Nixon's War Views

The following statement, taken from several speeches by Richard M. Nixon, represent his views on the War in Vietnam.

First it is necessary to determine why we are in Vietnam. It is a war not just about Vietnam, but about peace in the Pacific. We are determining the future of that area not just for the next few years, but for the balance of this century.

If North Vietnam succeeds in this aggression, either through a negotiated settlement or a military victory, they will try the same tactic again.

We must end it [the North Vietnamese aggression] without producing a bigger war; I reject the arguments of some to use nuclear weapons. But we must also end it without producing another war. Many of the peace proposals could end the war, but they would produce another war--possibly in Asia or in other areas; this would strengthen the hawks in Red China and the Soviet Union.

We have made four major mistakes in the War in Vietnam: 1.) we have grossly failed to use our military power--the policy of gradualism has been a mistake. 2.) We haven't used the diplomatic and economic levers we have with the Soviet Union to try to get a settlement. 3.) Our policy of training South Vietnamese is still failing to bring about the desired results; we aren't operating the pacification program very well. 4.) Our leadership has failed to explain the war to the American people.

This war will end when three things happen: 1.) North Vietnam is convinced that it can't win militarily. 2.) North Vietnam is convinced that it can't win politically in South Vietnam. 3.) North Vietnam is convinced that it can't win politically in the United States.

I see three great dangers in Vietnam.

The first is that we pull out. This would be a disaster.

The second is that through gradual escalation the administration's policy gets us into World War III. If in 1970 China achieves nuclear parity, plus a delivery capacity, then there is a real risk of World War III.

Therefore we need a policy to shorten the war. It is time to fish or cut bait.

We must have a policy of bringing the war to a conclusion before the time of ultimate danger is here--only two years from now. We need a policy which both militarily and diplomatically, is directed toward this end.

But we must look beyond Vietnam. The United States needs some preventive diplomacy to avoid getting into this kind of situation again. Let the United States now adopt the kind of actions and diplomacy that would achieve this objective.

In guerrilla wars of the past, we have furnished much of the material and most of the men and most of the lives. We are rich and strong and populous. There are nearly 200-million of us. But there are 2-billion people in the free world. And it makes little sense for a nation with one-tenth the world's population to be fighting wars all over the world.

In the event that another nation is threatened, we should help them with arms--and with men--but our goal should be to help them fight the war and not fight the war for them.