delivered 3 November 1969
"Let
us all understand that the question before us is not whether some
Americans are for peace and some Americans are against peace. The question at issue is not whether Johnson’s war becomes
Nixon’s war. The great
question is: How can we win America’s
peace?"
"Our defeat and humiliation in South Vietnam
without question would promote recklessness in the councils of those great
powers who have not yet abandoned their goals of worlds conquest. This would
spark violence wherever our commitments help maintain the peace....Ultimately, this would cost more lives. It would not bring peace. It
would bring more war."
"Let historians not record that, when America was the most powerful
nation in the world, we passed on the other side of the road and allowed
the last hopes for peace and freedom of millions of people to be
suffocated by the forces of totalitarianism."
"So tonight, to you, the great silent
majority of my fellow Americans, I ask for your support. I pledged in my
campaign for the Presidency to end the war in a way that we could win the peace.
I have initiated a plan of action which will enable me to keep that pledge. The
more support I can have from the American people, the sooner that pledge can be
redeemed."
