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ANTI-WAR: MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
"Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind," and the best way to start is to put an end to war in Vietnam, because if it continues, we will inevitably come to the point of confronting China which could lead the whole world to nuclear annihilation."- March 31, 1968
UNITED STATES: RICHARD NIXON
"If, when the chips are down, the world’s most powerful nation, the United States of America, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world.”—address on April 30, 1970 explaining his decision to invade Cambodia.
VIETNAM: HO CHI MINH
“All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” - Sep. 2, 1945 Vietnamese Declaration of Independence quoting the U.S.'s
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) was a civil rights icon in the 1950s and 60s. He also criticized the Vietnam War, calling American involvement there an imperialist act that denied the Vietnamese the right to self-determination. He was critical of the draft and called on Washington to end all bombing, negotiate peace with Hanoi and the Viet Cong, and work toward a full withdrawal. Because of this, he was smeared as a communist sympathizer and followed by the FBI. King had prepared to continue his anti-war activism but was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968.
Richard Nixon (1913-1994) was president of the U.S. from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. He inherited the Vietnam War when it was already unpopular. He assured Americans there would be a ”Vietnamization" of the war. However, it only widened under his terms. He also assured South Vietnamese President Thieu that the U.S. would not abandon them. The Watergate Scandal and his impending impeachment prompted his resignation before the war was resolved.
Hồ Chí Minh (1890-1969) was a revolutionary, military strategist, leader, and figurehead of North Vietnam from 1945 until his death. He considered himself a Marxist-Leninist and led the Việt Minh independence movement in 1941. In 1945, the North Vietnamese defeated the French, ending the first Indochina War. He died before communist North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam and the U.S. military in 1975 in the Second Indochina War (the Vietnam War). When the country was unified under communism in 1976, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor.
“You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours. But even at those odds, you will lose and I will win.” —warning French colonizers, 1946.