Richard Nixon
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President of the United States · United States
4 quotes, oldest first. Filter with other speakers.
“They then murdered more than 50,000 people and hundreds of thousands more died in slave labor camps.”
Televised address on Vietnam policy. Nixon describes what he says followed the Communist takeover of North Vietnam fifteen years earlier and offers it as the precedent for what a US withdrawal from the South would bring.
Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam, 3 November 1969, The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara) Source
“In January I could only conclude that the precipitate withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam would be a disaster not only for South Vietnam but for the United States and for the cause of peace.”
Nixon's stated reason for rejecting immediate withdrawal from Vietnam. The sentences that follow in the same address argue that withdrawal would allow massacres in the South.
Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam, 3 November 1969, The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara) Source
“I have chosen this second course. It is not the easy way. It is the right way.”
Said after Nixon set immediate withdrawal against a gradual withdrawal tied to South Vietnamese strength (Vietnamization). The next sentence calls it a plan that will end the war and serve the cause of peace.
Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam, 3 November 1969, The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara) Source
“And so tonight--to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans--I ask for your support.”
Televised address during the Vietnam War, weeks after the October 1969 Moratorium protests. Nixon asks the audience he describes as a silent majority to support his plan.
Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam, 3 November 1969, The American Presidency Project (UC Santa Barbara) Source