The Vietnam War in Forty Quotes
Blog Post by James M. Lindsay
Rachael Kauss and Alex Laplaza assisted in the preparation of this post.
Excerpts:
“We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” President Lyndon Johnson in a speech at Akron University on October 21, 1964, two weeks before the presidential election.
“We do this [escalating U.S. military involvement in Vietnam] in order to slow down aggression. We do this to increase the confidence of the brave people of South Vietnam who have bravely born this brutal battle for so many years with so many casualties. And we do this to convince the leaders of North Vietnam—and all who seek to share their conquest—of a simple fact: We will not be defeated. We will not grow tired. We will not withdraw either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement.”
President Lyndon Johnson, speaking to the nation on April 7, 1965 explaining his decision to send U.S. combat troops to Vietnam.
“I think we have all underestimated the seriousness of this situation. Like giving cobalt treatment to a terminal cancer case. I think a long protracted war will disclose our weakness, not our strength.”
Deputy Secretary of State George W. Ball answering President Lyndon Johnson’s questionat a White House meeting on July 21, 1965 about whether the United States could win a war in the “jungle rice-paddies” of Vietnam.
“And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support.”
President Richard Nixon in his address to the nation on the war in Vietnam on November 3, 1969.
“Let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.”
President Richard Nixon in his address to the nation on the war in Vietnam on November 3, 1969.
“If, when the chips are down, the world’s most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world.”
President Richard Nixon in a nationwide address on April 30, 1970 explaining his decision to invade Cambodia.
“This war has already stretched the generation gap so wide that it threatens to pull the country apart.”
Senator Frank Church (D-ID) speaking on the Senate floor on May 13, 1970.
