J. William Fulbright

In the mid-1960s Sen. J. William Fulbright became my friend--and my mentor. Our shared passion was the conviction that the Vietnam War was a massive and costly mistake that should be brought to an end without delay.

With his encouragement I worked to create an organization of business executives (card-carrying capitalists, he jokingly called us) augmented by a military advisory committee headed by the recently retired U.S. Marine Corps Commandant, Gen. David Shoup. The members of our group who testified in public hearings of Fulbright’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee included prominent business leaders such as Louis Lundborg, then chief executive of Bank of America.

From this brilliant but iconoclastic political powerhouse I learned this lasting lesson: Democracy is a device which guarantees one thing only: that those who have it get exactly what they deserve. He motivated me to become a true citizen rather than remain merely a resident. I shall remain forever grateful that the pathway of my life intersected with that of a great man named J. William Fulbright.

HAROLD WILLENS

Los Angeles

* Sen. Fulbright isn’t a hero. He and other of his colleagues sent us kids over to fight a war (by passing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, 1964) and then changed their minds and stabbed all U.S. servicemen in the back, not supporting them and going so far as aiding the enemy, as far as I am concerned. The real heroes are the 58,000 whose names are on the Wall--they paid the ultimate sacrifice, and for what? The likes of Clinton and Fulbright?

R. H. McDONALD

Garden Grove