President Richard Nixon - Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:10good evening my fellow
2. 0:12Americans tonight I want to talk to you
3. 0:14on a subject of deep concern to all
4. 0:17Americans and to many people in all
5. 0:19parts of the world the war in
6. 0:21Vietnam I believe that one of the
7. 0:23reasons for the Deep division about
8. 0:26Vietnam is that many Americans have lost
9. 0:29confidence in what their government has
10. 0:31told them about our
11. 0:32policy the American people cannot and
12. 0:35should not be asked to support a policy
13. 0:37which involves the over riding issues of
14. 0:40War and Peace unless they know the truth
15. 0:42about that policy tonight therefore I
16. 0:46would like to answer some of the
17. 0:47questions that I know are on the minds
18. 0:50of many of you listening to
19. 0:52me how and why did America get involved
20. 0:54in Vietnam in the first place how has
21. 0:57this Administration changed the policy
22. 0:59of the previous
23. 1:00Administration what has really happened
24. 1:02in the negotiations in Paris and on the
25. 1:04Battlefront in
26. 1:05Vietnam what choices do we have if we
27. 1:08are to end the war what are the
28. 1:11prospects for
29. 1:12peace now let me Begin by describing the
30. 1:15situation I found when I was inaugurated
31. 1:18on January
32. 1:1920 the war had been going on for four
33. 1:22years 31,000 Americans had been killed
34. 1:25in action the training program for the
35. 1:28South Vietnamese was beyond
36. 1:30schedule 540,000 Americans were in
37. 1:34Vietnam with no plans to reduce the
38. 1:37number no progress had been made at the
39. 1:40negotiations in Paris and the United
40. 1:42States had not put forth a comprehensive
41. 1:45peace
42. 1:46proposal the war was causing deep
43. 1:49division at home and criticism from many
44. 1:52of our friends as well as our enemies
45. 1:55abroad in view of these circumstances
46. 1:58there were some who urged that I am the
47. 2:00war At Once by ordering the immediate
48. 2:02withdrawal of All American
49. 2:04forces from a political standpoint this
50. 2:08would have been a popular and easy
51. 2:10course to follow after all we became
52. 2:13involved in the war while my predecessor
53. 2:15was in office I could blame the defeat
54. 2:19which would be the result of my action
55. 2:21on him and come out as The
56. 2:24Peacemaker some put it to me quite
57. 2:26bluntly this was the only way to avoid
58. 2:30allowing Johnson's War to become Nixon's
59. 2:34War but I had a greater obligation than
60. 2:36to think only of the years of my
61. 2:38Administration and of the next
62. 2:40election I had to think of the effect of
63. 2:43my decision on the Next Generation and
64. 2:46on the future of Peace and Freedom in
65. 2:49America and in the
66. 2:51world let us all understand that the
67. 2:55question before us is not whether some
68. 2:57Americans are for peace and some
69. 3:00Americans are against peace the question
70. 3:03at issue is not whether Johnson's War
71. 3:06becomes Nixon's War the great question
72. 3:09is how can we win America's
73. 3:14Peace well let us turn now to the
74. 3:16fundamental issue why and how did the
75. 3:19United States become involved in Vietnam
76. 3:21in the first
77. 3:22place 15 years ago North Vietnam with
78. 3:25the logistical support of communist
79. 3:27China and the Soviet Union launched a
80. 3:29campaign to impose a communist
81. 3:31government on South Vietnam by
82. 3:33instigating and supporting a
83. 3:36revolution in response to the request of
84. 3:38the government of South Vietnam
85. 3:39President Eisenhower sent economic aid
86. 3:42and military equipment to assist the
87. 3:45people of South Vietnam in their efforts
88. 3:47to prevent a communist
89. 3:49takeover 7 years ago President Kennedy
90. 3:53sent 16,000 military personnel to
91. 3:56Vietnam as combat
92. 3:58advisers four years ago President
93. 4:01Johnson sent American combat forces to
94. 4:04South
95. 4:05Vietnam now many believe that President
96. 4:08Johnson's decision to send American
97. 4:10combat forces to South Vietnam was wrong
98. 4:13and many others I among them have been
99. 4:16strongly critical of the way the war has
100. 4:18been
101. 4:19conducted but the question facing us
102. 4:22today is now that we are in the war what
103. 4:26is the best way to end it