Do Democratic Presidential Candidates Have to Remain Mute During the War?

Although one might think from reading some letters to the press that dissent from government policies that result in war is by definition unpatriotic if not treasonous, American history provides a very different conclusion. In fact, from the War of Independence through the Vietnam War, every major conflict, with the exception of World War II, has witnessed substantial opposition. Moreover, influential critics, even though their opinions were not shared by a majority of Americans, did not always pay the price of ruining their political careers. Whatever their private opinions, virtually all the Democratic hopefuls for their party's presidential nomination in 2004 have been unwilling to raise hard questions about the course of action President Bush has elected to pursue. If any of them have reservations that they have failed to express for fear of the political cost, they might recall that two distinguished Americans dissented without paying the ultimate price for a politician: permanent banishment from public office.

Two of the most notable examples of men who opposed war for reasons of principle are Abraham Lincoln and Claude Kitchin. Lincoln, a congressman from Illinois during the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, branded the war that gained what is now the American Southwest, increasing by 66 percent the size of the country, an immoral conflict of aggression. A master of ironic wit and colloquial speech, Lincoln said that the justification for conquest made by President James K. Polk reminded him of the farmer who declared, "I ain't greedy 'bout land, I only just wants jines mine." But Lincoln was no philosophical pacifist. In the following decade Lincoln emerged as a leader of the new national Republican Party and won election to the presidency in 1860. The man who had opposed the Mexican-American War became a great war leader in the Civil War.

Kitchin, who is not well-remembered today, was from a prominent family in eastern North Carolina. He and his brother William served in the United States House of Representatives, and his brother served a term as governor of the state. During his long congressional career Claude Kitchin gained the reputation of being the most powerful debater in the House. He worked his way up in the Democratic hierarchy, becoming chairman of the influential Ways and Means Committee and eventually reaching the post of majority leader, in 1915.

Kitchin opposed much of the military preparedness program of his fellow Democrat, President Woodrow Wilson, between 1915 and 1917. When Wilson called on Congress for a declaration of war against Germany in 1917, Kitchin concluded that he could not in good conscience support his president and his party, even though he was the majority leader. In an emotional midnight speech on the floor of the House, Kitchin announced that if his stand was unpopular, then so be it! He would walk "barefoot and alone if necessary." He was saddened that America would no longer be the last bulwark "of peace in the world." Despite his stand, Kitchin continued as Democratic majority leader, and he continued to have the support of his constituents in his North Carolina congressional district. He died in office after twenty-two years in the House.

Both Lincoln and Kitchin, though opposing their respective wars, nevertheless subsequently voted for military appropriations in order to provide for American soldiers fighting abroad.