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Opinion: Weekend Dialogue — Honest discussion has potential to make us stronger

File Photo By Tennessee Lookout/John Partipilo / Gov. Bill Lee's change from a private to a public Faith-Based and Community Initiative office may not sit well with some.
File Photo By Tennessee Lookout/John Partipilo / Gov. Bill Lee's change from a private to a public Faith-Based and Community Initiative office may not sit well with some. File Photo By Tennessee Lookout/John Partipilo / Gov. Bill Lee's change from a private to a public Faith-Based and Community Initiative office may not sit well with some.

By Clint Cooper 4 min read

Here’s this week’s dialogue. Keep the comments and questions coming at ccooper@timesfreepress.com.

“We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” – Lyndon B. Johnson, October 1964

Four years later, we had 550,000 boys in Vietnam – the reason I hate Democrats.

The reader was reacting to the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and my recollections of the conflict.

Although this turnabout from a Democratic president had devastating consequences, I would note that Johnson was not the only president who did not tell the truth about the country’s actions in the Southeast Asian country.