This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas http://dolearchives.ku.edu

February 7, 1972

The Honorable Les Aspin Cannon House Office Building Suite 515 Washington, D.C.

Dear Congressman Aspin:

The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia has been deeply distressed by your attack on us. Your failure to research and verify facts before they were presented in the Congressional Record is incomprehensible. Those facts were in- complete, incorrect or misinterpreted, and you have done a great injustice to everyone involved.

Mr. Paul Wagner deserves a public apology from you. No League money has ever passed through Mr. Wagner's office. Nor was he involved in any way with the funds raised in our direct mail fund-raising campaign. In fact, Mr. Wagner has not even been reimbursed for his out-of-pocket expenses incurred while helping the League as a public relations advisor. Mr. Wagner has donated his time for over two years in a completely humanitarian fashion, as has every advisor to our League of Families.

As a non-political organization the League of Families neither supports nor opposes any political legislation. Our only concern is, and has been, to urge Congress that in any legislation concerning the treat- ment and release of prisoners provision also be made for "an accounting of the missing" in some form. We are concerned about the absence of language in any legislation relative to prisoners of war which might eventually be of some help to the men whose fate may be known to the North Vietnamese, Viet Cong or Pathet Lao, but not known to us. The inclusion of the words means a great deal to the 1100 families whose men fall in the missing category.

The League has had occasional counsel, assistance and generous donations from Democrats and Republicans alike. In 1971 we received a list of names of people who had donated money to the Republican party from the Republican National Committee. We were turned down in a similar request from the Democratic National Committee. The list from the Republicans only comprised 16-2/3% of the people to whom we conducted a direct mail campaign. We received no money from the Republican National Committee, nor did the Committee instruct individuals on its mailing list to respond to our cause.

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This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas http://dolearchives.ku.edu

The Honorable Les Aspin		Page -2- 	February 7, 1972

We have gratefully received help from hundreds of people across the United States without questioning political affiliation or creed. Our own family membership spans the entire spectrum of political beliefs.W We have labored to keep our cause a non-political issue.

We are not professional fund raisers, political watchers, or even organizers of charitable organizations. You could probably find fault with much we have done. As housewives, parents and children of men missing or prisoners in Southeast Asia, we are doing the best we can to fulfill our objectives of relief and release for our men.

We need everyone's help and understanding. Attacks from people in positions such as yours hurt us deeply and may tragically hurt the cause of the prisoners of war and missing.

Sincerely,

Evelyn Grubb (Mrs. W. N.) National Coordinator

Joan M. Vinson (Mrs. Bobby G. ) Past National Coordinator

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