75-05-A1
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Southeast Asia[edit]
Transcript[edit]America's sense of fair play may yet save South Vietnam and Cambodia. I'll be right back. Just a couple of weeks ago not many people would have given a plug nickel for the chances of more American aid to South Vietnam and Cambodia. The new Congress is far more liberal than the old and many longtime supporters of USAID led by Senator Henry Jackson were saying enough was enough, but a recent Congressional trip to South Vietnam and Cambodia showed that the more Americans learn about the true situation the better the chance we'll not leave our allies without ammunition. Take Congressman Paul McCloskey a liberal Republican from California. He was elected to Congress eight years ago in an anti-war campaign against Shirley Temple Black. He challenged President Nixon in the 1972 primaries on the war issue and has opposed American policy in Indochina at every stage. By the end of this recent trip even he was calling our Vietnamization program a military success, was impressed by the spirit and ability of some of the military units he inspected and said, quote, "I can't help but feel an awful lot of respect for what these people have accomplished." Unquote. A hawk was never made in a week but these are remarkable words coming from this particular congressman. As for Cambodia, Congresswoman Millicent Fenwick of New Jersey, another liberal republican who has opposed aid said she would probably support President Ford's request for supplemental aid to the government in Phnom Penh. According to one journalist every member of the delegation returned more favorable to American aid than before the trip with the single exception of Congresswoman Bella Abzug of Manhattan whose conversion, had it occurred, would have been more of a miracle than the parting of the Red Sea. What was the nature of this trip? What kind of brainwashing went on to elicit such surprising results? Simple. The Congressmen and women were permitted within limits of physical safety to go wherever they wanted and talk to whomever they liked. The contrast with their reception had they gone to North Vietnam was all too obvious, especially when they met with the North Vietnamese cease-fire delegation at Tan Son Nhat Airport. The exchange centered on American requests to the North Vietnamese regarding our soldiers still listed as missing in action. The arrogance and contempt of the North Vietnamese all filmed by television was such that the American group became visibly angry as the meeting progressed. At the end Congressman Bill Chapel, Democrat of Florida, leapt to his feet and announced that on the basis of this meeting alone he had switched from undecided to in favor of more aid to South Vietnam. In Cambodia the popularity the Communist cause was further underlined when the group interviewed six fourteen-year-old prisoners of war. They had been pressed into service by the Communists and sent into combat after four or five days training. They had no idea what they were supposed to be fighting about. Military aid to South Vietnam and Cambodia still has an uphill fight but it can only gain if more legislators go as these did to see for themselves what's really happening. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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