Building for peace - Introduction
There are many nations involved in the fighting in Indochina. Tonight, all those nations, except one, announce their readiness to agree to a ceasefire. The time has come for the government of North Vietnam to join its neighbors in a proposal to quit making war and to start making peace.
Address to the Nation,
October 7, 1970
The allied sweeps into the North Vietnamese and Vietcong base areas along the Cambodia-South Vietnamese border will save American and allied lives in the future; will assure that the withdrawal of American troops from South Vietnam can proceed on schedule; will enable our program of Vietnamization to continue on its current timetable, should enhance the prospects for a just peace.
Report to the Nation,
June 30, 1970
The second describes the purposes of the allied operations last spring against enemy bases in Cambodia which helped to assure the progress of Vietnamization and our withdrawal program. These operations were crucial to our effort to reduce our involvement in the war in the absence of negotiations.
The Cambodian operations have borne immediate fruit, while our Indochina peace proposals have not yet done so. These two events thus symbolize what has been true in Vietnam since this administration took office: The South Vietnamese have made great progress in assuming the burdens of the war, a process which is in their hands and ours, but we have made little progress toward a negotiated peace, a process which requires Hanoi's participation.
After two years of the mandate by the American electorate, we can look back with satisfaction on the great distance we have traveled. This is my tenth major report on Indochina to the American people. The overall trend is consistent and unmistakable.
