To the editor:

I read with great interest your front-page story about the draft and Congressman Charles Rangel’s reasoning for proposing one. I cannot imagine Rep. Rangel’s rationalizing. He states in the article that the draft would slow or deter war moves. Rep. Rangel apparently doesn’t remember history very well.

During the Vietnam War, Presidents Johnson and Nixon had full use of the draft system. As I remember it, it did not slow or deter any war move. It continued to escalate the war. Both these men drafted hundreds of thousands of young men, killing over 56,000 them in the process. And, I don’t recall very many congressmen back then being particularly concerned with kids in their communities being drafted (re: hawks and doves).

Remember that there were a lot of congressmen who supported the draft and the Vietnam War in the beginning. Rep. Rangel seems to have forgotten draft-card burning, men leaving this country to avoid the draft, destroying ROTC buildings, school and personal property, draft and war protests, rioting in the streets, and bombings, among other things, all because of the draft and a war. The war itself finally “killed” the draft in the mid-’70s. This country nearly destroyed itself over these issues.

And now Rep. Rangel wants to start it all over again. I hope Rep. Rangel’s more intelligent colleagues will continue to reject any bill that suggests a draft.

When will we learn from our past mistakes? Hopefully, right now.

Stuart Mills,

Lawrence