Don Edwards

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Don Edwards

William Donlon (Don) Edwards was a far left Democratic Party California Congressman.

Supporting the Moratorium

Two alumni of Stanford returned to the area November 1969 to voice opinions on the Vietnam War and the Moratorium at a press conference preceding a Democratic fund-raising dinner. Senators Alan Cranston of California and Frank Church of Idaho began an informal news conference at a Los Altos residence by citing examples of recent teamwork in the Senate. Cranston pointed out that he had supported Church's attempts to nullify Rule 22 of the Senate procedures, the filibuster regulation. "As usual, we lost," Church said. The senior Senator from Idaho praised Cranston's efforts supporting a resolution of Senator Aiken of Vermont which would clarify a long-standing misinterpretation of US foreign policy.

Cranston's amendment to the resolution states that this country's diplomatic recognition of another nation does not constitute American approval of that nation. This resolution could ease the way of future attempts to extend US diplomatic recognition to Communist China. Both Senators were in substantial agreement as to the withdrawal of US forces from South Vietnam. Senator Cranston clarified his position by stating that he would not support a unilateral ceasefire, because that would leave US troops at the mercy of an army which has shown little respect for past ceasefire agreements.

Senator Church, while commending the Moratorium, said that it had "dangerous potential," and that the Administration would probably continue attempts to "defuse" the grass roots movement. Such an attempt would consist of two steps: First, a stepped-up withdrawal rate of US combat forces, and second, a full, complete military disengagement from the conflict. The Idaho legislator said that no "halfway attempt" of the President would placate Americans in regard to the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam.

Church felt that Nixon's announcement of a speech on the subject (set for tonight) was meant to take some of the steam from the October 15th protest. Cranston added that the President probably does not know exactly what his talk will propose even at this late date. Senator Church favored a pullout of all US combat troops from Laos and Cambodia at the same time as the Vietnam disengagement. He criticized the fighting in Laos as the "first time the United States has engaged in an undisclosed foreign war." In conversation later, Senator Church stated that if public opinion had not been so intense against the policies of the Johnson Administration in Southeast Asia, "we would now be involved in a land war with China."

A member of the Senate for ten years, Church said that he would support the Moratorium as long as it remained peaceful and as long as the President did not substantially change his policies on the war. Senator Cranston reported that he had been working with members of the House, including Representatives Reid (R-New York), Don Edwards ( D-Ca li fornia), and Allard Lowenstein (D-New York) to sustain the Moratorium as a "peaceful, non-violent" protest.

In response to a question as to whether he conceived of America's purpose as one to act as "policeman" of the world, Church replied that, while the US should remain free to offer non-military assistance to foreign nations, foreign governments "should look to their own resources." To substantiate this view, Church reported that President Kennedy's original intention was to aid the South Vietnamese regime with everything but combat troops.[1]

Cablegram to Portugese Socialists and the M.F.A.

In 1974, after a pro-communist military coup in Portugal;

More than eighty Americans, all identified with opposition to the Vietnamese war and with various radical and liberal causes, sent on August 9 a cablegram to to the Portugese Armed Forces Movement, to Portugese president francisco da Costa Gomes and to portugese socialist leader Mario soares expressing the hope that "democratic freedoms"...will continue to grow in Portugal".

Michael Harrington, the national chairman of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, organized the effort with help from 5 "Initiators" - Lawrence Birns (writer), Sissy Farenthold (past president National Women's Political Caucus), Congressman Michael J. Harrington, Martin Peretz (chairman, editorial board New Republic), Cleveland Robinson (vice president, Distributive Workers of America), Leonard Woodcock (president United Auto Workers, Jerry Wurf (president AFSME).

Elected officials who signed the cablegram included: Julian Bond, Willie Brown, Jr., John Conyers, Jr., Don Edwards, William Gluba, Edward J. Koch, Parren J. Mitchell, Henry S. Reuss, Benjamin S. Rosenthal and Louis Stokes.[2]

The Chile letter

On August 1 1979 Thirty-five U.S. Congressmen signed a letter[3]to President Jimmy Carter demanding that private bank loans to Chile be barred unless the Chilean government chose to extradite three military officials, including the former director of the Chilean intelligence service. The three had been indicted for complicity in the assassination of marxist Unidad Popular government member and KGB agent Orlando Letelier and the killing of Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) staffer Ronni Moffitt in 1976.

In May 1978 the Chief Justice of the Chilean Supreme Court rejected the U.S. request for extradition.

Chief sponsor of the letter was Rep. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who was joined by Congressmen John Burton (D-CA), John Conyers (D-MI), Robert Kastenmeier (D-WI), Ron Dellums (D-CA), Berkley Bedell (D-IA), Richard Ottinger (D-NY), Fred Richmond (D-NY), Robert Drinan (D-MA), Leon Panetta (D-CA), Don Edwards (D-CA); Norman Mineta (D-CA), Pete Stark (D-CA}, Anthony Beileson (D-CA) George Brown (D-CA), Toby Moffett (D-CT), Dale Kildee (D-MI), Eugene Atkinson (D-PA), Michael Barnes (D-MD), David Bonior (D-MI), Adam Benjamin (D-IN), William Brodhead (D-MI), Robert Carr (D-MI), Tom Daschle (D-SD), Tom Downey (D-NY), Harold Hollenbeck (R-NJ), Pete Kostmayer (D-PA), Stewart McKinney (R-CT), Edward Markey (D-MA), Andrew Maguire (D-NJ) Rick Nolan (DFL-MN), Gerry Studds (D-MA), Bruce Vento (DFL-MN) and Howard Wolpe (D-MI).

The Harkin letter characterized the Chilean government as "an enemy of the American people" and urged the President to "take strong action against this terrorist government." The letter was released (9 A.M. on August 1 1979) at the same time a press statement from the Washington, DC, Chile Legislative Center of the National Coordinating Center in Solidarity with Chile, staffed by veterans of the Venceremos Brigade and the Communist Party USA, supported the Congressional letter and urged pressure so that the State Department does not accept a military trial of the three Chileans in Chile as a substitute for extradition and trial in the US

World Peace Council

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The first official conference of the Soviet front World Peace Council in the U.S. was the Dialogue on Disarmament and Detente held January 25-27, 1978, in Washington, DC.

A luncheon was held to honor World Peace Council president Romesh Chandra that was attended by California Congressmen Philip Burton, Don Edwards, Ron Dellums, and New York rep. Charles Rangel.[4]

In 1981 another World Peace Council delegation led by Romesh Chandra toured the U.S. to publicize the "nuclear freeze" then being promoted by Leonid Brezhnev.

This group met with several Congressmen at the Capitol, including John Conyers, George Crockett, Ron Dellums, Don Edwards, Mervyn Dymally, Mickey Leland and Ted Weiss[5]

These Democratic Congressmen made House offices available for meetings with the WPC delegates.

During one of the meetings in these Congressmen's offices an official of the Communist Party USA was present and made a speech recommending that the "peace movement" unite in supporting the cause of several terrorist groups including the PLO and the Communist guerillas in EI Salvador.[6]

IVI-IPO

In 1981 Don Edwards was a Vice President of Independent Voters of Illinois-Independent Precinct Organization[7].

IPS 20th Anniversary Committee

According to Information Digest[8]the Institute for Policy Studies celebrated its 20th anniversary with an April 5, 1983, reception at the National Building Museum attended by approximately 1,000 IPS staffers and former staff.

The Congressional IPS comittee members included Les Aspin {D. WI}, George Brown, Jr. (D.CA}, Philip Burton (D.CA), George Crockett (D-MI}, Ron Dellums (D.CA}, former Texas Congressman Robert Eckhardt, Don Edwards {D.CA}, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Tom Harkin {D-IA}, Robert Kastenmeier (D. WI}, Chairman of the Subcomittee on Courts, Civil Liberties and the Administration of Justice, George Miller (D-CA}, Richard Ottinger {D-NY}, Leon Panetta (D-CA}, Henry Reuss (D.WI}, Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, Patricia Schroeder {D.CO}, John Seiberling (D.OH} and Ted Weiss {D.NY}.

Don Edwards, was chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights. which has some oversight responsibility over the FBI.

Edwards was married to Edith Wilkie, who has been active for years with various IPS affiliates.[9]

Supporting "Veteran's fast for life"

Don Edwards addresses the press conference

On September 1st, 1986, four veterans began a water-only "fast for life" on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. They wanted to to draw attention to, and to protest, President Reagan's "illegal and extraordinarily vicious wars against the poor of Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala."

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The veterans were;

The veterans believed that the President's explicit policy of directing the contra terrorists in Nicaragua to commit wanton murder and destruction, enabled by appropriations passed by a majority of members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, amounted to grotesque, unconscionable violent behavior in violation of both U.S. Constitutional and international law, and the egregious breach of the human rights of virtually all Nicaraguan citizens. The veterans believed that the President was clearly vulnerable to Constitutional impeachment, and that all members of the Senate and House of Representatives should have been subjected to criminal prosecution under international law as well, whether they were re-elected or not.

On October 7 several U.S Congressmen and Senators spoke at a press conference in support of the faster's cause. They included Senator Charles Mathias (R-MD), Claiborne Pell (D-RI), Don Edwards (D-CA), Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Leon Panetta (D-CA), Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Senator John Kerry (D-MA), David Bonior (D-MI), Lane Evans (D-Illinois), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT).[10]

South Africa benefit

On January 17 1986, a benefit concert was held at Oakland's Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, for the National Emergency Fund of the South African Council of Churches.

Dinner Committee Members included Hon. Alan Cranston, Hon. Leo McCarthy, Hon. Barbara Boxer, Hon. Sala Burton, Hon. Ron Dellums (a DSA member), Hon. Don Edwards, Hon. Tom Lantos Hon. George Miller, Jr. Hon. Norman Mineta, Hon. Pete Stark, Hon. Willie Brown, plus Democratic Socialists of America members Julian Bond, Nancy Skinner, Harry Britt, John Henning, Adam Hochschild, Frances Moore Lappe, Stanley Sheinbaum, Communist Party USA affiliates Wilson Riles, Jr., Maudelle Shirek, Al Lannon, and Irving Sarnoff, and radical socialists Julianne Malveaux, Drummond Pike, John George, Peter Yarrow and actor/activist Sidney Poitier.[11]

Voted against support for "Contras"

The Congressional Record of February 3, 1988 shows that the following leading Democratic Party Congressmen voted against aid to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters - the "Contras"- then fighting against the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government of Nicaragua:

"Congressional Pink Caucus"

In October 1989 the Nicaraguan Sandinista Government announced that they would no longer comply with the 19 month-old cease-fire agreement with the Contras. This had been considered a prime step forward for the "peace process" that was progressing slowly as part of the Arias Peace Plan.

A resolution was introduced in Congress deploring the Sandinistas' action. The Senate voted unanimously in favor, but in the House the vote was 379-29. All the 29 Congressmen voting against the resolution were Democrats.

The Council for Inter-American Security dubbed these 29 people the "Congressional Pink Caucus":

References

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  1. ↑ [The Stanford Daily, Volume 156, Issue 27, 3 November 1969]
  2. ↑ Democratic Left, Sep. 1975, page 2
  3. ↑ Information Digest August 10 1979 p 244
  4. ↑ Information Digest Vol XI #4 2/24/78 pp 62-65
  5. ↑ Communists in the Democratic party, pages 50 and 65
  6. ↑ Communists in the Democratic party, page 66
  7. ↑ IVI-IPO Letterhead July 23 1981
  8. ↑ Information Digest April l5, 1983 p77-79
  9. ↑ Communists in the Democratic Party, page 71
  10. ↑ [1] Ivan's Place , Veterans Fast for Life for Peace in Central America, accessed June 2, 2010
  11. ↑ EBONY & IVORY invite you to attend a dinner benefit for theNational Emergency Fund of the South African Council of Churches
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