John Dow, 97; Early Congressional Foe of War in Vietnam

John Dow, 97, a former congressman from New York state who was an early opponent of the Vietnam War, died Tuesday in Suffern, N.Y.

Dow was part of a wave of Democrats elected in 1964. A few months after taking office, he broke with President Lyndon B. Johnson and voted against a $700-million bill to finance the war.

Defending his opposition to the bill, Dow said in 1966: “The president’s way is ambivalent -- negotiating the fighting. I’m on the negotiating side.”

He was reelected in 1966, despite efforts by the Democratic Party to hamstring his campaign by refusing to give money to his campaign until the final days of the race.

In 1968, he lost to a Republican challenger but he won back the seat in 1970. He was defeated by Benjamin Gilman in 1972, who held onto the seat for 30 years.

Dow was born in New York City but grew up in Maine. He graduated from Harvard and became a businessman working for several New York firms as a systems analyst.