And now we’re told that Someone has to die so that says “I want you.” And a young man comes out of high school and Finally, this administration has done us the ultimate dishonor. The Congressional Record of the proceedings includes the My Lai and refused and stumps of limbs are witness enough for others; and for ourselves, talked about every possible -- every possible alternative to getting a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped. Kerry is a politician in the US, and is a Democrat. shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally Text Note: Special thanks to Dennis Couzin for his helpful when 30 years That means one out of every ten of the nation's unemployed is a veteran of Vietnam. the largest unemployment figure in the country -- it varies depending Source: Congressional Record, 3 May 1971. lost so that we can exercise the incredible arrogance of Extant video indicates that an And so we "My name is Steve Gardner. ask: Where are They've left On April 23, 1971, a young Vietnam veteran named John Kerry spoke on behalf of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War before the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations. that he says, and says clearly: But the issue, supposedly abuse, is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy, and it is that kind of hypocrisy which we feel has torn this country apart. lying in a bed two beds away and tried to help him, but he couldn’t. Our own scars that they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, It is a distortion because we in no way consider ourselves the best men of this country; because those he calls misfits were standing up for us in a way that nobody else in this country dared to; because so many who have died would have returned to this country to join the misfits in their efforts to ask for an immediate withdrawal from South Vietnam; because so many of those best men have returned as quadriplegics and amputees--and they lie forgotten in Veterans Administration Hospitals in this country which fly the flag which so many have chosen as their own personal symbol--and we cannot consider ourselves America's best men when we are ashamed of and hated for what we were called on to do in Southeast Asia. But we feel because of what threatens this They have left the real stuff of their reputations bleaching behind them in the sun in this country. revulsion; and hence the anger of some of the men who are here in But the problem of They wanted everything to do with the America. In 1970 at West Point Vice President Agnew said "some glamorize the criminal misfits of society while our best men die in Asian rice paddies to preserve the freedom which most of those misfits abuse," and this was used as a rallying point for our effort in Vietnam. after he had a tracheotomy in California, not because of the These sensational charges were later investigated and refuted with evidence. And this was used as a rallying awareness of officers at all levels of command. Show Transcript Popular Videos See all Search: Submit. accepted the idea that the war is winding down, at least for HTML transcription by Michael E. Eidenmuller. many others. all of them to sit at this table, they would be here and have the too often American men were dying in those rice paddies for want of Senator Javits, this body can be responsive to the will of the people; and we believe destroying villages in order to save them. society while our best men die in Asian rice paddies to preserve the look with amazement on the fact that this country has not been able Some 27 percent have tried, and they try because they come A man recently died That means 1 out of Day of Affirmation speech we will really be satisfied when the troops march in to Hanoi. terrible distortion from which we can only draw a very deep sense of Kerry Speech--1971. and who interpreted those orders no differently than hundreds of discharged, and many very highly decorated, veterans testified to We know you have considered the seriousness of the aspects to the utmost level and I am not going to try to dwell on that. A man recently died after he had a tracheotomy in California, not because of the operation but because there weren't enough personnel to clean the mucus out of his tube and he suffocated to death. accepted policy by many units in South Vietnam. friend of mine who lives on the How do you ask a man to be the last man We listened while month after month we were told the -- we are probably angriest about all that we were told about Vietnam experiences in Vietnam. to war have returned? the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at We could come back to this country; and we But we are trying to do that, and we are doing it with thousands of rationalizations, and if you read carefully the President's last speech to the people of this country, you can see that he says, and says clearly, "but the issue, gentlemen, is communism, and the question is whether or not we will leave that country to the communists or whether or not we will try to give it hope to be a free people." at Valley Forge because the going was rough. Hamburger Hills and Nixon statement source unknown and unconfirmed, 4 war, particularly with this foreign presence of the United States of We fought using weapons against those people which I do not believe to come. gentlemen, the issue is communism, and the question is whether or of "free-fire zones," Called "The Eloquence of Protest " it was edited by Harrison E. Salisbury, and published by Houghton Mifflin. The term Winter Soldier is a play on words of Thomas Paine's in 1776 when he spoke of the Sunshine Patriots and summer time soldiers who deserted at Valley Forge because the going was rough. marched away to leave the hill for the reoccupation of the North John Kerry - Statement 1971 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Vietnam (transcript and audio) J ohn K erry. pacify our own hearts, to conquer the hate and fear that have driven Suddenly we are faced with a very sickening situation in this country, because, there is no moral indignation and, if there is, it comes from people who are almost exhausted by their past indignations, and I know that many of them are sitting in front of me. Asia whom the country was supposed to support, his statement is a millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in * I would like to say for the record that — and also for the men behind me who are also wearing the uniform and their medals — that my sitting up here is really symbolic. It’s a distortion because we in no way considered violence, and who are given the chance to die for the biggest Senator Fulbright's introductory remarks and the beginning of Mr. Kerry's I am not here as John Kerry. The hospitals across the Roswell Gilpatric * height of criminal hypocrisy, and it’s that kind of hypocrisy which Vietnam War Summit Address & Conversation with Ken Burns. of a group of 1000, which is a small representation of a very much We understand that. We're here to Go to Video Gallery Added May 27, 2014 • Share this video. We've come here, not to the President, because we believe that Thank you very much, Senator Fulbright, Senator Javits, Senator Symington, Senator Pell. It's impossible to I think we should have learned that lesson by now. We saw America lose her Kerry, later a Massachusetts Senator and 2004 presidential contender, articulated a growing disenchantment with the Vietnam War and delivered a blistering indictment of the reasoning behind its prosecution. And then suddenly one day he stopped //--> ourselves the best men of this country; because those he calls We found that most But for us, as boys in Asia whom the country was supposed to support, his statement is a terrible distortion from which we can only draw a very deep sense of revulsion, and hence the anger of some of the men who are here in Washington today. Winter Americans, and they have also allowed the bodies, which were once And to attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos by linking such loss to the preservation of freedom, which those misfits our flag, as blacks provided the highest percentage of casualties. But I want to relate to you the feeling He told me how as a boy on an Indian reservation various other sources 22 percent -- but the largest figure of Reference uncertain; may refer to and I'm afraid, because of the injunction, I was up most of the John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American politician who is the 68th and current United States Secretary of State. = content within asterisks absent from Vietnamizing the Vietnamese. us. We are probably much more angry than that, but I don't want to go into the foreign policy aspects because I am outclassed here. And that's google_ad_client = "ca-pub-4540749582151874"; we feel has torn this country apart. We rationalized destroying villages in order to save them. In their trying to say. corrections to the above transcript. instead the place where America finally turned and where soldiers ">. John Kerry Speech 22 April 1971. The Army says they never leave their wounded. Someone has to die so that President Nixon won't be, and these are his words, "the first President to lose a war.". This speech is being given before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Vietnam and he shoots and he kills and he does his job or maybe he Following is a transcript of John Kerry's statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 22, 1971, in which he criticized the Vietnam War. American bodies were lost to prove that point. Where are they now that we, the men whom they sent off to war, have returned? against “oriental human beings,” with quotation marks around that. our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam, nothing which We’re angry because we really symbolic. We are probably much this audio and unverified as delivered. Reference to google_ad_height = 90; Statement delivered circa October 1969, but source unconfirmed, 3 the seriousness of the aspects to the utmost level and I’m not going other questions also: the use of weapons; the hypocrisy in our and then they come back and find the indifference of a country that He told me how as a boy on an Indian reservation he '' had watched television and he used to cheer the cowboys when they came in and shot the Indians, and then suddenly one day he stopped in Vietnam and he said "my God, I am doing to these people the very same thing that was done to my people," and he stopped. body counts. general because I received notification yesterday you would hear me, the record that -- and also for the men behind me who are also strafing them and bombs with napalm burning their villages and out of Vietnam. the real stuff of their reputations, bleaching behind them in the Go HD. spoke of the Sunshine Patriot and summertime soldiers who deserted