MORE COMMONSENSE FROM SENATOR FULBRIGHT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000500090006-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 30, 2003
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: February 2, 1966
• Content Type: OPEN

CON2GRESSIONAL 11RTCORD
Approved For Release 2Qx/l0?1/gyCIA2~Y)P75-0 149R000500090006-5
MORE COMMONSENSE FROM
SENATOR FULBRIGHT
Mr. McGOVERN, Mr. President, will
the Senator from Arkansas yield to me?
Mr. McCLELLAN. Mr. President, I
ask unanimous consent that the remarks
of all the Senators who have preceded
me, and to whom I have yielded, precede
in the RECORD the remarks I shall make.
I should like to preserve the continuity
of my remarks. I feel certain that no
.Senator will object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there
objection? The Chair hears none, and
it is so ordered.
Mr. McCLELLAN. Mr. President. un-
der the same conditions on which I have
yielded to other Senators, I now yield
to the distinguished Senator from South
Dakota.
Mr. McGOVERN. I thank the Sena-
tor front Arkansas for yielding to me. I
asked him to yield for the purpose of
obtaining unanimous consent to place
in the RFcono a transcript of the dis-
cussion between the distinguished chair-
man of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee [Mr. FULanICHT) and two
noted Columbia Broadcasting System
news correspondents, Mr. Eric Scvareid
and Mr. Martin Agronsky. The discus-
sion took place on the CBS Network be-
twecn 10:30 and 11 o'clock last night,
Eastern Standard Time. It was another
impressive demonstration of Senator
FULIRICHT'S uncommon commonsense.
Much of the discussion centered around
the issue of Vietnam, and our policy not
only in that country, but in other parts
of Asia as well. The discussion was a
most thoughtful, interesting, and forth-
right, statement of the issues.
Near the end of the broadcast, Mr.
Sevareid asked Senator FVLBRXCHT if he
thought that high ranking public officials
could afford the luxury of public pessi-
rnisrrl, Senator FULBRIGHT offered what
I believe to be a perfect answer.
He said:
It seems to me that we All get along
better If we say what we think, whether It
Is pessimistic or optimistic.
That Is a good admonition to all of us.
It, is sometimes difficult to speak out on
controversial questions, particularly at a
time when our country is committed to
battle. No one enjoys the prospect of
having his words twisted in such a way
as to imply that he has somehow under-
cut what our troops are trying to accom-
plish or has undercut the national in-
terest in any way, But there has never
been a time in our history when plain,
honest talk was so desperately needed.
And every Senator speaks for war or
peace by his silence as well as by his
words.
We are involved in what I believe is
the most dangerous venture in which this
country has ever been engaged. We must
turn every possible stone in an effort to
end this war and to bring it to a con-
clusion before we are pulled into what
would be the most disastrous develop-
ment that anyone could imagine, and
that is a major all-out war on the Asian
mainland.
In my judgment the great generals
who have warned us against that in the
past have been absolutely right. I be-
lieve that it would be calamitous for this
country to take steps which would bring
on such a war.
I hope that we will do everything we
can to prevent that. I believe that the
President wants to avoid that kind of a
conflict but he needs to hear our honest
convictions about this ill-advised venture
in Vietnam.
One way to avoid an even larger con-
flict is by honest talk.. If Senators will
only speak out and say what they really
Approved For Release 2004/01/16 : CIA-RDP75-00149R000500090006-5 Continued
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