Speaker 1: A columnist in Boston once wrote, “If you like Richard Nixon, you'll love Robert Dole.” Maybe that's one reason the president chose Senator Dole as the new Republican National Chairman. Obviously, it would be only one reason; the main one would be that the president thought Dole could do the job as he wanted it done. The senator was born in Russell, Kansas, 47 years ago and is a lawyer by profession. During World War II, he was so grievously wounded in the right arm and shoulder that he has to shake hands with his left hand. Senator Dole wants to talk about why he supports President Nixon on Indochina.

Senator Bob Dole: I have on my mind a continuing situation that has gnawed at this country for nearly eight years, the war in Vietnam, a war that has claimed thousands of lives, ruptured our nation’s economy, and torn great holes in the fabric of our society. I want to discuss it because some who are responsible for its beginnings and its growth, now seek to make it Nixon's War.

Frequently, I have risen in the Senate — yes — to defend President Nixon's policy of Vietnamization, but also to set the record straight. There are some who ignore or distort the president's very successful efforts to bring it under control and to disengage from it. Many of the president's critics today were active in government circles in the early and middle 1960s. Almost without exception, they actively participated in or passively approved of the decisions that enmeshed us — for the second time in a generation — in an Asian land war. We should pause and reflect on just how we got into this war. Then we — our getting out - makes even more sense. Those of us who support the president have no doubt about his commitments to peace. We believe it transcends politics. To those who are opposing this president, but who supported Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, it is difficult to tell wnether they were sincere then and political now, whether it is only now that they are sincere, whether they have always been sincere but erred, whether they have always been political but wrong. It perhaps doesn't make much difference.

Then Richard Nixon came in, and where some — in fact many — joined in support of him in his approach to end the war. This approach was to train South Vietnamese troops to replace American troops. He called it Vietnamization — that American troops would no longer be called on to fight and die while Vietnamese troops played secondary and support roles. That approach, as we all know, is succeeding. Casualties are — yes — too high. One is too many. But in December 1970, 130 Americans were killed in action — the lowest monthly total since 1965. In fact, Vietnamization is succeeding so well, it is difficult for me to understand why such a policy is not drawing unanimous support from those who got us into the war and who now want us out.

Troop levels have been reduced by more than 200,000, and will be reduced 265,000 by May 1. There will be further announcements concerning further withdrawals by President Nixon prior to May 1.

I have made my position clear, time after time in the Senate, as we have faced up to the demands that we, in effect, surrender now, whatever the consequences. And we debated for weeks a so-called ‘Amendment to End the War,’ which would tie the president’s hands and rob him of options for peace. And President Nixon is worried — and rightly — about what his surrender or abandonment would do to the American spirit, as well as how it would affect world opinion of the territorial ambitions of the communist world. I share those concerns. I also hate war — I know of no member of Congress who does not. Certainly, Presidents Kennedy and Johnson did, and President Nixon does hate war and its awful consequences.

I agree with the statement of the Democrat National Chairman, Lawrence O'Brien, who once said, “As our president tries to convince the aggressors that their warfare must be abandoned, he must not be left to bear his heavy burdens alone.” Mr. O'Brien and those who put politics and presidential aspirations first may no longer feel that way, but I do, and I believe the vast majority of American people do too. Together we can help bring to our country and the world the realization of President Nixon's — and all Americans’ dream — a generation of peace in our lifetime. I can think of no greater goal, no greater priority.

Speaker 1: Senator Robert Dole, the Republican National Chairman.