Radio Spot featuring Senator Bob Dole on the Repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Item

Other Media: c031_015.mp3; c031_015_tr.txt

Transcription (Scripto): Read Full Text Only (TXT)
Extent (Dublin Core): 2 Minutes, 52 Seconds
File Name (Dublin Core): c031_015
Title (Dublin Core): Radio Spot featuring Senator Bob Dole on the Repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Description (Dublin Core): Senator Bob Dole and Senator J. William Fulbright discuss their recent votes in the repeal of the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution with reporters. Each explains their strategy and why they voted the way they did.
Date (Dublin Core): 1970-06-24
Date Created (Dublin Core): 1970-06-24
Congress (Dublin Core): 91st (1969-1971)
Topics (Dublin Core): See all items with this value Parliamentary practice; See all items with this value Vietnam War, 1961-1975; See all items with this value Tonkin Gulf Incidents, 1964
Policy Area (Curation): Congress
Creator (Dublin Core): Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021
Record Type (Dublin Core): radio programs
Names (Dublin Core): See all items with this value Fulbright, J. William (James William), 1905-1995
Rights (Dublin Core): http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
Language (Dublin Core): eng
Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core): https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/findingaid&id=84&q=
Physical Collection (Dublin Core): Collection 031, Box 1
Institution (Dublin Core): Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Archival Collection (Dublin Core): Dole Audio Reels Collection, 1960-1979
Full Text (Extract Text): Speaker 1: In Washington, in circumstances which had a distinctly Never-Neverland quality, the Senate voted 81-10 to repeal the 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which provided the legal base for stepping up the war in Vietnam. Repeal can have no immediate effect since the troops are already there and President Nixon has a constitutional obligation to protect their lives. There was something rather weird and wonderful about the voting. Senator J. W. Fulbright, who had campaigned for repeal for years, voted against repeal, and the sponsor was a veteran hawk — Senator Dole of Kansas — who, Fulbright complained, had followed irregular procedure. Dole agreed. He said he introduced the motion without warning because, as a pro-administration Republican, he wouldn't even have been recognized by the Senate leaders had he given advanced warning.

Bob Dole: That was rather deliberate. I may never be recognized again to do anything, but I was recognized then, and we'd had this in mind for some time — not to upstage Senator [Charles] Mathias, a friend of mine who has worked very hard on this, or Senator Fulbright, who is the chairman of that committee. But I have been in the Congress ten years and I've learned what happens to members of the minority and their amendments if they become public knowledge.

William Fulbright: I voted against this one because of the irregular procedure followed.

Dole: Senator Fulbright’s been sustaining himself ever since he voted for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, hoping for the day that he could introduce the repeal, and this may have been a physical setback of some kind.

Fulbright: Well, It's — I said on the floor that a man who -— like — such as [Senator George] McGovern and [Senator Mark] Hatfield who have put a lot of time and effort upon their resolution, and they've talked about it, it's become identified with their efforts to steal — that is not unlike stealing a man’s cow or his pocketbook.

Dole: Well, this is National Dairy Month, and I had no intention of stealing a cow. I like milk. Woman Reporter: Senator, how are you going to explain your vote today back home?

Fulbright: I've already explained it to you, don’t you understand?

Woman Reporter: But there are people back home who —

Fulbright: Well, the same way -— I'll have to do it. But when it comes to vote on the other that will explain it, won't it?

Woman Reporter: You think the people back home are going to understand?

Fulbright: Maybe not today or tomorrow -— that all depends on how well you report this meeting — whether or not the media is effective or not. That’s my great trouble. If the media is reasonably effective, they will understand it. If it's not, they won't. I'll have to do it myself.

Speaker 2: The general impression in Washington this morning was that Fulbright would have to do it himself.

Position: 2791 (2 views)