Beginning of End of U.S. in Vietnam
Good morning, it’s May 14. This date in history reminds us that the Office of the President is an organic, continuing institution and all modern U.S. presidents have a great deal in common, more than they usually care to admit.
On this day in 1969, Richard Nixon spoke to the American people about a war he inherited, but was unable or unwilling to bring to a close. Less than four months into his presidency, Nixon delivered a lengthy address at 10 p.m. Eastern time from the White House theater.
“I have asked for this television time tonight to report to you on our most difficult and urgent problem - the war in Vietnam,” he began. Nixon said no issue had taken up as much time since he became president, and he acknowledged that many Americans believed he should have brought America’s fighting forces home immediately after his inauguration.
“This would have been the easy thing to do,” the president said. “It might have been a popular thing to do.” He added, however, that he believed he would have betrayed his responsibility as president had he done so. And in the 3,000-word speech that followed, he explained why.
“I want to end this war,” Nixon said. “The American people want to end this war. The people of South Vietnam want to end this war. But we want to end it permanently so that the younger brothers of our soldiers in Vietnam will not have to fight in the future in another Vietnam someplace else in the world.”
Richard Nixon had run for office in 1968, not exactly as the peace candidate, but as a candidate who suggested he’d bring the U.S. military presence in Southeast Asia to an end. Nor had he presented himself as the uncompromising cold warrior of liberals’ recollections.
“We extend the hand of friendship to all people,” he said at his 1968 convention acceptance speech. “To the Soviet people. To the Chinese people. To all the people of the world. And we work toward the goal of an open world, open sky, open cities, open hearts, open minds.”
When he left office, the U.S. government had restored relations with China and the U.S.-Soviet relationship was in a period known as détente. But a president’s ability to bend events to his will only goes so far. The war that Nixon said he wanted to end had spilled beyond Vietnam’s borders, and it outlasted his presidency.
As he resigned to avoid an impeachment trial after the Watergate scandal, Nixon tried to not sound embittered. It was a difficult attitude for him to maintain.
“Always gives your best, never get discouraged, never be petty,” he told members of his administration on Aug. 9, 1974. In words that all presidents – and the rest of us, too – would do well to keep in mind, Nixon added:
“Always remember, others may hate you. Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.”
