Introduction
President Nixon would not survive the four years of his second term as pressures from the Watergate scandal investigation led him to resign the office in August of 1974. It was not only the first time that a sitting president had resigned, but there was the unique problem of succession of the presidency after Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew, also had to resign over corruption charges. Then Speaker of the House, Gerald Ford, became the first president to hold office without ever winning a state-wide or national election (as a member of the House, he had only been elected from his district). President Ford would pardon Nixon for his crimes and continue with his administration to pursue the goals of detente. It was during this time that the Vietnam War finally came to an end. In this short excerpt, President Ford speaks to the nation and tries to balance a sense of respect over the loss of the war and elevating Americans' spirits by reminding them of the values we stand for and the opportunities still before us on the eve of our bicentennial celebrations.
President Nixon would not survive the four years of his second term as pressures from the Watergate scandal investigation led him to resign the office in August of 1974. It was not only the first time that a sitting president had resigned, but there was the unique problem of succession of the presidency after Nixon's Vice President, Spiro Agnew, also had to resign over corruption charges. Then Speaker of the House, Gerald Ford, became the first president to hold office without ever winning a state-wide or national election (as a member of the House, he had only been elected from his district). President Ford would pardon Nixon for his crimes and continue with his administration to pursue the goals of detente. It was during this time that the Vietnam War finally came to an end. In this short excerpt, President Ford speaks to the nation and tries to balance a sense of respect over the loss of the war and elevating Americans' spirits by reminding them of the values we stand for and the opportunities still before us on the eve of our bicentennial celebrations.
"...On January 8, 1815, a monumental American victory was achieved here—the Battle of New Orleans. Louisiana had been a State for less than three years, but outnumbered Americans innovated, outnumbered Americans used the tactics of the frontier to defeat a veteran British force trained in the strategy of the Napoleonic wars.
We as a nation had suffered humiliation and a measure of defeat in the War of 1812. Our National Capital in Washington had been captured and burned. So, the illustrious victory in the Battle of New Orleans was a powerful restorative to our national pride.
Yet, the victory at New Orleans actually took place two weeks after the signing of the armistice in Europe. Thousands died although a peace had been negotiated. The combatants had not gotten the word. Yet, the epic struggle nevertheless restored America's pride.
Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned. As I see it, the time has come to look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the Nation's wounds, and to restore its health and its optimistic self-confidence.
In New Orleans, a great battle was fought after a war was over. In New Orleans tonight, we can begin a great national reconciliation. The first engagement must be with the problems of today, but just as importantly, the problems of the future. That is why I think it is so appropriate that I find myself tonight at a university which addresses itself to preparing young people for the challenge of tomorrow.
I ask that we stop refighting the battles and the recriminations of the past. I ask that we look now at what is right with America, at our possibilities and our potentialities for change and growth and achievement and sharing. I ask that we accept the responsibilities of leadership as a good neighbor to all peoples and the enemy of none. I ask that we strive to become, in the finest American tradition, something more tomorrow than we are today.
Instead of my addressing the image of America, I prefer to consider the reality of America. It is true that we have launched our Bicentennial celebration without having achieved human perfection, but we have attained a very remarkable self-governed society that possesses the flexibility and the dynamism to grow and undertake an entirely new agenda, an agenda for America's third century.
So, I ask you to join me in helping to write that agenda. I am as determined as a President can be to seek national rediscovery of the belief in ourselves that characterized the most creative periods in our Nation's history. The greatest challenge of creativity, as I see it, lies ahead.
We, of course, are saddened indeed by the events in Indochina. But these events, tragic as they are, portend neither the end of the world nor of America's leadership in the world.
Let me put it this way, if I might. Some tend to feel that if we do not succeed in everything everywhere, then we have succeeded in nothing anywhere. I reject categorically such polarized thinking. We can and we should help others to help themselves. But the fate of responsible men and women everywhere, in the final decision, rests in their own hands, not in ours.
America's future depends upon Americans—especially your generation, which is now equipping itself to assume the challenges of the future, to help write the agenda for America...."
We as a nation had suffered humiliation and a measure of defeat in the War of 1812. Our National Capital in Washington had been captured and burned. So, the illustrious victory in the Battle of New Orleans was a powerful restorative to our national pride.
Yet, the victory at New Orleans actually took place two weeks after the signing of the armistice in Europe. Thousands died although a peace had been negotiated. The combatants had not gotten the word. Yet, the epic struggle nevertheless restored America's pride.
Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned. As I see it, the time has come to look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the Nation's wounds, and to restore its health and its optimistic self-confidence.
In New Orleans, a great battle was fought after a war was over. In New Orleans tonight, we can begin a great national reconciliation. The first engagement must be with the problems of today, but just as importantly, the problems of the future. That is why I think it is so appropriate that I find myself tonight at a university which addresses itself to preparing young people for the challenge of tomorrow.
I ask that we stop refighting the battles and the recriminations of the past. I ask that we look now at what is right with America, at our possibilities and our potentialities for change and growth and achievement and sharing. I ask that we accept the responsibilities of leadership as a good neighbor to all peoples and the enemy of none. I ask that we strive to become, in the finest American tradition, something more tomorrow than we are today.
Instead of my addressing the image of America, I prefer to consider the reality of America. It is true that we have launched our Bicentennial celebration without having achieved human perfection, but we have attained a very remarkable self-governed society that possesses the flexibility and the dynamism to grow and undertake an entirely new agenda, an agenda for America's third century.
So, I ask you to join me in helping to write that agenda. I am as determined as a President can be to seek national rediscovery of the belief in ourselves that characterized the most creative periods in our Nation's history. The greatest challenge of creativity, as I see it, lies ahead.
We, of course, are saddened indeed by the events in Indochina. But these events, tragic as they are, portend neither the end of the world nor of America's leadership in the world.
Let me put it this way, if I might. Some tend to feel that if we do not succeed in everything everywhere, then we have succeeded in nothing anywhere. I reject categorically such polarized thinking. We can and we should help others to help themselves. But the fate of responsible men and women everywhere, in the final decision, rests in their own hands, not in ours.
America's future depends upon Americans—especially your generation, which is now equipping itself to assume the challenges of the future, to help write the agenda for America...."
Questions
- At the close of the Vietnam War, what does President Ford urge Americans to focus on? Why?
- How does President Ford mark the end of the Vietnam War?
- What is the "image" of America that President Ford refers to?
- What is the "reality" of America that President Ford refers to?
- Why does President Ford ask Americans to ignore the "image" and focus on "reality?"
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.
Gerald Ford, Address at Tulane University, April 23, 1975, in Public Papers of the Presidents: Gerald R. Ford, 1975 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1977), 568-573.
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.
Gerald Ford, Address at Tulane University, April 23, 1975, in Public Papers of the Presidents: Gerald R. Ford, 1975 (Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1977), 568-573.
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