EXCEPTS FROM FULBRIGHT'S SPEECH ON VIETNAM WAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000200910006-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 18, 1999
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 29, 1966
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

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Sanitized - AN4Wvganilin:444Wase : 61N-Iii314n6-
OlAb3b
Excerpts FrondAlbright's Speech on Vietnam War
? Following are excerpts from
the speech prepared for delivery
by Senator J. W. Fulbright be-
fore the Bureau of Advertising
'of the American Newspaper
Publishers Association las
` I would like to talk with
you tonight about the fallout
? effects of the Vietnamese VVa
r in three areas -- our relations
S with the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe, relations
with our allies in Western
.Europe and the internal Im-
ipact within the ' United
? States.
, Because some of my obser-
vations will be critical of
!? American policy, it seems .in '
,.order to say a preliminary
word about criticism. I believe
;that the citizen who criticizes
...his country is paying it an
.tlinplied tribute: at the very
sleass it means that he has.
',not given up on his country,..
that he still has hopes for it. ,
More often, the critic is moti-
vated by high regard for the
society he lives in and. for
, its promise; in this case the
vigor of bis criticism ? is the.
1, measure of the gap he per-
ceives between promise and
,Iperforrnance. The ideological
aspect of the Vietnamese war'
;I is slowly undermining good ,
relations between the 'United '
,1States and Eastern Europe.'
The detente whose progress
s was generating such optimism
hardly more than a year ago,'
has boon arrested and a slow,
! steady erosion has set in.
How far It will go, ',and 4
,with. what 'unforttinate re-
'suits, will be determined by,.
'the future course and scale.
, of, the war in Vietnam.,
Restraint by Russians
The principal reason why
,.. things are not a !lot
worse than they are is the
restraint shown by the Rus- ?
sians with respeot to the war.'
They are providing the North
Vietnamese with a steady
'flow of supplies, Including the.
,
ground-to-air missiles that are .
used against American aircraft
but they show no inclination '
to participate directly in the:,
war and even their anti-Amer
? can propaganda is compara-
tively mild. '
If positions were reversed,
/if the Russians were conduct-
tug daily bombin'graids
against an American ally, it',,
Is just about inconceivable
that ? we would confine our-i
i' selves to providing equipment
':to the ckuntry under attack.:
If we did, one can well im-'
*gine the field day the super-
patriots would have charging ,
!, our Government with coward-
'.ice and treason. ? ,
My feeling abut the matter
that.fs the Russians arc
frightened Mititrily b
cause of ou
but also because of our er- Vietnamese war was a con-
ratio behaviour in such places sular convention between the
..as Vietnam and the Domini- Soviet Union and the United
oast Republic, which may. States signed in June, 11184,
make our policies seem, from. and still unratified by the
their viewpoint, dangerously Senate although it was re-
unpredictable. ported favorably by the For-
What is wrong with that? eign Relationa Committee
my he naked hat is' last Aug. 3. The convention
wro with It 6 this it rite ma y
a
Soviet-American relations on for the facilitation of travel
an exceedingly unstable basis, i and the orderly conduct of
Though' not as powerful as ? business between the Ooviet
the United States, Russia is Union and the United States.
a very great power and it Is,.Approved by Committee
unlikely to be restrained in-
definitely by fear of the Opposition developed oVer
United States. this treaty after Its approval
As long as the Vietnamese ly the Foreign Relations
war is fought on its present c ommittee. J. Edgar Hoover
' was widely quoted as having
said that the establishment
of Soviet consulates would
make the work of the F.B.I.
' "more difficult." And a right-
wing extremist organization
Called the Liberty Lobby
deluged Senators with mail
.denouncing the treaty.
, Another straVir in an Ill
wind was the rupture last
year of negotiations between
the .Rumanian Government
and the Firestone Tire and
Rubber Company for the de-
sign and engineering of . two
synthetic rubber plants as
the result of pressures an-
, plied in an anti-Communist
crusade conducted by a jun-
'ior extremist organization
and a Firestone competitor.
. The Vietnamese war thus
, far has had three major "fall-
out' effects on East-West re-
lations: first, it hag generat-
led a 'degree of hostility
toward the United States on
1:.the part of Eastern European
nations which otherwise , are
'most anxious to expand eco,
nomic, cultural and even po-
litical relations with the
, West; second, it has weak-
cried the drive of the Eastern
scale, the, Ruasiana may? re-
main essentially outside of the
? conflitt ? although that la
by no means certain. But if .
the war is significantly ex-
panded, the Russians will be
brought under molinting
Chinese goading for standing,
aside while the Americans
devastate a Soviet ally. With
their prestige thus Impaired,.
fear could give way to anger,
and the Russinas might then
take the enormous risk of
direct intervention in the War.
Loss of Opportunities
?For
the present, the main .
fallout effect of the war on
, East-West relations is the loss
of the opportunities associated
'with the American policy of
building bridges to the East.,
The' significance of that loss'
is great indeed; it amounts to
the suspension of progress to-
!ward normal relations between
the two great nations which
hold the power of life and
-death Over all: of humanity.
One may hope that that hope-
full evolution of Soviet-Amen-
can relations will be resumed,
but it certainlycannot be
counted upon.
? Soviet-American cooperation European countries toward
In bringing abOut the cease-!! r greater independence of the
fire lust 'September In the 'Soviet Union; third, it, has
India-Pakistan war is one ex. . put a severe strain on the
ample of the kind of beneficial'Soviet-American ? detente, re-
collaboration that the clueing whatever hope ,there
trimness , war makes in-
may
have been for a general
'nuclear test ban and a non-
jproliferation? agreement.
?, East-West relations now
'hinge on the war in Vietnam.
If it goes on indefinitely, or
If it is greatly escalated, it
'will destroy prospects for ac-
commodation on issues
'lug from from trade to arms con-1
strols and the future of Ger-
many, and eventually it may
bring the ,Ruaslins?tos say
nothing of the, Chinese?Into
direct conflict with the 'Unit-.
ed States. If 'these things
happen,- then the fallout from
;Vietnam will indeed be far
more destructive than the
si.var Itself. , .
more ,than an accident and Effects on Allies , ?
to reassure. people in general 'The effects ()Utile Vietria-1:
butt the 'cold war was still !nleso..war on America's rela-$,
creasingly. difficult.
There are other areas of
the world, and other kinds of
Issues, on which the Russians
and Americana could collabo- ?
rate through the United Na-
tions, but for the fallout from
Vietnam,
Even at the time of the
Kashmir ? war, however,
American officials were at
pains to describe their coop-
eration with the Russians as
a policy of "parallelism," us-
ing that word, apparently, to
dispel the notion that any
similarity in Soviet and
American interests could be.
,to assess. ?
?
The msst obvisiis fart is
that our major allies are not
sunnorting es in Vietnem.
'There are three possible ex-,
planations for their refusal
to participate in the war,
each of which, if valid, sug-
gests that there is something
as-ear A......La- believe First, they may
that it simply does not mat-
ter, from the viewpoint of ?
their own security, who .wins
the Vietnamese war. Or, sec-
ondly, they may; believe that
their security is affected but
there is no point in becoming
Involved because the United
Ststes, under what has, been
called the ''Rusk doctrine."
is imilateralle committed to
resist any and all threats to
the free world' and will take
all the risks and accept all
the costs regardless of what
anyone else does.
And finally, our allies may
have judged that it la neither
necessary nor. possible ,for a
Western artily to fight a sue- ?
cessful land war on the Asian
mainland and that- their se-. '
curity, and ours, can be de--
fended from the islands and
waters off the coast of Asia
where our sea and air power
is dominant.
' It is contended by Ameri-
can policy-makers that if the
United Statea makes major
concessions in Vietnam the
credibility of our other guar-
anteea arid commitments will
be Undermined and countries
which depend on American
support, from Thailand to
German, will lose faith in the
United States.
As H. L. Mencken once said
there is something in this but
not much. In fact, many of
America's allies are more in-
clined to worry about an
undue American preoccupatio
with Vietnam than to fear
the consequences of an Ameri-
can withdrawal, provided that
withdrawal were orderly and
based on a negotiated agrees
! Effect on NATO Seen
I suspect that the American
involVement in Vietnam has
something to do with the cur-
rent crisis in NATO. Presi-
dent de Gaulle said as Much
In his press conference of last
Feb. 21, citing as one reason
for his decision to withdraw
French forces from NATO
what he perceives to be a darn.
ger that the United States
may drag its European part-
ners into non-European wars.
One detects in Europe a
growing uneasiness about
American policy, a feeling that
the United States is becoming
unreliable and that it may be
better ? safer, that --- to
keep the Americans at
. .
11 Faru404,403ClakiViali, alifIttitoo
Raniti7pc1 AppmvpCiPaWeacp ? CIA-Rnp75_nni4gRnnronng1n106-7
I can to look at his country am'
i a European may see it. I
! would guess that the European
, (looking at America today ,
I. feels overaWed rather than re-
assured by our tremendous
. power ? by the power of our
tl nuclear weapons and rockets
and the power of the world's
- greatest and possibly fastest
growing economy.
' In in irrational but human
, way they may be more ap-
palled than impressed by the
,, existence of such great power,
even though they , are de-
prudent on It for their own ,
i security.
ra?? I am Inclined to wonder
t to if the current reluctance '
V of European ciuntries to ac-
cept reeponsibilities outside ofi
?. their own region is not in-
directly related to the Anvil-
,
can military involvement in',
,. southeast Asia. '
,
, Insofar as that involvement ,
. implies a willingness on the '
part of the United States to
i' act as a global policeman, ,
'even though it must da so
' with no more than token sup- .
port from a few allies, Euro-'.
\ peens maybe encouraged to
believe that, even if their..
interests are involved in Viet-
; nam or in any other crisis '
. , there is really no need to get'
Involved because the Arnett-,
e: cans will take care of it any-
' "Way.
'War Fever' Seen
The war in southeast ,A.sla
1 iris affected the internal life
of the United States in two
' imnortant? ways: it has di.
vorted our energies from the
Great Society' program which
b egan so promisingly a. year;
ago, an d it has generated the,
beginning of a war fever m'
the minds ,of the American.
people and their leaders. ,
Despite brave talk about
r having both "guns and but-
1 l!'tei," the Vietnamese war has,
r, already had a destructive ef-L.
feet on the Great Society. They.
89th Congress, ,which enacted
if so much important domestie.
ll legislation in 1965, is enact-
',Ing very little in 1966, partiy;,
f, it is true beeause of lest
. year's ulnuslutt produetivity;
3 but more beoanse ? the'
Congress as a Whole has lost,'
%interest'in the 'Great SOCiety; ,!
; it , has become/ !politically,
and psychologically :'?1,4"war',
t,Coni1'eseM,:%.0,4)11i2LUW+Sii
MY. own views that there ,.'frontation-and "models" of In-
is a kind of madness In the surgency and count e ri n-
facile assumption that wesurgency: In Latin America
can raise the many billions they seem more Interested in
of dollars necessary to re-,I , testing ,the "images" of
build our Schools' and cities armies than in the progress.
and public transport and of social reform.
eliminate the pollution of air
,
and water while also spend-
Change In Attention
ing stens of billions to finance There can be no doubt that
an 'open-ended" war In Asia. the major , cause of this,
But even if the material- change in our national ye-,
resources can somehow be cabulary is the war. Just
drawn from an expanding about every day millions of
? economy, I do not think that Americans see stories and pic-,
the spiritual resources will tures of battle on the front
long be forthcoming from an pages of their newspapers and
angry, and disappointed pee- on their television screens, All'
,pie. this war news must have its4
There is a kind of Gres- effects: the diversion of at;:
ham's law of public policy: tention from domestic pur-%
fear drives out hope, security suits, the gradual dehumaniv:
precedes welfare and it is fug of the enemy, rising levels'.
only to the extent that 'a" ;'of tension, anger, war-wear-.
'country is successful in the Mess and bellicosity. ?
prevention of bad things that 1 America is showing some
It Is set free to concentrate signs of that fatal presume-
on those pursuits which bring tion, that overextension of
happiness into the lives of its power and mission, which
people, ' brought ruin ? th ancient,.
' Athens, to Napbleonlc Prance
and to Nazi ? Gerniany. The,
:process has hardly begun, but
the war which we are now,'
. fighting can only; aceelerate,'
It, 1, ?
If the war goes on and ex.,,
panda, if that fatal process
continues to accelerate until'
America becomes what it is
not now and never has been,'
a seeker after unlimited now
The' 'turning,' away from
these pursuits after so brief
an interlude Is the first and
at present more conspicuous
fallout effect of the war on
American life.
' The. second, and potentially
,
snore damaging,, is the stir-'
ring up of a war fever in the
'minds of our people and lead.:
era; it is only just now get-
ting under way, but, as the
war goes on, as the casualty 'er and empire, then Vie nit.
, lista grow longer and affeot 'will have had a mighty and. ,
more and more American y .tragic fallout indeed. ? f
, homes, the fever will rise and ; I ,do \ not believe that wilt'
' the patience of the American' ;happen, I am very apprehen-:
people will give way ' to. :isive bid ,I still.,remain hope-:
. mounting demands for an ex-, ''ful, and even Confident, thatl
pandcd war, for a lightning ,, Anievica, with its ,hUrriane and,
blow that will get it over With. democratic ? traditions, ' 'ivili ,
at a stroke. find the Wisdom 4o match i
There has already been a'i Iloweir,,, ),.,,.,,`,' P, ..,,,,:.,- ,.;,;;?,; 4'..,..'1',.
'. Marked change in the kinds ,?,44,..:11t.*.'4ea-''ek'41.;..ea
of things we think about and,
' talk about In America. A few,'
' years ago ? even scene'
months ago--we were talking'
of detente and "building,.
:bridges," of five-year plans in.
: India and Pakistan, of agri-ir
'? cultural cooperatives ? in the,
'Dominican Republic and land',
' and tax reform all over Latin!:
America. ? ? , ? ? ,
! ? Today these' subjects have
an antique ring. Instead df ,
`..,cinphasizing plans' ?for social
:1'
change, the policy,. plannere
:and ,political scientists ' are -1
['conjuring ,np 4iscenarlos", pti
4SeekirtieettriknitAiel4st', con!4 .,
() APR 2 9 1966'.
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