In March 1968 Robert F. Kennedy addressed a crowd at Kansas State University, two days after announcing his candidature for the United States presidency. Kennedy spoke at length on the situation in Vietnam, arguing that negotiation and compromise were the only ways to resolve the conflict:
“From the beginning our proudest boast has been the promise of Jefferson, that we, here in this country would be the best hope of mankind. And now, as we look at the war in Vietnam, we wonder if we still hold a decent respect for the opinions of mankind…
I do not want, and I do believe that most Americans do not want, to sell out America’s interest – to simply withdraw, to raise the white flag of surrender in Vietnam. That would be unacceptable to us as a people and unacceptable to us as a country. But I am concerned about the course of action that we are presently following in South Vietnam. I am concerned, I am concerned about the fact that this has been made America’s War. It was said, a number of years ago that this is “their war”, “this is the war of the South Vietnamese”, that “we can help them, but we can’t win it for them”. But over the period of the last three years we have made the war and the struggle in South Vietnam our war – and I think that’s unacceptable.
I don’t accept the idea that this is just a military action, that this is just a military effort, and every time we have had difficulties in South Vietnam and south-east Asia we have had only one response, we have had only one way to deal with it. Month after month, year after year we have dealt with it in only on way – and that’s to send more military men and increase our military power. And I don’t think that’s what the kind of a struggle that it is in south-east Asia.
I think that this is a question of the people of South Vietnam. I think its a question of the people of South Vietnam feeling it’s worth their efforts; that they’re going to make the sacrifice; that they feel that their country and their government is worth fighting for. And I think the development of the last several years have shown, have demonstrated that the people of South Vietnam feel no association and no affiliation for the government of Saigon. I don’t think it’s up to us here in the United States to say that we’re going to destroy all of South Vietnam because we have a commitment there.
The commander of the American forces at Ben Tre said we had to destroy that city in order to save it. So 38,000 people were wiped out or made refugees. We here in the United States – not just the United States government, not just the commanders of and forces in South Vietnam, the United States government and every human being that’s in this room – we are part of that decision. And I don’t think that we need do that any longer and I think we should change our policy.
I don’t want to be part of a government, I don’t want to be part of the United States, I don’t want to be part of the American people and have them write of us, as they wrote of Rome: “They made a desert and they called it peace.” I think that we should go to the negotiating table, and I think we should take the steps to go to the negotiating table.
And I’ve said it over the period of the last two years, I think that we have a chance to have negotiations… But last February, a year ago, when the greatest opportunity existed for negotiations the administration and the President of the United States felt that the military victory was right around the corner. We sent a message to Ho Chi Minh on February 8th 1967 virtually asking for their unconditional surrender. We are not going to obtain the unconditional surrender of the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong anymore than they’re going to obtain the unconditional surrender of the United States of America. We’re going to have to negotiate, we’re going to have to make compromises…
Second, we can continue to escalate, we can continue to send more men there until we have millions and millions of more men, we can continue to bomb North Vietnam – and in my judgment we will be no nearer success. We will be no nearer victory than we are now…
That is the course of action, that is the course of action that I would like to see. I would like to see the United States government make it clear to the government of Saigon that we are not going to tolerate the corruption and the dishonesty. I think that we should make it clear to the government of Saigon that if we’re going to draft young men, 18 years of age here in the United States… to send them to fight and die in Khe Sanh, that we want the government of South Vietnam to draft their 18-year-olds and their 19-year-olds…
I want to have an explanation as to why American boys killed, two weeks ago, in South Vietnam, were three times as many – more than three times as many, as the soldiers of South Vietnam. I want to understand why the casualties and the deaths, over the period of the last two weeks, at the height of the fighting, should be so heavily American casualties, as compared to the South Vietnamese. This is their war. I think we have to make the effort to help them, I think that we have to make the effort to fight – but I don’t think that we should have to carry the whole burden of that war, I think the South Vietnamese should.
And if I am elected President of the United States, with help, with your help, these are the kinds of policies that I’m going to put into operation.”