September 13, 2017 – The Richard Nixon Foundation looks forward to the national conversation about the Vietnam War that will be generated by the 18-hour documentary The Vietnam War, that will be broadcast PBS beginning September 17th.
The Foundation believes it is vital that President Nixon, who inherited and ended the Vietnam War and brought the POWs home, be an active voice in that conversation.
The mission of the Richard Nixon Foundation was first stated by the former President at the opening of the Nixon Library in 1990: “I have insisted that the Nixon Library and Birthplace be not a monument to the career of one man, but a place where visitors and scholars will be able to recall the events of the time I served as President, and to measure and weigh the policies my administration pursued. I hope the Nixon Library and Birthplace will be different – a vital place of discovery and rediscovery, of investigation, of study, debate and analysis.”
The Foundation will make available the following resources to supply President Nixon’s voice to this national conversation on Vietnam:
Rare Video Interviews – In 1983, President Nixon sat down for more than 30 hours of taped interviews with Frank Gannon, a former White House Special Assistant and the Chief Editorial Assistant on the researching and writing of his memoirs. One of the nine interview sessions was devoted specifically to Vietnam. Most of these interviews have never been broadcast.
Click here to watch an excerpt from those interviews.
RN’s Handwritten Yellow Pad Notes – Throughout his public career, Richard Nixon used yellow legal pads to make notes of all kinds. Before every major speech and press conference, he would write extensive outlines to organize and refine his thoughts and words.
Click here to see a sample of the yellow pad notes President Nixon wrote in preparation for the televised address to the nation on November 3, 1969 — the “Silent Majority” speech.
Televised National Addresses – President Nixon made 14 primetime televised addresses to the nation to keep the American people informed about the progress of the Vietnam War and his plans to achieve peace with honor.
Click here to view the address delivered on January 23, 1973, in which President Nixon announced the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords.
White House Tapes – Hundreds of hours of President Nixon’s tape-recorded White House discussions deal with the Vietnam War. A selection will be made available (audio and transcription) by the Foundation.
Click here to listen to one of these tapes.
Excerpts from No More Vietnams – In 1985, the former President published No More Vietnams, in which he described the history of America’s military involvement in Southeast Asia, and critically analyzed his, and his predecessors’, conduct of the war.
He wrote: “No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now. Rarely have so many people been so wrong about so much. Never have the consequences of their misunderstanding been so tragic.”
Click here to read excerpts from No More Vietnams.
For access to these and other resources for media use or to request a digital copy of No More Vietnams, contact Joe Lopez at [email protected].
About the Richard Nixon Foundation
The Richard Nixon Foundation is a privately supported, nonprofit nonpartisan institution dedicated to informing and educating the public about the life, legacy, and times of the thirty-seventh President. The Foundation owns the 8.2-acre campus and buildings comprising the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, and jointly operates the Library and Museum site with the National Archives. For more information, call 714 993-5075 or go to nixonfoundation.org.