Introduction
By the time President Johnson gave his January 14th, 1969 State of the Union Address, his term in the White House was only days away from ending. Having chosen not to run for reelection in 1968, Republican Richard Nixon won the presidency and was awaiting inauguration. President Johnson took this opportunity to revisit the conflict that had come to consume his entire presidency, Vietnam. Much like his address at Johns Hopkins University in 1965, he explains the validity of American troops serving in the Vietnam War. In this excerpt Johnson reminds the Congress and the nation of our pledge to the people of South East Asia and how our efforts point to hopeful optimism for the future.
By the time President Johnson gave his January 14th, 1969 State of the Union Address, his term in the White House was only days away from ending. Having chosen not to run for reelection in 1968, Republican Richard Nixon won the presidency and was awaiting inauguration. President Johnson took this opportunity to revisit the conflict that had come to consume his entire presidency, Vietnam. Much like his address at Johns Hopkins University in 1965, he explains the validity of American troops serving in the Vietnam War. In this excerpt Johnson reminds the Congress and the nation of our pledge to the people of South East Asia and how our efforts point to hopeful optimism for the future.
"We are in Vietnam because the United States of America and our allies are committed by the SEATO [South East Asia Treaty Organization] Treaty to "act to meet the common danger" of aggression in Southeast Asia.
We are in Vietnam because an international agreement signed by the United States, North Vietnam, and others in 1962 is being systematically violated by the Communists. That violation threatens the independence of all the small nations in Southeast Asia, and threatens the peace of the entire region and perhaps the world.
We are there because the people of South Vietnam have as much right to remain non-Communist -- if that is what they choose -- as North Vietnam has to remain Communist.
We are there because the Congress has pledged by solemn vote to take all necessary measures to prevent further aggression.
No better words could describe our present course than those once spoken by the great Thomas Jefferson:
"It is the melancholy law of human societies to be compelled sometimes to choose a great evil in order to ward off a greater."
We have chosen to fight a limited war in Vietnam in an attempt to prevent a larger war -- a war almost certain to follow, I believe, if the Communists succeed in overrunning and taking over South Vietnam by aggression and by force. I believe, and I am supported by some authority, that if they are not checked now the world can expect to pay a greater price to check them later.
That is what our statesmen said when they debated this treaty, and that is why it was ratified 82 to 1 by the Senate many years ago.
You will remember that we stood in Western Europe 20 years ago. Is there anyone in this Chamber tonight who doubts that the course of freedom was not changed for the better because of the courage of that stand?
Sixteen years ago we and others stopped another kind of aggression -- this time it was in Korea. Imagine how different Asia might be today if we had failed to act when the Communist army of North Korea marched south. The Asia of tomorrow will be far different because we have said in Vietnam, as we said 16 years ago in Korea: "This far and no further."
I think I reveal no secret when I tell you that we are dealing with a stubborn adversary who is committed to the use of force and terror to settle political questions.
I wish I could report to you that the conflict is almost over. This I cannot do. We face more cost, more loss, and more agony. For the end is not yet. I cannot promise you that it will come this year -- or come next year. Our adversary still believes, I think, tonight, that he can go on fighting longer than we can, and longer than we and our allies will be prepared to stand up and resist.
Our men in that area -- there are nearly 500,000 now -- have borne well "the burden and the heat of the day." Their efforts have deprived the Communist enemy of the victory that he sought and that he expected a year ago. We have steadily frustrated his main forces. General Westmoreland reports that the enemy can no longer succeed on the battlefield.
...One result of our stand in Vietnam is already clear.
It is this: The peoples of Asia now know that the door to independence is not going to be slammed shut. They know that it is possible for them to choose their own national destinies -- without coercion.
The performance of our men in Vietnam -- backed by the American people -- has created a feeling of confidence and unity among the independent nations of Asia and the Pacific. I saw it in their faces in the 19 days that I spent in their homes and in their countries. Fear of external Communist conquest in many Asian nations is already subsiding -- and with this, the spirit of hope is rising. For the first time in history, a common outlook and common institutions are already emerging.
...We are eager to turn our resources to peace. Our efforts in behalf of humanity I think need not be restricted by any parallel or by any boundary line. The moment that peace comes, as I pledged in Baltimore, I will ask the Congress for funds to join in an international program of reconstruction and development for all the people of Vietnam -- and their deserving neighbors who wish our help.
We shall continue to hope for a reconciliation between the people of Mainland China and the world community -- including working together in all the tasks of arms control, security, and progress on which the fate of the Chinese people, like their fellow men elsewhere, depends.
We would be the first to welcome a China which decided to respect her neighbors' rights. We would be the first to applaud her were she to apply her great energies and intelligence to improving the welfare of her people. And we have no intention of trying to deny her legitimate needs for security and friendly relations with her neighboring countries.
Our hope that all of this will someday happen rests on the conviction that we, the American people and our allies, will and are going to see Vietnam through to an honorable peace.
We will support all appropriate initiatives by the United Nations, and others, which can bring the several parties together for unconditional discussions of peace -- anywhere, any time. And we will continue to take every possible initiative ourselves to constantly probe for peace.
Until such efforts succeed, or until the infiltration ceases, or until the conflict subsides, I think the course of wisdom for this country is that we just must firmly pursue our present course. We will stand firm in Vietnam.
I think you know that our fighting men there tonight bear the heaviest burden of all. With their lives they serve their Nation. We must give them nothing less than our full support -- and we have given them that -- nothing less than the determination that Americans have always given their fighting men. Whatever our sacrifice here, even if it is more than $5 a month, it is small compared to their own.
How long it will take I cannot prophesy. I only know that the will of the American people, I think, is tonight being tested.
Whether we can fight a war of limited objectives over a period of time, and keep alive the hope of independence and stability for people other than ourselves; whether we can continue to act with restraint when the temptation to "get it over with" is inviting but dangerous; whether we can accept the necessity of choosing "a great evil in order to ward off a greater"; whether we can do these without arousing the hatreds and the passions that are ordinarily loosed in time of war -- on all these questions so much turns..."
We are in Vietnam because an international agreement signed by the United States, North Vietnam, and others in 1962 is being systematically violated by the Communists. That violation threatens the independence of all the small nations in Southeast Asia, and threatens the peace of the entire region and perhaps the world.
We are there because the people of South Vietnam have as much right to remain non-Communist -- if that is what they choose -- as North Vietnam has to remain Communist.
We are there because the Congress has pledged by solemn vote to take all necessary measures to prevent further aggression.
No better words could describe our present course than those once spoken by the great Thomas Jefferson:
"It is the melancholy law of human societies to be compelled sometimes to choose a great evil in order to ward off a greater."
We have chosen to fight a limited war in Vietnam in an attempt to prevent a larger war -- a war almost certain to follow, I believe, if the Communists succeed in overrunning and taking over South Vietnam by aggression and by force. I believe, and I am supported by some authority, that if they are not checked now the world can expect to pay a greater price to check them later.
That is what our statesmen said when they debated this treaty, and that is why it was ratified 82 to 1 by the Senate many years ago.
You will remember that we stood in Western Europe 20 years ago. Is there anyone in this Chamber tonight who doubts that the course of freedom was not changed for the better because of the courage of that stand?
Sixteen years ago we and others stopped another kind of aggression -- this time it was in Korea. Imagine how different Asia might be today if we had failed to act when the Communist army of North Korea marched south. The Asia of tomorrow will be far different because we have said in Vietnam, as we said 16 years ago in Korea: "This far and no further."
I think I reveal no secret when I tell you that we are dealing with a stubborn adversary who is committed to the use of force and terror to settle political questions.
I wish I could report to you that the conflict is almost over. This I cannot do. We face more cost, more loss, and more agony. For the end is not yet. I cannot promise you that it will come this year -- or come next year. Our adversary still believes, I think, tonight, that he can go on fighting longer than we can, and longer than we and our allies will be prepared to stand up and resist.
Our men in that area -- there are nearly 500,000 now -- have borne well "the burden and the heat of the day." Their efforts have deprived the Communist enemy of the victory that he sought and that he expected a year ago. We have steadily frustrated his main forces. General Westmoreland reports that the enemy can no longer succeed on the battlefield.
...One result of our stand in Vietnam is already clear.
It is this: The peoples of Asia now know that the door to independence is not going to be slammed shut. They know that it is possible for them to choose their own national destinies -- without coercion.
The performance of our men in Vietnam -- backed by the American people -- has created a feeling of confidence and unity among the independent nations of Asia and the Pacific. I saw it in their faces in the 19 days that I spent in their homes and in their countries. Fear of external Communist conquest in many Asian nations is already subsiding -- and with this, the spirit of hope is rising. For the first time in history, a common outlook and common institutions are already emerging.
...We are eager to turn our resources to peace. Our efforts in behalf of humanity I think need not be restricted by any parallel or by any boundary line. The moment that peace comes, as I pledged in Baltimore, I will ask the Congress for funds to join in an international program of reconstruction and development for all the people of Vietnam -- and their deserving neighbors who wish our help.
We shall continue to hope for a reconciliation between the people of Mainland China and the world community -- including working together in all the tasks of arms control, security, and progress on which the fate of the Chinese people, like their fellow men elsewhere, depends.
We would be the first to welcome a China which decided to respect her neighbors' rights. We would be the first to applaud her were she to apply her great energies and intelligence to improving the welfare of her people. And we have no intention of trying to deny her legitimate needs for security and friendly relations with her neighboring countries.
Our hope that all of this will someday happen rests on the conviction that we, the American people and our allies, will and are going to see Vietnam through to an honorable peace.
We will support all appropriate initiatives by the United Nations, and others, which can bring the several parties together for unconditional discussions of peace -- anywhere, any time. And we will continue to take every possible initiative ourselves to constantly probe for peace.
Until such efforts succeed, or until the infiltration ceases, or until the conflict subsides, I think the course of wisdom for this country is that we just must firmly pursue our present course. We will stand firm in Vietnam.
I think you know that our fighting men there tonight bear the heaviest burden of all. With their lives they serve their Nation. We must give them nothing less than our full support -- and we have given them that -- nothing less than the determination that Americans have always given their fighting men. Whatever our sacrifice here, even if it is more than $5 a month, it is small compared to their own.
How long it will take I cannot prophesy. I only know that the will of the American people, I think, is tonight being tested.
Whether we can fight a war of limited objectives over a period of time, and keep alive the hope of independence and stability for people other than ourselves; whether we can continue to act with restraint when the temptation to "get it over with" is inviting but dangerous; whether we can accept the necessity of choosing "a great evil in order to ward off a greater"; whether we can do these without arousing the hatreds and the passions that are ordinarily loosed in time of war -- on all these questions so much turns..."
Questions
- Quote and explain three phrases that illustrate three reasons why the United States is fighting in Vietnam.
- What historical evidence (precedence) does President Johnson cite as a need for being in Vietnam
- What does President Johnson state is a clear result of our nation's stand in Vietnam?
- How does President Johnson explain we can achieve peace in Vietnam?
Reference Sources
Engel, Jeffrey A., Mark Atwood. Lawrence, and Andrew Preston, eds.America in the World: A History in Documents from the War with Spain to the War on Terror. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2014. Print.
Lyndon B. Johnson: "Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union," January 14, 1969. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29333.
Engel, Jeffrey A., Mark Atwood. Lawrence, and Andrew Preston, eds.America in the World: A History in Documents from the War with Spain to the War on Terror. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2014. Print.
Lyndon B. Johnson: "Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union," January 14, 1969. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29333.
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