This is a list of U.S. senators and representatives who opposed the Vietnam War. This includes those who initially supported the war, but later changed their stance to a strong opposition to it.
Senator | Party (at opposition) | State | Term (at opposition) | Ref. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | ||||||
![]() | Frank Church | Democratic | Idaho | 3 January 1957 | 3 January 1981 | [1] | |
![]() | John Sherman Cooper | Republican | Kentucky | 7 November 1956 | 3 January 1973 | [2] | |
![]() | J. William Fulbright | Democratic | Arkansas | 3 January 1945 | 31 December 1974 | [3] | |
![]() | Albert Gore Sr. | Democratic | Tennessee | 3 January 1953 | 3 January 1971 | [4] | |
![]() | Mike Gravel | Democratic | Alaska | 3 January 1969 | 3 January 1981 | [5] | |
![]() | Ernest Gruening | Democratic | Alaska | 3 January 1959 | 3 January 1969 | [6] | |
![]() | Vance Hartke | Democratic | Indiana | 3 January 1959 | 3 January 1977 | [7] | |
![]() | Mark Hatfield | Republican | Oregon | 3 January 1967 | 3 January 1997 | [8] | |
![]() | Jacob Javits | Republican | New York | 3 January 1957 | 3 January 1981 | [9] | |
![]() | Robert F. Kennedy | Democratic | New York | 3 January 1965 | 6 June 1968 | [10] | |
![]() | Mike Mansfield | Democratic | Montana | 3 January 1953 | 3 January 1977 | [11] | |
![]() | Charles Mathias | Republican | Maryland | 3 January 1969 | 3 January 1987 | [12] | |
![]() | Eugene McCarthy | Democratic-Farmer-Labor | Minnesota | 3 January 1959 | 3 January 1971 | [13] | |
![]() | George McGovern | Democratic | South Dakota | 3 January 1963 | 3 January 1981 | [14] | |
![]() | Wayne Morse | Democratic | Oregon | 3 January 1945 | 3 January 1969 | [15] | |
![]() | William Proxmire | Democratic | Wisconsin | 28 August 1957 | 3 January 1989 | [16] | |
Representative | Party (at opposition) | District | Term (at opposition) | Ref. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | End | ||||||
![]() | Bella Abzug | Democratic | NY-19 | 3 January 1971 | 3 January 1973 | [17] | |
NY-20 | 3 January 1973 | 3 January 1977 | |||||
![]() | Les Aspin | Democratic | WI-01 | 3 January 1971 | 20 January 1993 | [18] | |
![]() | George Brown Jr. | Democratic | CA-29 | 3 January 1963 | 3 January 1971 | [19] | |
![]() | Phillip Burton | Democratic | CA-05 | 18 February 1964 | 3 January 1975 | [20] | |
![]() | Ron Dellums | Democratic | CA-07 | 3 January 1971 | 3 January 1975 | [21] | |
![]() | Robert Drinan | Democratic | MA-03 | 3 January 1971 | 3 January 1973 | [22] | |
MA-04 | 3 January 1973 | 3 January 1981 | |||||
![]() | Ed Koch | Democratic | NY-17 | 3 January 1969 | 31 December 1973 | [23] | |
NY-18 | 3 January 1973 | 31 December 1977 | |||||
![]() | Allard K. Lowenstein | Democratic | NY-05 | 3 January 1969 | 3 January 1971 | [24] | |
![]() | Pete McCloskey | Republican | CA-11 | 12 December 1967 | 3 January 1973 | [25] | |
![]() | Patsy Mink | Democratic | Hawaii | 3 January 1965 | 3 January 1977 | [26] | |
![]() | Tip O'Neill | Democratic | MA-08 | 3 January 1963 | 3 January 1987 | [27] | |
![]() | Henry S. Reuss | Democratic | WI-05 | 3 January 1955 | 3 January 1983 | [28] | |
![]() | Donald Riegle | Republican | MI-07 | 3 March 1967 | 30 December 1976 | [29] | |
![]() | James H. Scheuer | Democratic | NY-21 | 3 January 1965 | 3 January 1973 | [30] | |
![]() | Eugene Siler | Republican | KY-05 | 3 January 1963 | 3 January 1965 | [31] | |
![]() | Pete Stark | Democratic | CA-08 | 3 January 1973 | 3 January 1975 | [32] | |
![]() | Andrew Young | Democratic | GA-05 | 3 January 1973 | 29 January 1977 | [33] | |
Robert Carlyle Byrd was an American politician and musician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democrat, Byrd also served as a U.S. representative for six years, from 1953 until 1959. He remains the longest-serving U.S. Senator in history; he was the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress until surpassed by Representative John Dingell of Michigan. Byrd is the only West Virginian to have served in both chambers of the state legislature and in both chambers of Congress.
The 1968 United States presidential election was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1968. The Republican nominee, former vice president Richard Nixon, defeated both the Democratic nominee, incumbent vice president Hubert Humphrey, and the American Independent Party nominee, former Alabama governor George Wallace.
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Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings was an American politician who served as a United States senator from South Carolina from 1966 to 2005. A conservative Democrat, he was also the 106th governor of South Carolina, the 77th lieutenant governor of South Carolina, and a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. He served alongside Democrat-turned-Republican Senator Strom Thurmond for 36 years, making them the longest-serving duo in U.S. Senate history. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living former U.S. senator.
Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American politician and diplomat. A Democrat, he served as a U.S. representative (1943–1953) and a U.S. senator (1953–1977) from Montana. He was the longest-serving Senate Majority Leader and served from 1961 to 1977. During his tenure, he shepherded Great Society programs through the Senate.
Cyrus Roberts Vance Sr. was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. Prior to serving in that position, he was the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense in the Johnson administration. During the Kennedy administration he was Secretary of the Army and General Counsel of the Department of Defense.
John Cornelius Stennis was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator from the state of Mississippi. He was a Democrat who served in the Senate for over 41 years, becoming its most senior member for his last eight years. He retired from the Senate in 1989, and is, to date, the last Democrat to have been a U.S. senator from Mississippi. Furthermore, at the time of his retirement, Stennis was the last United States senator to have served during the presidency of Harry S. Truman.
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled The History of U.S. Decision-Making in Vietnam, 1945–1968, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1968. Released by Daniel Ellsberg, who had worked on the study, they were first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of The New York Times in 1971. A 1996 article in The New York Times said that the Pentagon Papers had demonstrated, among other things, that Lyndon B. Johnson's administration had "systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress."
Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative (1941–1953) and U.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state of Washington. A Cold War liberal and anti-Communist member of the Democratic Party, Jackson supported higher military spending and a hard line against the Soviet Union, while also supporting social welfare programs, civil rights, and labor unions.
Henrik Shipstead was an American politician. He served in the United States Senate from 1923 to 1947, from the state of Minnesota. He served first as a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party from 1923 to 1941 and then as a Republican from 1941 to 1947.
Rupert Vance Hartke was an American politician who served as a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana from 1959 until 1977. Hartke won election to the Senate after serving as the mayor of Evansville, Indiana. In the Senate, he supported the Great Society and became a prominent opponent of the Vietnam War. Hartke ran for president in the 1972 Democratic primaries but withdrew after the first set of primaries. He left the Senate after being defeated in his 1976 re-election campaign by Richard Lugar.
James William Fulbright was an American politician, academic, and statesman who represented Arkansas in the United States Senate from 1945 until his resignation in 1974. As of 2023, Fulbright is the longest serving chairman in the history of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He is best known for his strong multilateralist positions on international issues, opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War, and the creation of the international fellowship program bearing his name, the Fulbright Program.
Wayne Lyman Morse was an American attorney and United States Senator from Oregon. Morse is well known for opposing the Democratic Party’s leadership and for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds.
Samuel Robert Johnson was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 3rd congressional district in Congress from 1991 to 2019. He was a member of the Republican Party. In October and November 2015, he was the acting Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, where he also served as chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee.
Jacob Koppel Javits was an American lawyer and politician. During his time in politics, he represented the state of New York in both houses of the United States Congress. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the state's Attorney General. Generally considered a liberal Republican, he was often at odds with his own party. A supporter of labor unions, Great Society and civil rights, he played a key role in the passing of civil rights legislation. An opponent of the War in Vietnam, he drafted the War Powers Resolution in 1973.
George David Aiken was an American politician and horticulturist. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 64th governor of Vermont (1937–1941) before serving in the United States Senate for 34 years, from 1941 to 1975. At the time of his retirement, he was the most senior member of the Senate, a feat which would be repeated by his immediate successor Patrick Leahy.
Wallace Bruner Jr. was an American journalist and television host. He covered Congress and the Lyndon Johnson administration for ABC News in the 1960s. He was the first host of the 1968–1975 syndicated version of What's My Line? and went on to host the syndicated home repair show Wally's Workshop. He was also one of the first Americans to receive a heart transplant.
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The 1966 Oregon United States Senate election was held on November 6, 1966 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of Oregon. Incumbent Senator Maurine Brown Neuberger did not seek re-election. Held during the escalation of United States involvement of the Vietnam War, the race was between Republican candidate and incumbent Governor of Oregon Mark Hatfield, who opposed the war, and Democratic congressman Robert B. Duncan, who supported the war. In an unusual move, Oregon's other Senator, Democrat Wayne Morse, who also opposed the war, crossed party lines to endorse Hatfield, who won in a close election, his first of five terms in the United States Senate.
He also was a foe of the Communist-baiting Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.); an early supporter of civil rights, conservation and congressional reform legislation; and a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War.