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WEBVTT kvos special 29 01 s4 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.080 align:middle line:90% 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:18.120 align:middle line:84% Never was the need for non-violent, peaceful, 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:23.490 align:middle line:84% spontaneous, demonstration so urgent as now. 00:00:23.490 --> 00:00:27.780 align:middle line:84% Never has the need for public debate been more pressing 00:00:27.780 --> 00:00:30.060 align:middle line:90% than at this time. 00:00:30.060 --> 00:00:34.140 align:middle line:84% At this juncture in history, war and peace 00:00:34.140 --> 00:00:39.410 align:middle line:84% are the most important issues men anywhere can reason about. 00:00:39.410 --> 00:00:42.430 align:middle line:84% To the encouragement of this dialogue 00:00:42.430 --> 00:00:46.590 align:middle line:84% to sustaining the citizen in his constitutional right 00:00:46.590 --> 00:00:50.010 align:middle line:84% to demonstrate spontaneously and peacefully 00:00:50.010 --> 00:00:52.740 align:middle line:90% today's Walk is dedicated. 00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:53.280 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:42.084 align:middle line:90% 00:01:42.084 --> 00:01:45.570 align:middle line:90% [CHATTER] 00:01:45.570 --> 00:02:08.478 align:middle line:90% 00:02:08.478 --> 00:02:11.964 align:middle line:84% Yeah, advertise our club a little bit. 00:02:11.964 --> 00:02:13.956 align:middle line:90% That's the point, you know? 00:02:13.956 --> 00:02:41.844 align:middle line:90% 00:02:41.844 --> 00:02:44.700 align:middle line:84% Well, gentlemen, you've managed to muster 00:02:44.700 --> 00:02:49.200 align:middle line:84% how much support in this march today against the move 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:50.920 align:middle line:90% to pull out of Vietnam? 00:02:50.920 --> 00:02:54.910 align:middle line:84% Well, actually, around about a dozen or so around here. 00:02:54.910 --> 00:02:59.300 align:middle line:84% But we did not plan anything or organize anything at all. 00:02:59.300 --> 00:03:04.080 align:middle line:84% Every one of us here came as an individual spontaneously 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:06.938 align:middle line:84% and not by as a result of organization. 00:03:06.938 --> 00:03:08.105 align:middle line:90% And you're are local people? 00:03:08.105 --> 00:03:08.380 align:middle line:90% You're Bellingham-- 00:03:08.380 --> 00:03:08.960 align:middle line:90% Yes, we are. 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:10.230 align:middle line:90% We are local people. 00:03:10.230 --> 00:03:11.880 align:middle line:90% And your name is Otto Lincoln? 00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:12.480 align:middle line:90% Lincoln. 00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:12.980 align:middle line:90% Right. 00:03:12.980 --> 00:03:14.060 align:middle line:90% Correct. 00:03:14.060 --> 00:03:16.290 align:middle line:84% And aren't you a former Hungarian freedom 00:03:16.290 --> 00:03:17.670 align:middle line:90% fighter, Mr. Lincoln? 00:03:17.670 --> 00:03:18.510 align:middle line:90% Yes, I am. 00:03:18.510 --> 00:03:20.020 align:middle line:90% I came from Hungary. 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:25.180 align:middle line:84% So I lived under communist rule and communist tyranny. 00:03:25.180 --> 00:03:31.440 align:middle line:84% I know exactly from inside and out that communist works 00:03:31.440 --> 00:03:35.190 align:middle line:84% and how the communists are infiltrated. 00:03:35.190 --> 00:03:40.230 align:middle line:84% What do you feel about this plea for negotiation in Vietnam? 00:03:40.230 --> 00:03:45.530 align:middle line:84% Entirely all of the question as negotiation 00:03:45.530 --> 00:03:48.030 align:middle line:84% concerned, no right-minded people 00:03:48.030 --> 00:03:52.350 align:middle line:84% can press for negotiation with murderers and gangsters, 00:03:52.350 --> 00:03:54.600 align:middle line:90% which the communist are. 00:03:54.600 --> 00:03:58.440 align:middle line:84% Well, now, what do you feel about this much community 00:03:58.440 --> 00:04:01.720 align:middle line:84% support being mustered in favor of their cause? 00:04:01.720 --> 00:04:05.010 align:middle line:84% Doesn't this reflect some attitude in the community? 00:04:05.010 --> 00:04:06.340 align:middle line:90% I don't think so. 00:04:06.340 --> 00:04:10.110 align:middle line:84% The answer for that, I think there are much more 00:04:10.110 --> 00:04:15.060 align:middle line:84% people who feel exactly as I or the few who are standing 00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:17.850 align:middle line:90% around me here in Bellingham. 00:04:17.850 --> 00:04:22.070 align:middle line:84% But they simply just chose to ignore these action taken 00:04:22.070 --> 00:04:26.940 align:middle line:84% of these, I think, gullible and brainwashed people 00:04:26.940 --> 00:04:30.540 align:middle line:84% who support something they don't know what it is. 00:04:30.540 --> 00:04:33.450 align:middle line:84% But if those people all in Bellingham 00:04:33.450 --> 00:04:36.750 align:middle line:84% who chose to come here, who oppose 00:04:36.750 --> 00:04:39.168 align:middle line:84% such kind of demonstration, which is not at all-- 00:04:39.168 --> 00:04:39.960 align:middle line:90% [CAR HORNS BLARING] 00:04:39.960 --> 00:04:43.550 align:middle line:84% --the American way, and I do not believe in such things either 00:04:43.550 --> 00:04:44.175 align:middle line:90% in a peaceful-- 00:04:44.175 --> 00:04:45.300 align:middle line:90% [CHEERING] 00:04:45.300 --> 00:04:47.050 align:middle line:90% --country, in a land of freedom. 00:04:47.050 --> 00:04:51.180 align:middle line:84% But If they are provoked, at least a few people 00:04:51.180 --> 00:04:53.880 align:middle line:84% should take a stand and show to the public 00:04:53.880 --> 00:04:58.080 align:middle line:84% that there are some who willing to do anything 00:04:58.080 --> 00:05:03.180 align:middle line:84% for the cause of freedom, even if it's the price of peace. 00:05:03.180 --> 00:05:05.850 align:middle line:84% You don't object to their right to hold this demonstration? 00:05:05.850 --> 00:05:09.930 align:middle line:84% No, I do not object to the right to hold a demonstration at all. 00:05:09.930 --> 00:05:13.500 align:middle line:84% But it is somewhat out of their taste, the good taste. 00:05:13.500 --> 00:05:19.120 align:middle line:84% And it is not supporting the American ideas. 00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:21.430 align:middle line:84% It is not supporting Christian ideas. 00:05:21.430 --> 00:05:24.720 align:middle line:84% It is not supporting anything but 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:28.390 align:middle line:84% the murderous communist cause for total takeover 00:05:28.390 --> 00:05:29.310 align:middle line:90% of the globe. 00:05:29.310 --> 00:05:31.590 align:middle line:84% Would you say that we'd be giving Vietnam away 00:05:31.590 --> 00:05:33.930 align:middle line:84% if we did negotiate or pull our troops out? 00:05:33.930 --> 00:05:34.770 align:middle line:90% Definitely. 00:05:34.770 --> 00:05:41.020 align:middle line:84% I fear that the only solution to Vietnam is go in for win. 00:05:41.020 --> 00:05:43.320 align:middle line:84% There is nothing else communists understand 00:05:43.320 --> 00:05:46.010 align:middle line:90% but the pure power and courage. 00:05:46.010 --> 00:05:47.100 align:middle line:90% We have the power. 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:49.920 align:middle line:84% All they need just a little bit of courage, 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:56.070 align:middle line:84% like the ancestor of the great American people had. 00:05:56.070 --> 00:05:57.558 align:middle line:90% Thanks very much, gentlemen. 00:05:57.558 --> 00:06:01.044 align:middle line:90% You're welcome. 00:06:01.044 --> 00:06:04.032 align:middle line:90% [AUDIO OUT] 00:06:04.032 --> 00:06:55.340 align:middle line:90% 00:06:55.340 --> 00:06:59.380 align:middle line:84% We are aware of the same things happening in Vietnam 00:06:59.380 --> 00:07:03.510 align:middle line:84% that the French people knew about in Algeria. 00:07:03.510 --> 00:07:08.270 align:middle line:84% It is perhaps rather peculiar that the mass media 00:07:08.270 --> 00:07:10.610 align:middle line:84% have published photographs of the most 00:07:10.610 --> 00:07:13.210 align:middle line:90% agonizing and revolting sort. 00:07:13.210 --> 00:07:16.700 align:middle line:84% We have seen them in mass circulation magazines 00:07:16.700 --> 00:07:18.480 align:middle line:90% like Life-- 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.310 align:middle line:84% prisoners subjected to torture often 00:07:21.310 --> 00:07:24.650 align:middle line:84% in the presence of Americans soldiers. 00:07:24.650 --> 00:07:26.270 align:middle line:90% One has seen-- 00:07:26.270 --> 00:07:31.260 align:middle line:84% I presume everyone here has images in his mind, as I do. 00:07:31.260 --> 00:07:35.140 align:middle line:84% You see a young man, 21 years of age, already 00:07:35.140 --> 00:07:38.590 align:middle line:84% the father of a family, and he is tied to a post, 00:07:38.590 --> 00:07:41.510 align:middle line:84% and he has a few seconds to live. 00:07:41.510 --> 00:07:44.610 align:middle line:84% To me, it makes no difference at all, frankly, 00:07:44.610 --> 00:07:46.820 align:middle line:84% whether he is a member of the Viet Cong 00:07:46.820 --> 00:07:49.130 align:middle line:84% or a member of the South Vietnamese army. 00:07:49.130 --> 00:07:54.740 align:middle line:84% I only see a young human being who has his life to live. 00:07:54.740 --> 00:07:58.090 align:middle line:84% He is helpless in the hands of his captors, 00:07:58.090 --> 00:08:00.570 align:middle line:90% the look of terror in his eyes-- 00:08:00.570 --> 00:08:04.900 align:middle line:84% one more life that we lost, I think, probably in vain. 00:08:04.900 --> 00:08:09.230 align:middle line:84% One has seen mothers with scorched faces, 00:08:09.230 --> 00:08:13.550 align:middle line:84% bodies of children in their arms, dead or badly mutilated. 00:08:13.550 --> 00:08:15.260 align:middle line:84% And curiously enough, there has been 00:08:15.260 --> 00:08:17.480 align:middle line:84% no attempt on the part of the government 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:19.380 align:middle line:90% to suppress these pictures. 00:08:19.380 --> 00:08:21.230 align:middle line:84% Everyone has to be aware of them. 00:08:21.230 --> 00:08:25.750 align:middle line:84% Yet, there has been no great outburst of moral indignation 00:08:25.750 --> 00:08:27.630 align:middle line:90% such as there was in France. 00:08:27.630 --> 00:08:29.870 align:middle line:90% This I find very peculiar. 00:08:29.870 --> 00:08:33.409 align:middle line:84% Are we as a nation so completely brutalized 00:08:33.409 --> 00:08:39.520 align:middle line:84% by what we see on television every night, by movies? 00:08:39.520 --> 00:08:46.420 align:middle line:84% Are we so used, as a daily fare, to seeing torture and murder 00:08:46.420 --> 00:08:49.642 align:middle line:84% and the most callous disrespect for human life 00:08:49.642 --> 00:08:54.060 align:middle line:84% that when it really happens, we are totally indifferent to it? 00:08:54.060 --> 00:08:56.830 align:middle line:84% It would seem that that is partly true. 00:08:56.830 --> 00:09:02.060 align:middle line:84% And as I say, I am happy that you are here this afternoon. 00:09:02.060 --> 00:09:04.120 align:middle line:84% It at least shows that some people, 00:09:04.120 --> 00:09:07.000 align:middle line:84% and I hope many others in other parts of the country, 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:11.120 align:middle line:90% do care about what is happening. 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:12.730 align:middle line:84% All this is by way of introduction. 00:09:12.730 --> 00:09:15.410 align:middle line:84% I haven't even approached my subject yet. 00:09:15.410 --> 00:09:18.790 align:middle line:84% I would like to forestall one criticism of what 00:09:18.790 --> 00:09:22.450 align:middle line:84% I've just said, which I'm sure will be made. 00:09:22.450 --> 00:09:25.750 align:middle line:84% People will say that if you talk in terms 00:09:25.750 --> 00:09:29.310 align:middle line:84% of the agony of the people of Vietnam, 00:09:29.310 --> 00:09:31.270 align:middle line:90% you are being sentimental. 00:09:31.270 --> 00:09:33.630 align:middle line:84% This is a very, very old criticism 00:09:33.630 --> 00:09:36.430 align:middle line:84% on the part of so-called realists. 00:09:36.430 --> 00:09:40.820 align:middle line:84% They will say that we must not be deflected from our aims 00:09:40.820 --> 00:09:45.270 align:middle line:84% invincible because a few people suffer on that account. 00:09:45.270 --> 00:09:48.750 align:middle line:84% Now personally, I would reply, if this criticism 00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:53.420 align:middle line:84% were made and say that so far from being sentimental, 00:09:53.420 --> 00:09:57.550 align:middle line:84% to take into account the daily lives and future happiness 00:09:57.550 --> 00:10:00.580 align:middle line:84% of millions of people is itself the most fundamental thing 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:02.430 align:middle line:90% which is involved. 00:10:02.430 --> 00:10:06.790 align:middle line:84% To argue matters like this or to result to war, 00:10:06.790 --> 00:10:12.690 align:middle line:84% in terms of abstractions like freedom and democracy, 00:10:12.690 --> 00:10:16.030 align:middle line:84% to argue in terms of global warfare between Moscow 00:10:16.030 --> 00:10:19.960 align:middle line:84% and Peking on the one hand and Washington on the other 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:23.585 align:middle line:84% without any regard for the fortunes, happiness, 00:10:23.585 --> 00:10:26.050 align:middle line:84% the lives of the people who are the helpless victims 00:10:26.050 --> 00:10:29.800 align:middle line:84% of the conflict, I think this is not only immoral, 00:10:29.800 --> 00:10:32.128 align:middle line:84% but it is really bad politics also. 00:10:32.128 --> 00:10:35.480 align:middle line:90% 00:10:35.480 --> 00:10:37.820 align:middle line:84% The title which I chose at the last minute 00:10:37.820 --> 00:10:40.550 align:middle line:84% for what few things I have to say 00:10:40.550 --> 00:10:44.530 align:middle line:90% is "Vietnam and World Peace." 00:10:44.530 --> 00:10:47.000 align:middle line:84% I think the best thing one should do 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.870 align:middle line:84% is to remind ourselves very briefly 00:10:49.870 --> 00:10:53.060 align:middle line:84% of how this incredible situation developed. 00:10:53.060 --> 00:10:57.406 align:middle line:84% Basically, what is happening in South Vietnam, I think, 00:10:57.406 --> 00:11:01.640 align:middle line:84% is the result of an anti-colonial revolution 00:11:01.640 --> 00:11:04.970 align:middle line:84% which swept through the world after the Second World War. 00:11:04.970 --> 00:11:08.150 align:middle line:84% It took place everywhere in Asia and is now 00:11:08.150 --> 00:11:10.130 align:middle line:90% taking place in Africa. 00:11:10.130 --> 00:11:14.000 align:middle line:84% As one small episode in that anti-colonial revolution, 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:17.570 align:middle line:84% the French were compelled to give up 00:11:17.570 --> 00:11:22.020 align:middle line:84% their colony of Indochina, but not until nearly 10 years 00:11:22.020 --> 00:11:25.830 align:middle line:84% had elapsed of bitter fighting in which the French were 00:11:25.830 --> 00:11:27.420 align:middle line:90% finally defeated. 00:11:27.420 --> 00:11:29.450 align:middle line:84% The French had a professional army. 00:11:29.450 --> 00:11:32.240 align:middle line:84% They had complete control of the air and the sea, 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:33.950 align:middle line:90% just as they do today. 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:37.590 align:middle line:84% They were fighting a handful of ragged guerrillas, the Viet 00:11:37.590 --> 00:11:41.890 align:middle line:84% Minh, who nevertheless represented 00:11:41.890 --> 00:11:45.570 align:middle line:84% the force of nationalism and with ample support 00:11:45.570 --> 00:11:49.070 align:middle line:84% by the enormous majority to the people of Vietnam. 00:11:49.070 --> 00:11:53.420 align:middle line:84% Not all the military's naval and air power of the French 00:11:53.420 --> 00:11:55.580 align:middle line:84% could save their forces from defeat 00:11:55.580 --> 00:11:58.190 align:middle line:84% because they were fighting under difficult conditions, 00:11:58.190 --> 00:12:00.235 align:middle line:84% as we are at the moment, of jungle 00:12:00.235 --> 00:12:03.770 align:middle line:84% warfare in which a handful of determined individuals, 00:12:03.770 --> 00:12:09.910 align:middle line:84% supported by the mass of the nation, prevailed. 00:12:09.910 --> 00:12:12.950 align:middle line:84% There was a point when the French appealed 00:12:12.950 --> 00:12:15.800 align:middle line:84% to President Eisenhower to help them out 00:12:15.800 --> 00:12:18.590 align:middle line:84% by massive American intervention. 00:12:18.590 --> 00:12:22.970 align:middle line:84% Incidentally, I believe we ourselves gave the French, 00:12:22.970 --> 00:12:26.960 align:middle line:84% in equipment and supplies, more than $2 billion 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:30.650 align:middle line:84% of material which was all totally wasted. 00:12:30.650 --> 00:12:34.580 align:middle line:84% And in a last desperate effort to save their collapsing 00:12:34.580 --> 00:12:39.710 align:middle line:84% colonial empire at the time of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, 00:12:39.710 --> 00:12:43.010 align:middle line:84% the French appealed for nuclear bombing. 00:12:43.010 --> 00:12:46.100 align:middle line:84% And there were advocates that may have been identified-- 00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:48.080 align:middle line:90% Admiral Radford, for one-- 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:52.810 align:middle line:84% wanting to use American nuclear power against the Viet Cong-- 00:12:52.810 --> 00:12:54.680 align:middle line:84% the Viet Minh, as they were at that time-- 00:12:54.680 --> 00:12:57.170 align:middle line:84% to end the war in favor of the French. 00:12:57.170 --> 00:12:59.870 align:middle line:84% Fortunately, President Eisenhower 00:12:59.870 --> 00:13:02.330 align:middle line:90% resisted these proposals. 00:13:02.330 --> 00:13:05.180 align:middle line:84% I can't help that Mr. Eisenhower was a total failure 00:13:05.180 --> 00:13:07.660 align:middle line:90% as a politician in many ways. 00:13:07.660 --> 00:13:11.440 align:middle line:84% But he was also, I believe, sincerely a man of peace. 00:13:11.440 --> 00:13:14.030 align:middle line:84% And he had-- he in a way was in a position 00:13:14.030 --> 00:13:15.290 align:middle line:90% to deliver in France. 00:13:15.290 --> 00:13:18.050 align:middle line:84% As a former military man, he was best 00:13:18.050 --> 00:13:21.670 align:middle line:84% able to resist the insatiable demand of the military 00:13:21.670 --> 00:13:23.300 align:middle line:90% for further acts of aggression. 00:13:23.300 --> 00:13:25.130 align:middle line:90% That turning point was past. 00:13:25.130 --> 00:13:27.120 align:middle line:84% Nuclear weapons were not introduced. 00:13:27.120 --> 00:13:29.540 align:middle line:84% And France evacuated the country. 00:13:29.540 --> 00:13:33.610 align:middle line:84% We all thought that at that moment that the war was over. 00:13:33.610 --> 00:13:37.290 align:middle line:84% It seemed absolutely fantastic that when 00:13:37.290 --> 00:13:40.970 align:middle line:84% that war had ended 10 years later, 00:13:40.970 --> 00:13:43.030 align:middle line:84% the United States herself should have 00:13:43.030 --> 00:13:46.920 align:middle line:84% gotten into precisely the same condition as the French. 00:13:46.920 --> 00:13:51.110 align:middle line:84% This agonizing dilemma, which the French faced 10 years ago, 00:13:51.110 --> 00:13:53.730 align:middle line:84% and which they solved by getting out 00:13:53.730 --> 00:13:57.130 align:middle line:84% under the politics of France, demand demand demand, 00:13:57.130 --> 00:14:01.300 align:middle line:84% this is identically the dilemma that we face today. 00:14:01.300 --> 00:14:03.970 align:middle line:84% People often ask whether human beings learn anything 00:14:03.970 --> 00:14:05.090 align:middle line:90% from history. 00:14:05.090 --> 00:14:07.520 align:middle line:84% And indeed, I think they rarely do. 00:14:07.520 --> 00:14:10.030 align:middle line:84% But if there was a clear-cut lesson of something 00:14:10.030 --> 00:14:12.440 align:middle line:90% we should avoid, this was it. 00:14:12.440 --> 00:14:14.350 align:middle line:90% We are now in the same position. 00:14:14.350 --> 00:14:17.820 align:middle line:84% To be precise, the government of South Vietnam, 00:14:17.820 --> 00:14:20.480 align:middle line:84% which we are trying to support, has 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:22.600 align:middle line:84% lost the confidence of its people, 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:25.180 align:middle line:90% as the French did before. 00:14:25.180 --> 00:14:29.200 align:middle line:84% I think everyone who is here has read the things 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:32.320 align:middle line:84% that Senator Morse has said in the Senate 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:34.580 align:middle line:84% and that respectable journalists like 00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:37.980 align:middle line:90% James Reston and [INAUDIBLE]. 00:14:37.980 --> 00:14:41.800 align:middle line:84% It seems clear that the government of Saigon 00:14:41.800 --> 00:14:47.320 align:middle line:84% controls not more than 30% of the people as a whole, 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:50.865 align:middle line:84% in spite of the fact that it has an overwhelming army-- 00:14:50.865 --> 00:14:53.630 align:middle line:84% a half a million men under arms or more-- 00:14:53.630 --> 00:14:57.740 align:middle line:84% a secret police of tens of thousands, control of the sea, 00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:02.560 align:middle line:84% control of the air, and support to the tune of $2 million 00:15:02.560 --> 00:15:07.150 align:middle line:84% every day from the United States. 00:15:07.150 --> 00:15:11.260 align:middle line:84% Most of us fail to realize that the sentiment of nationalism 00:15:11.260 --> 00:15:13.740 align:middle line:84% is probably the strongest of all, 00:15:13.740 --> 00:15:15.930 align:middle line:84% that combined with anti-colonialism, 00:15:15.930 --> 00:15:19.230 align:middle line:84% which is the negative aspect of Asia nationalism. 00:15:19.230 --> 00:15:21.990 align:middle line:84% And so we are there, in effect, to enforce 00:15:21.990 --> 00:15:24.210 align:middle line:84% the wishes of the Vietnamese people 00:15:24.210 --> 00:15:28.480 align:middle line:84% without admitting candidly what our purpose is. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:31.290 align:middle line:84% Now, this statement is fairly dragged down, 00:15:31.290 --> 00:15:33.970 align:middle line:84% our recognition from dictator after dictator, 00:15:33.970 --> 00:15:36.060 align:middle line:84% the repetition from the State Department 00:15:36.060 --> 00:15:39.050 align:middle line:84% of these threadbare excuses about why we were there 00:15:39.050 --> 00:15:40.500 align:middle line:90% in the first place. 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:42.730 align:middle line:84% Things like this occurred which push 00:15:42.730 --> 00:15:44.200 align:middle line:90% beyond the spur of the moment. 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:46.850 align:middle line:84% I remember seeing Senator Fulbright, who was certainly 00:15:46.850 --> 00:15:49.020 align:middle line:84% one of the more liberal and intelligent people 00:15:49.020 --> 00:15:52.980 align:middle line:84% in public life, and he was asked on a television interview what 00:15:52.980 --> 00:15:54.870 align:middle line:84% he thought about what the present status 00:15:54.870 --> 00:15:57.060 align:middle line:84% of the then government in Saigon. 00:15:57.060 --> 00:15:59.970 align:middle line:84% And he said that he thought they were doing reasonably well. 00:15:59.970 --> 00:16:01.660 align:middle line:84% The very next day after he spoke, 00:16:01.660 --> 00:16:05.435 align:middle line:84% that government was overthrown by a military coup 00:16:05.435 --> 00:16:09.650 align:middle line:84% of whose existence he and General Taylor were unaware. 00:16:09.650 --> 00:16:11.540 align:middle line:90% These statements have been made. 00:16:11.540 --> 00:16:13.870 align:middle line:84% I notice Senator Dodd made a statement the day 00:16:13.870 --> 00:16:16.280 align:middle line:84% before yesterday, saying that at last he 00:16:16.280 --> 00:16:18.270 align:middle line:84% thought a corner had been turned, 00:16:18.270 --> 00:16:21.690 align:middle line:84% at last things were going to take a better shape than they 00:16:21.690 --> 00:16:23.310 align:middle line:90% had in the past. 00:16:23.310 --> 00:16:26.350 align:middle line:84% Do you not realize that these same statements 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:28.590 align:middle line:84% and these same promises-- illusions-- 00:16:28.590 --> 00:16:30.140 align:middle line:90% have been made repeatedly. 00:16:30.140 --> 00:16:32.640 align:middle line:84% And every single one of them has failed. 00:16:32.640 --> 00:16:35.790 align:middle line:84% Why should we not believe General Taylor and Senator 00:16:35.790 --> 00:16:39.220 align:middle line:84% Dodd any more than we believed their predecessors 00:16:39.220 --> 00:16:42.352 align:middle line:84% in the past who were repeatedly proven wrong? 00:16:42.352 --> 00:16:45.010 align:middle line:84% Now, this situation that I have indicated 00:16:45.010 --> 00:16:48.990 align:middle line:90% was so until February. 00:16:48.990 --> 00:16:52.115 align:middle line:84% By the way, I meant to remark that 00:16:52.115 --> 00:16:58.140 align:middle line:84% during the late presidential election of last year, what 00:16:58.140 --> 00:17:00.720 align:middle line:84% should have been a magnificent opportunity 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:05.265 align:middle line:84% to debate the United States' course of action in Vietnam 00:17:05.265 --> 00:17:06.750 align:middle line:90% was missed. 00:17:06.750 --> 00:17:11.420 align:middle line:84% There was no discussion of Vietnam. 00:17:11.420 --> 00:17:13.920 align:middle line:84% Senator Goldwater now and then made 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:18.290 align:middle line:84% a remark of such a degree of irresponsibility followed 00:17:18.290 --> 00:17:20.270 align:middle line:84% usually by a complete confusion of only half 00:17:20.270 --> 00:17:21.500 align:middle line:90% or only the beauty of this-- 00:17:21.500 --> 00:17:23.150 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:17:23.150 --> 00:17:27.760 align:middle line:84% --that no one knew what was to be expected from this corner. 00:17:27.760 --> 00:17:29.320 align:middle line:84% And Mr. Johnson, for the most part, 00:17:29.320 --> 00:17:32.220 align:middle line:84% was silent because he was not present. 00:17:32.220 --> 00:17:35.530 align:middle line:84% This may give us an opportunity to debate seriously, 00:17:35.530 --> 00:17:38.280 align:middle line:84% with the best knowledge that was available, what should be done. 00:17:38.280 --> 00:17:40.240 align:middle line:90% It was totally not. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:42.893 align:middle line:84% It was not lost upon the European people. 00:17:42.893 --> 00:17:44.310 align:middle line:84% The English and the French entered 00:17:44.310 --> 00:17:46.720 align:middle line:90% this farcical election-- 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:49.850 align:middle line:84% and I'm certainly not blaming Mr. Johnson himself for that. 00:17:49.850 --> 00:17:52.650 align:middle line:84% I think the fault was that of the Republican party, which 00:17:52.650 --> 00:17:55.230 align:middle line:84% could have a candidate of the far right 00:17:55.230 --> 00:17:57.060 align:middle line:84% who had no claim to anyone's respect 00:17:57.060 --> 00:18:00.300 align:middle line:84% and who has been utterly repudiated. 00:18:00.300 --> 00:18:02.560 align:middle line:84% Anyways [INAUDIBLE] this opportunity was lost. 00:18:02.560 --> 00:18:04.930 align:middle line:84% But Mr. Johnson was not pressed to reveal 00:18:04.930 --> 00:18:06.870 align:middle line:90% what his policy should be. 00:18:06.870 --> 00:18:09.660 align:middle line:84% I was one of those who voted for Mr. Johnson, 00:18:09.660 --> 00:18:12.830 align:middle line:84% partly because I believed within the state of domestic policy, 00:18:12.830 --> 00:18:14.518 align:middle line:90% where the Negro was concerned. 00:18:14.518 --> 00:18:16.560 align:middle line:84% And there were a number of other important things 00:18:16.560 --> 00:18:19.570 align:middle line:84% like federal aid for education and so on. 00:18:19.570 --> 00:18:22.090 align:middle line:84% He was by far the better candidate. 00:18:22.090 --> 00:18:24.720 align:middle line:84% But I was awfully uneasy about Vietnam. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:27.150 align:middle line:84% He said nothing about his intentions. 00:18:27.150 --> 00:18:30.990 align:middle line:84% And the electorate virtually gave him a blank check 00:18:30.990 --> 00:18:33.010 align:middle line:90% to fill in as he would. 00:18:33.010 --> 00:18:48.976 align:middle line:90%