75-13-A2
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UNICEF[edit]
Transcript[edit]The American people are the most charitable and generous people in the world—maybe that's why once in awhile we get taken for a ride.—I’ll be right back. Colonel Robert D. Heine Jr. has just had a story published (a story I might add that appears to be fully documented) that indicating that advantage has been taken of American generosity. The Colonel asks if you were aware last Halloween when you gave trick or treat money for UNICEF—(the United Nations Childrens emergency fund) that you were helping the communist takeover of South Vietnam? I’m sure the answer from all of us would have to be—"No we didn’t know that." We're not only a generous people—we're darned ingenious at thinking up new and different ways to raise money for good causes. Usually the idea is to make giving easier and a mite less painful. In that framework it seemed logical and pretty cute to have our children sally forth on Halloween with cannisters to collect money for other less fortunate children in other parts of the world. The kids were successful, They collected $13,649,433 for Indochina alone—that is for the children of Indochina. It broke down to 61% for the communist enemy and 39% for South Vietnam. $6,313,130 went to Hanoi and almost $2 mil. more through Hanoi to the Viet Cong. I didn't really know the V.C. guerrila fighters had their children with them. Now before you say it let me say it first; children don't start wars and can't be responsible for what their national leaders do; and yes the enemy's children innocent of any wrongdoing should be helped not penalized if they are among the hungry and deprived of the world. So my remarks are not aimed at the fact that the lions share of our money wound up in enemy hands. No—the Colonel had more information about the results of our generosity. In South Vietnam we were in a position to check and make sure our benefactions by way of the United Nations did go to the children. There our money bought food and medicine largely. Not so in North Vietnam. No monitoring was permitted to see that the supplies shipped in thru Haiphong and dropped off at Hanoi actually reached the children. A UNICEF spokesman is quoted as saying, "UNICEF has no way to make sure the supplies to the communists got to children. They were dropped off at the airports and docks and we assume they were used as we intended." That would have been something to see—the children of Hanoi happily running trucks, bulldozers, heavy engineer construction equipment and construction tools and materials. Word of honor that was what Hanoi said it needed for the children of North Vietnam. Believe it or not they justified their choice by claiming it would be used to rebuild schools which naturally were the main targets of American bombers. The Viet Cong being in the field got mainly food, clothing and hard to get drugs-56 medicines. Incidentally the Viet Cong even by their own estimates are only 15% or less of the pop. of South Vietnam they received 2 and a half times as much in proportion to their numbers as did the rest of the S. Vietnamese. Well I guess we should remember the name of the game was trick or treat. We got tricked and they got the treat. I think next Halloween—we shouldn't be home. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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