Good evening my fellow Americans:
Ten days ago, in my report to the Nation on Vietnam, I announced a decision
to withdraw an additional 150,000 Americans from Vietnam over the next year. I
said then that I was making that decision despite our concern over increased
enemy activity in Laos, Cambodia, and in South Vietnam.
At that time, I
warned that if I concluded that increased enemy activity in any fo these areas
endangered lives of Americans remaining in Vietnam, I would not hesitate to take
strong and effective measures.
Despite that warning, North Vietnam has
increased its military aggression in all these areas, and particularly in
Cambodia.
After full consultation with the National Security Council,
Ambassador Bunker, General Abrams, and my other advisors, I have concluded that
the actions of the enemy in the last 10 days clearly endanger the lives of
Americans who are in Vietnam now and would constitute an unacceptable risk to
those who will be there after withdrawal of another 150,000.
To protect our
men who are in Vietnam and to guarantee the continued success of our withdrawal
and Vietnamization programs, I have concluded that the time has come for
action.
Tonight, I shall describe the actions of the enemy, the actions I
have ordered to deal with that situation, and the reasons for my decision.
Cambodia, a small country of 7 million people, has been a neutral nation since
the Geneva agreement of 1954 an agreement, incidentally, which was signed by the
Government of North Vietnam.
American policy since then has been to
scrupulously respect the neutrality of the Cambodian people. We have maintained
a skeleton diplomatic mission of fewer than 15 in Cambodia's capital, and that
only since last August. For the previous 4 years, from 1965 to 1969, we did not
have any diplomatic mission whatever in Cambodia. And for the past 5 years, we
have provided no military assistance whatever and no economic assistance to
Cambodia.
North Vietnam, however, has not respected that neutrality.
For
the past 5 years as indicated on this map that you see here North Vietnam has
occupied military sanctuaries all along the Cambodian frontier with South
Vietnam. Some of these extend up to 20 miles into Cambodia.... In cooperation
with the armed forces of South Vietnam, attacks are being launched this week to
clean out major enemy sanctuaries on the Cambodian Vietnam border.
A major
responsibility for the ground operations is being assumed by South Vietnamese
forces....
There is one area, however, immediately above Parrot's Beak, where
I have concluded that a combined American and South Vietnamese operation is
necessary.
Tonight, American and South Vietnamese units will attack the
headquarters for the entire Communist military operation in South Vietnam. This
key control center has been occupied by the North Vietnamese and Vietcong for 5
years in blatant violation of Cambodia's neutrality.
This is not an invasion
of Cambodia. The areas in which these attacks will be launched are completely
occupied and controlled by North Vietnamese forces. Our purpose is not to occupy
the areas. Once enemy forces are driven out of these sanctuaries and once their
military supplies are destroyed, we will withdraw....
We take this action not
for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia but for the purpose of ending
the war in Vietnam and winning the just peace we all desire. We have made we
will continue to make every possible effort to end this war through negotiation
at the conference table rather than through more fighting on the
battlefield....
The action that I have announced tonight puts the leaders of
North Vietnam on notice that we will be patient in working for peace; we will be
conciliatory at the conference table, but we will not be humiliated. We will not
be defeated. We will not allow American men by the thousands to be killed by an
enemy from privileged sanctuaries....
My fellow Americans, we live in an age
of anarchy, both abroad and at home. We see mindless attacks on all the great
institutions which have been created by free civilizations in the last 500
years. Even here in the United States, great universities are being
systematically destroyed....
If, when the chips are down, the world's most
powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless
giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and
free institutions throughout the world.
It is not our power but our will and
character that is being tested tonight....
I have rejected all political
considerations in making this decision....
Whether my party gains in November
is nothing compared to the lives of 400,000 brave Americans fighting for our
country and for the cause of peace and freedom in Vietnam. Whether I may be a
one-term President is insignificant compared to whether by our failure to act in
this crisis the United States proves itself to be unworthy to lead the forces of
freedom in this critical period in world history. I would rather be a one-term
President and do what I believe is right than to be a two-term President at the
cost of seeing America become a second rate power and to see this Nation accept
the first defeat in its proud 190-year history....
SOURCE: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1970, pp.405-409.