Speech on Vietnam 1965 Lyndon B Johnson What President Kennedy pledged generally is his Inaugural Address in 1961 his successor President Johnson applies directly to Vietnam in 1965 Lyndon Johnson declares American objectives in deepening our involvement in the conflict in Vietnam in this speech delivered at Johns Hopkins University Over this war and all Asia is the deepening shadow of Communist China The rulers in Hanoi are urged on by Peking This is a regime which has destroyed freedom in Tibet attacked India and been condemned by the United Nations for aggression in Korea It is a nation which is helping the forces of violence in almost every continent The contest in Vietnam is part of a wider pattern of aggressive purpose Why are these realities our concern Why are we in South Vietnam We are there because we have a promise to keep Since 1954 every American President has offered support to the people of South Vietnam We have helped to build and we have helped to defend Thus over many years we have made a national pledge to help South Vietnam defend its independence And I intend to keep our promise To dishonor that pledge to abandon this small and brave nation to its enemy and to the terror that must follow would be an unforgivable wrong We are also there to strengthen world order Around the globe from Berlin to Thailand are people whose well being rests in part on the belief that they can count on us if they are attacked To leave Vietnam to its fate would shake the confidence of all these people in the value of American commitment the value of America s word The result would be increased unrest and instability and even wider war We are also there because there are great stakes in the balance Let no one think for a moment that retreat from Vietnam would bring an end to conflict The battle would be renewed in one country and then another The central lesson of our time is that the appetite of aggression is never satisfied To withdraw from one battlefield means only to prepare for the next We must say in Southeast Asia as we did in Europe in the words of the Bible Hitherto shalt thou come but no further There are those who say that all our effort there will be futile that China s power is such it is bound to dominate all Southeast Asia But there is no end to that argument until all the nations of Asia are swallowed up There are those who wonder why we have a responsibility there We have it for the same reason we have a responsibility for the defense of freedom in Europe World War II was fought in both Europe and Asia and when it ended we found ourselves with continued responsibility for the defense of freedom Our objective is the independence of South Vietnam and its freedom from attack We want nothing for ourselves only that the people of South Vietnam be allowed to guide their own country in their own way We will do everything necessary to reach that objective And we will do only what is absolutely necessary In recent months attacks on South Vietnam were stepped up Thus it became necessary to increase our response and to make attacks by air This is not a change of purpose It is a change in what we believe that purpose requires We do this in order to slow down aggression We do this to increase the confidence of the brave people of South Vietnam who have bravely borne this brutal battle for so many years and with so many casualties And we do this to convince the leaders of North Vietnam and all who seek to share their conquest of a very simple fact We will not be defeated We will not grow tired We will not withdraw either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement Once this is clear then it should also be clear that the only path for reasonable men is the path of peaceful settlement Such peace demands an independent South Vietnam securely guaranteed and able to shape its own relationships to all others free from outside interference tied to no alliance a military base for no other country These are the essentials of any final settlement We will never be second in the search for such a peaceful settlement in Vietnam There may be many ways to this kind of peace in discussion or negotiation with the governments concerned in large groups or in small ones in the reaffirmation of old agreements or their strengthening with new ones We have stated this position over and over again fifty times and more to friend and foe alike And we remain ready with this purpose for unconditional discussions And until that bright and necessary day of peace we will try to keep conflict from spreading We have no desire to see thousands die in battle Asians or Americans We have no desire to devastate that which the people of North Vietnam have built with toil and sacrifice We will use our power with restraint and with all the wisdom we can command But we will use it We will always oppose the effort of one nation to conquer another nation We will do this because our own security is at stake But there is more to it than that For our generation has a dream It is a very old dream But we have the power and now we have the opportunity to make it come true For centuries nations have struggled among each other But we dream of a world where disputes are settled by law and reason And we will try to make it so For most of history men have hated and killed one another in battle But we dream of an end to war And we will try to make it so For all existence most men have lived in poverty threatened by hunger But we dream of a world where all are fed and charged with hope And we will help to make it so The ordinary men and women of North Vietnam and South Vietnam of China and India of Russia and America are brave people They are filled with the same proportions of hate and fear of love and hope Most of them want the same things for themselves and their families Most of them do not want their sons ever to die in battle or see the homes of others destroyed Every night before I turn out the lights to sleep I ask myself this question Have I done everything that I can do to unite this country Have I done everything I can to help unite the world to try to bring peace and hope to all the peoples of the world Have I done enough Ask yourself that question in your homes and in this hall tonight Have we done all we could Have we done enough