|
Why
We Are in Vietnam by Lyndon B. Johnson
My
fellow Americans:
Not long ago
I received a letter from a woman in the Midwest. She wrote:
"Dear
Mr. President:
"In my
humble way I am writing to you about the crisis in Viet-Nam. I
have a son who is now in Viet-Nam. My husband served in World
War II. Our country was at war, but now, this time, it is just
something that I don't understand. Why?"
Well, I have
tried to answer that question dozens of times and more in practically
every State in this Union. I have discussed it fully in Baltimore
in April, in Washington in May, in San Francisco in June. Let
me again, now, discuss it here in the East Room of the White House.
Why must young
Americans, born into a land exultant with hope and with golden
promise, toil and suffer and sometimes die in such a remote and
distant place?
The answer,
like the war itself, is not an easy one, but it echoes clearly
from the painful lessons of half a century. Three times in my
lifetime, in two World Wars and in Korea, Americans have gone
to far lands to fight for freedom. We have learned at a terrible
and a brutal cost that retreat does not bring safety and weakness
does not bring peace.
It is this
lesson that has brought us to Viet-Nam. This is a different kind
of war. There are no marching armies or solemn declarations. Some
citizens of South Viet-Nam at times, with understandable grievances,
have joined in the attack on their own government.
But we must
not let this mask the central fact that this is really war. It
is guided by North Viet-Nam and it is spurred by Communist China.
Its goal is to conquer the South, to defeat American power, and
to extend the Asiatic dominion of communism.
There are
great stakes in the balance.
Most of the
non-Communist nations of Asia cannot, by themselves and alone,
resist the growing might and the grasping ambition of Asian communism.
Our power,
therefore, is a very vital shield. If we are driven from the field
in Viet-Nam, then no nation can ever again have the same confidence
in American promise, or in American protection.
In each land
the forces of independence would be considerably weakened, and
an Asia so threatened by Communist domination would certainly
imperil the security of the United States itself.
We did not
choose to be the guardians at the gate, but there is no one else.
Nor would surrender in Viet-Nam bring peace, because we learned
from Hitler at Munich that success only feeds the appetite of
aggression. The battle would be renewed in one country and then
another country, bringing with it perhaps even larger and crueler
conflict, as we have learned from the lessons of history.
Moreover,
we are in Viet-Nam to fulfill one of the most solemn pledges of
the American Nation. Three Presidents -- President Eisenhower,
President Kennedy, and your present President -- over 11 years
have committed themselves and have promised to help defend this
small and valiant nation.
Strengthened
by that promise, the people of South Viet-Nam have fought for
many long years. Thousands of them have died. Thousands more have
been crippled and scarred by war. We just cannot now dishonor
our word, or abandon our commitment, or leave those who believed
in us and who trusted us to the terror and repression and murder
that would follow.
This, then,
my fellow Americans, is why we are in Viet-Nam.
The Nation's
Goals in Viet-Nam
What
are our goals in that war-strained land?
First,
we intent to convince the Communists that we cannot be defeated
by force of arms or by superior power. They are not easily convinced.
In recent months they have greatly increased their fighting forces
and their attacks and the number of incidents.
I
have asked the Commanding General, General Westmoreland, what
more he needs to meet this mounting aggression. He has told me.
We will meet his needs.
I
have today ordered to Viet-Nam the Air Mobile Division and certain
other forces which will raise our fighting strength from 75,000
to 125,000 men almost immediately. Additional forces will be needed
later, and they will be sent as requested.
This
will make it necessary to increase our active fighting forces
by raising the monthly draft call from 17,000 over a period of
time to 35,000 per month, and for us to step up our campaign for
voluntary enlistments.
After
this past week of deliberations, I have concluded that it is not
essential to order Reserve units into service now. If that necessity
should later be indicated, I will give the matter most careful
consideration and I will give the country -- you -- an adequate
notice before taking such action, but only after full preparations.
We
have also discussed with the Government of South Viet-Nam lately,
the steps that we will take to substantially increase their own
effort, both on the battlefield, and toward reform and progress
in the villages. Ambassador Lodge is now formulating a new program
to be tested upon his return to that area.
I
have directed Secretary Rusk and Secretary McNamara to be available
immediately to the Congress to review with these committees, the
appropriate congressional committees, what we plan to do in these
areas. I have asked them to be able to answer the questions of
any Member of Congress.
Secretary
McNamara, in addition, will ask the Senate Appropriations Committee
to add a limited amount to present legislation to help meet part
of this new cost until a supplemental measure is ready and hearings
can be held when the Congress assembles in January. In the meantime,
we will use the authority contained in the present Defense appropriation
bill under consideration to transfer funds in addition to the
additional money that we will ask.
These
steps, like our actions in the past, are carefully measured to
do what must be done to bring an end to aggression and a peaceful
settlement.
We
do not want an expanding struggle with consequences that no one
can perceive, nor will we bluster or bully or flaunt our power,
but we will not surrender and we will not retreat.
For
behind our American pledge lies the determination and resources,
I believe, of all of the American Nation.
Our
Readiness to Negotiate
Second,
once the Communists know, as we know, that a violent solution
is impossible, then a peaceful solution is inevitable.
We
are ready now, as we have always been, to move from the battlefield
to the conference table. I have stated publicly and many times,
again and again, America's willingness to begin unconditional
discussions with any government, at any place, at any time. Fifteen
efforts have been made to start these discussions with the help
of 40 nations throughout the world, but there has been no answer.
But
we are going to continue to persist, if persist we must, until
death and desolation have led to the same conference table where
others could now join us at a much smaller cost.
I
have spoken many times of our objectives in Viet-Nam. So has the
Government of South Viet-Nam. Hanoi has set forth its own proposals.
We are ready to discuss their proposals and our proposals and
any proposals of any government whose people may be affected,
for we fear the meeting room no more than we fear the battlefield.
In
this pursuit we welcome and we ask for the concern and the assistance
of any nation and all nations. If the United Nations and its officials
or any one of its 114 members can by deed or word, private initiative
or public action, bring us nearer an honorable peace, then they
will have the support and the gratitude of the United States of
America.
Letter
to U Thant
I
have directed Ambassador Goldberg to go to New York today and
to present immediately to Secretary General U Thant a letter from
me requesting that all the resource, energy, and immense prestige
of the United Nations be employed to find ways to halt aggression
and to bring peace in Viet-Nam.
I
made a similar request at San Francisco a few weeks ago, because
we do not seek the destruction of any government, nor do we covet
a foot of any territory. But we insist and we will always insist
that the people of South Viet-Nam shall have the right of choice,
the right to shape their own destiny in free elections in the
South or throughout all Viet-Nam under international supervision,
and they shall not have any government imposed upon them by force
and terror so long as we can prevent it.
This
was the purpose of the 1954 agreements which the Communists have
now cruelly shattered. If the machinery of those agreements was
tragically weak, its purposes shall guide our action. As battle
rages, we will continue as best we can to help the good people
of South Viet-Nam enrich the condition of their life, to feet
the hungry and to tend the sick, and teach the young, and shelter
the homeless, and to help the farmer to increase his crops, and
the worker to find a job.
It
is an ancient but still terrible irony that while many leaders
of men create division in pursuit of grand ambitions, the children
of man are really united in the simple, elusive desire for a life
of fruitful and rewarding toil.
As
I said at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, I hope that one day we can
help all the people of Asia toward that desire. Eugene Black has
made great progress since my appearance in Baltimore in that direction--not
as the price of peace, for we are ready always to bear a more
painful cost, but rather as a part of our obligations of justice
toward our fellow man.
The
President's Personal Feelings About War
Let
me also add now a personal note. I do not find it easy to send
the flower of our youth, our fine young men, into battle. I have
spoken to you today of the divisions and the forces and the battalions
and the units, but I know them all, every one. I have seen them
in a thousand streets, of a hundred towns, in every State in this
Union--working and laughing and building, and filled with hope
and life. I think I know, too, how their mothers weep and how
their families sorrow.
This
is the most agonizing and the most painful duty of your President.
There is something else, too. When I was young, poverty was so
common that we didn't know it had a name. An education was something
that you had to fight for, and water was really life itself. I
have now been in public life 35 years, more than three decades,
and in each of those 35 years I have seen good men, and wise leaders,
struggle to bring the blessings of this land to all of our people.
And
now I am the President. It is now my opportunity to help every
child get an education, to help every Negro and every American
citizen have an equal opportunity, to have every family get a
decent home, and to help bring healing to the sick and dignity
to the old.
As
I have said before, that is what I have lived for, that is what
I have wanted all my life since I was a little boy, and I do not
want to see all those hopes and all those dreams of so many people
for so many years now drowned in the wasteful ravages of cruel
wars. I am going to do all I can do to see that that never happens.
But
I also know, as a realistic public servant that as long as there
are men who hate and destroy, we must have the courage to resist,
or we will see it all, all that we have built, all that we hope
to build, all of our dreams for freedom -- all, all will be swept
away on the flood of conquest.
So,
too, this shall not happen. We will stand in Viet-Nam... I will
be glad to take your questions now for a period.
Possibility
of Escalation in Viet-Nam
Q.
Mr. President, in the light of the decisions on Viet-Nam which
you have just announced, is the United States prepared with additional
plans should North Viet-Nam escalate its military effort, and
how do you anticipate that the Chinese Communists will react to
what you have announced today?
LBJ:
I do not want to speculate on the reactions of other people. This
Nation is prepared, and will always be prepared, to protect its
national interest.
Duration
of Fighting
Q.
Mr. President, you have never talked about a timetable in connection
with Viet-Nam. You have said, and you repeated today, that the
United States will not be defeated, will not grow tired.
Donald
Johnson, National Commander of the American Legion, went over
to Viet-Nam in the spring and later called on you. He told White
House reporters that he could imagine the war over there going
on for 5, 6, or 7 years. Have you thought of that possibility,
sir? And do you think the American people ought to think of that
possibility?
LBJ:
Yes, I think the American people ought to understand that there
is no quick solution to the problem that we face there. I would
not want to prophesy or predict whether it would be a matter of
months or years or decades. I do not know that we had any accurate
timetable on how long it would take to bring victory in World
War I. I don't think anyone really knew whether it would be 2
years or 4 years or 6 years, to meet with success in World War
II. I do think our cause is just. I do think our purpose and objectives
are beyond any question.
I
do believe that America will stand united behind her men that
are there. I plan, as long as I am President, to see that our
forces are strong enough to protect our national interest, our
right hand constantly protecting that interest with our military,
and that our diplomatic and political negotiations are constantly
attempting to find some solution that would substitute words for
bombs.
As
I have said so many times, if anyone questions our good faith
and will ask us to meet them to try to reason this matter out,
they will find us at the appointed place, at the appointed time,
in the proper chair...
|
