User:Indy beetle/Robert F. Kennedy's Vietnam War speech
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Senator Robert F. Kennedy's Vietnam War speech was delivered on March 2, 1967 before 20 United States Senators. In it he called for a stop to the bombardments in North Vietnam and proposed a three-point exit strategy for the United States in the Vietnam War.
Background
[edit]On February 16, 1967 Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York asked his aide, Adam Walinsky, to begin drafting a major speech on the Vietnam War.[1]
Speech
[edit]At 03:40 Kennedy rose in the Senate Chamber to speak. In attendance were 20 senators, the largest gathering of senators to hear a speech in several weeks. There in support of Kennedy were Mike Mansfield (the Senate Majority Leader), J. William Fulbright, George McGovern, Joseph S. Clark, Claiborne Pell, Albert Gore, Joseph Tydings, and John Sherman Cooper. In opposition to Kennedy were Everett Dirksen (the Senate Minority Leader), Robert Byrd, Henry M. Jackson, Frank Lausche, and Gale W. McGee. Also in attendance were Charles H. Percy and Edward Brooke.[2]
Summary
[edit]Aftermath
[edit]In response to critical nature of the speech, the Johnson administration leaked information to Washington Post columnist Drew Pearson, leading to an article accusing Kennedy of masterminding a plot as Attorney General to assassinate Fidel Castro. Pearson also said "some insiders" thought the supposed plot indirectly led to President John F. Kennedy's assassination and was a source of severe guilt for Robert Kennedy.[3]
Citations
[edit]- ^ Newfield 1988, p. 132
- ^ Palermo 2013, p. 47
- ^ Powers 2004, p. 204
References
[edit]- Crines, Andrew S.; Moon, David S.; Lehrman, Robert; Thody, Philip, eds. (2016). Democratic Orators from JFK to Barack Obama. Rhetoric, Politics and Society (illustrated ed.). Springer. ISBN 9781137509031.
- Newfield, Jack (1988). Robert Kennedy: A Memoir (reprint ed.). New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 0-452-26064-7.
- Palermo, Joseph A. (2013). In His Own Right: The Political Odyssey of Senator Robert F. Kennedy (illustrated, reprint ed.). Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231502658.
- Powers, Thomas (2004). Intelligence Wars: American Secret History from Hitler to Al-Qaeda (revised ed.). New York Review of Books. ISBN 9781590170984.
- Thomas, Evan (2013). Robert Kennedy: His Life. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781476734569.
External links
[edit]
Category:Speeches by Robert F. Kennedy Category:Opposition to the Vietnam War Category:1967 in American politics