It was 1950 when Billy Graham began offering specific advice to U.S. presidents, whether they wanted it or not, and his first words of telegrammed counsel that year were clear—prepare for war. Lest Truman miss the point, Graham followed up several weeks later with a full letter to the president. “I also urge you to total mobilization to meet the communist threat,” he wrote. “The Bible many times urges us to be prepared for war, and Jesus Himself predicted that there would be wars and rumors of wars until the end of time, and warned about those who talked peace when there is no peace.”² Despite his active lobbying, America did not come close to mobilizing all its forces for a clear-cut victory in the Korean War, and the hawkish Graham did not hide his discontent. In 1953, when the warring parties signed a truce to halt the war, he took the occasion of his weekly radio program to register his dissatisfaction. “It was the first war in American history,” he complained, “that we have not won.”³ Throughout the past three years of fighting, “we have shown our moral weakness. We have shown that when pressed we could betray our friends and compromise with the enemy.”