Open Letter To Mr. Nixon
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT:
The Soviet Union says our nation cannot win at the conference table what it has not won on the battlefield in Viet Nam. That is the language of force. We think that the United States has shown the Viet Cong they cannot win on the battlefield and that now our problem is to keep them from winning at the conference table, too. Force, diplomacy, and psychology—these have been tried, and so far nothing has worked. May we respectfully call attention to the power of prayer?
Many centuries ago a king of Judah and his people were in a not too dissimilar situation. Jehoshaphat called for prayer and fasting throughout the land. He himself prayed: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.”
It seems to us that our nation does not know what to do to bring peace. We believe it needs the help of God. We think that if you as our president will set aside a day for prayer, if you will go to some church to pray, if you will openly confess to God your and our dilemma and need, then God will hear and bless.
Some years ago Congress provided for an annual day of prayer to be set aside by the president. This year, why not designate the day as one of prayer for an end to the war in Viet Nam? Maybe, just maybe, the peace that has eluded us will come—“not by might, nor by power, but by [God’s] Spirit.”
