Hearts and Minds Page #7

And it's like two

boxers in the ring.

One boxer has the other

one on the ropes,

but the man who is about

to be the victor...

has his second throw the towel in.

Accordingly,

I shall not seek...

and I will not accept...

the nomination of my party for

another term as your president.

I don't think we

helped 'em one bit.

All I think we've done is destroyed

their country, laid it waste.

No. I don't think we helped 'em.

As fellow human beings, I don't think

they should be there doing that.

Certainly a mature person can

say they made a mistake.

Why can't a government?

You let us all go off to war and said,

"Yea, team. Fight in Vietnam,"

and all this kinda sh*t

in 1965 through 1968.

Now 1968 comes along and "Boo, team.

Come on home," and all this sh*t.

"And don't say nothin' about it, 'cause

we don't want to hear about it...

'cause it's upsetting

around dinnertime."

Well, Goddamn. It upset me

for a whole goddamn year.

It upset a lot of people to the point

where they're f***in' dead, you know?

All this sh*t. You don't wanna hear

about it? I'll tell you every day.

Make you sit out and puke

on your dinner, you dig?

Because you got me over there, and

now you done brought me back here...

and you wanna forget it so somebody

else can go do it somewhere else.

Hell no. Uh-uh.

You gonna hear it all.

Every day as long as you live, because

it's gonna be with me as long as I live.

When I get up in the morning,

when John gets up,

when a lot of dudes

sitting here get up,

man, their gut hurts

because they got shot there.

I gotta put on an arm and a leg, 'cause

it ain't there no more, you dig?

Now, my man's got a hole in his stomach.

He can't work right, you know?

You do something about that.

Make that all disappear, you dig?

Make it all go away

with the 6:
00 news.

Turn it off or switch it

to another channel.

Uh-Uh. To hell with that, you dig?

It's here and it's for real.

And it's gonna happen again unless

these folks get off their ass...

and realize it has happened.

The country is ready to pass

a reasoned judgment on this war.

The people have judged, I think,

that it's unwise and immoral...

and not in the national interest

of this country...

and that, therefore,

it must be brought to an end.

For 20 years, first the French,

and then the United States...

had been predicting

victory in Vietnam.

In 1961 and in 1962,

as well as 1966 and 1967,

we have been told

that the tide is turning,

there is a light at the end of the tunnel,

we can soon bring our troops home,

victory is near, the

enemy is tiring.

Once, in 1962,

I participated

in such a prediction myself.

But for 20 years,

we have been wrong.

The history of conflict

among nations...

does not record another such lengthy

and consistent chronicle of error...

as we have shown in Vietnam.

I had just given the policy line,

stayed up all night with

Adam Walinsky and Peter Edelman,

helping on a speech

for Robert Kennedy...

which proved to be his last speech

given in San Francisco here...

to a businessman's

luncheon on Vietnam.

Uh, I went up with some corrections

last thing in the morning...

and shook hands with him in his

bathrobe as he stood there.

And then he came down from the

Ambassador Hotel and got into a car.

We were struck with how easy

it was to get onto that floor...

and approach him at that point.

At the conference on

lessons on Vietnam,

of course, in the morning I learned

that Robert Kennedy had died.

Well...

So...

So, uh...

Well, that was a way for a lot

of people to feel powerless.

So, um,

it began to look as if there was

no way to change this country.

We'd been going down this

road for so many years,

and I had felt so strongly before

that this was the right policy,

that it was difficult

for me to change.

I know now that the domino

theory was a false theory.

I know now that we should

not have become involved.

As far as I'm concerned today, I

have no hesitancy whatsoever...

in saying I could not have been more wrong...

in my attitude toward Vietnam.

Ground combat, Vietnamese cross

of gallantry with a silver star,

gallantry in ground combat, four air

medals, an "I was there" ribbon.

I got a colonel that's flying upstairs,

and he's gettin' down on me...

and he's saying, 'take the hill,

take the hill, take the hill."

So I got together

with the tank commander...

and I said,

"Look, let's take three tanks...

and we'll walk the A.R.V.N.

Up the hill, you know?

And we'll lay down a base of fire

as we're going."

He says, "Okay." I got with the

A.R.V.N. And says, "Let's fly."

So I popped up behind the lead tank...

and, uh, started to go up the hill.

And everything was cool,

until we started taking fire.

And, uh, the A.R.V.N.

started to split.

And that's when I got it.

I said, "Oh, my God. I'm hit."

I couldn't believe it, you know?

"I can't believe it.

I'm really hit."

And my first, first thought...

was Kay, my girl, you know?

It's gonna sound stupid, but I'm...

but my thought was "she'll kill me."

You know, here I was dying and I was

worried that she was gonna kill me.

But then I realized that I didn't

have to worry because I was dying.

It's all over. And

for what, you know?

My last... My last

conscious thought...

was "I can't believe it. I'm dying.

On this shitty piece of ground, I'm dying...

and I can't f***in' believe it."

Bobby was a surfer, he was a wrestler,

he was a long-distance runner.

We danced. He was active.

Active, active.

Our whole life was active.

And now they're telling

me that he's paralyzed.

He couldn't believe it and I

couldn't believe it. Right now...

Bobby's not a boyfriend. He's not

a husband. He's not a brother.

It-It's very...

It's very hard.

What hurts the most...

and this is a purely

personal thing, you know?

Right, wrong or indifferent,

that's how I feel.

When I was in the Marine Corps,

I remember I was in the Marine

Corps barracks in Washington...

They call it "A," "F," and "I."

And they had the Marine

Corps drill team there.

And I was standing at

attention in my uniform...

and they were playing the

"Marine Corps Hymn".

And then they played the

'star-Spangled Banner."

And I actually started to cry.

I cried because I was so proud

to be an American, you know?

And I was so proud

to be a marine...

and in uniform, standing

there at attention.

That-That represented

so much to me...

in the way of life and...

That's gone, you know?

And that hurt. That hurts.

That's what I'm bitter about.

Ha! Didn't think we were here,

did you, you dirty rotten rats!

We're still here!

We'll always be here!

Truman lied from 1950 on...

on the nature and purposes

of the French involvement,

the colonial reconquest of Vietnam...

that we were financing and encouraging.

Eisenhower lied

about the reasons for...

and the nature

of our involvement with Diem,

and the fact that he was in power,

essentially,

because of American support,

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