Summary Of President Nixon's Address To The Nation

IV. President Nixon’s Address to the Nation

With a large number of Cambodians residing in Phnom Penh, Pol Pot’s communist party had the strength to take over the government and initiate terror and genocide among the remaining Cambodian population. On 30 April 1970 President Nixon delivered a special address to the nation regarding what he called, “the situation in Southeast Asia” (Address to the Nation). Prior to the speech, Nixon had stated that he would “not hesitate to take strong and effective measures to deal with that situation” (Address to the Nation). According to Nixon, even after countless warnings, the North Vietnamese Army still continued to ignore them. As a result of this, Nixon believed “that the time has come for action.” At

He explained that the Vietnamese Army had seized many areas located on the borders of Cambodia to increase their military tactics in the war (Address to the Nation). Nixon provides his audience with three options that the United States could consider. First, the country does nothing to help Cambodia. However, this option was quickly disregarded due to the harm it would cause not only to the refugees in Cambodia but also the 150,000 America soldiers remaining there. The second option was to provide aid and assistance to Cambodia by supplying them with military equipment as well as volunteering soldiers to fight in the Cambodian army (Address to the Nation). Although option two was rejected because of the worry that Cambodia would not be able to defend their neutrality, Nixon came up with a plan to enter Cambodia through the Vietnamese base camps in order to drive out the Vietnamese forces, resulting in option three. Once the army’s military supplies were destroyed and the sanctuaries were vacant, American troops would withdraw (Address to the Nation). President Nixon made it clear to the public that his decision was not an invasion of Cambodia, but rather what he called an ‘incursion’ (Address to the Nation). An incursion is a brief attack or invasion made on enemy territory. In response to criticism, Nixon

When the campaign first began in 1969, President Nixon made it clear that every decision was to be kept a secret from other branches of government, most military officials, and the public. The only authorized people to know were President Nixon himself, his administration, and certain military officials. A few days before the bombings began, Nixon told Kissinger over the phone, “No comment, no warnings, no complaints, no protests… I mean it, not one thing to be said to anyone publicly or privately without my prior approval” (The Secret Bombing of Cambodia). President Nixon was worried how the public would react to his decisions to bomb Cambodia—initiating multiple protests against the government. Not only was this a fatal and risky decision, but also it violated the admonitions stated in the United Nations