Richard’s Notes

The Rev. Robert F. Drinan died this past Sunday and as a sign of the times, there was too little notice in the media and too few people remember who he was.

Robert Drinan was a Jesuit who was a leader in the peaceful anti Vietnam war movement as well as one of only two priests to serve in Congress in history.

While in congress he was the first person to call for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon for his secret invasion of Cambodia (not for Watergate which came later). He worked to eliminate the draft and helped get rid of HUAC.

Few in Congress now are willing to do what Drinan did which is to take a principled stand on issues no matter what polls said would be popular. Drinan was popular with his Massachusetts constituents and with the anti-war left all over the country. Only a few, principled Democrats in the current Congress voted against giving President Bush the power to go to war with Iraq. Drinan would certainly have been one of them and would have, long ago called for Bush’s impeachment.