Question

ead the passage from a speech on Vietnam given by President Nixon in 1969.

“For the future of peace, precipitate withdrawal would thus be a disaster of immense magnitude.
—A nation cannot remain great if it betrays its allied and lets down its friends.
—Our defeat and humiliation in South Vietnam without question would promote recklessness in the councils of those great powers who have not yet abandoned their goals of world conquest.
—This would spark violence wherever our commitments help maintain the peace—in the Middle East, in Berlin, eventually even in the Western Hemisphere . . .
For these reasons, I rejected the recommendation that I should end the war by immediately withdrawing all of our forces.”
—President Richard Nixon
Address to the nation
Nov. 3, 1969

What foreign policy direction does the President say the United States should follow?

The US should withdraw its military forces from Vietnam as quickly as is possible.
The US should not withdraw from Vietnam, because that would cause problems elsewhere.
The US should turn its attention from Vietnam to the Middle East, Berlin, and the Western Hemisphere.
The goal of US foreign policy, if American troops leave Vietnam, should be one of world conquest.

Answer 1

The US should not withdraw from Vietnam, because that would cause problems elsewhere.

Nixon argues that a precipitate withdrawal would betray allies, encourage hostile powers, and spark violence in other regions, so he rejected immediate withdrawal.