Richard Nixon Quotes

Let me now turn to the third criteria for troop withdrawals--the level of enemy activity. In several areas since December, that level has substantially increased. In recent months Hanoi has sent thousands more of their soldiers to launch new offensives in neutral Laos in violation of the Geneva Accords of 1969 to which they were signatories. South of Laos, almost 40,000 Communist troops are now conducting overt aggression against Cambodia, a small neutralist country that the Communists have used for years as a base for attack upon South Vietnam in violation of the Geneva Accords of 1954 to which they were also signatories. This follows the consistent pattern of North Vietnamese aggression in Indochina. During the past 8 years they have sent tens of thousands of troops into all three countries of the peninsula and across every single common border. Men and supplies continue to pour down the Ho Chi Minh Trail; and in the past 2 weeks, the Communists have stepped up their attacks upon allied forces in South Vietnam. However, despite this new enemy activity, there has been an overall decline in enemy force levels in South Vietnam since December. As the enemy force levels have declined and as the South Vietnamese have assumed more of the burden of battle, American casualties have declined. I am glad to be able to report tonight that in the first 3 months of 1970, the number of Americans killed in action dropped to the lowest first quarter level in 5 years.

They can do it. Just leave them alone. That's a lifestyle I don't want to touch.

Looking back over the history of the cases, as I said when you were here before on the; Burger matter, among my heroes of the Court is Louis Brandeis. If philosophy were a test for him, he would have been ruled out because he was too liberal. Another was Charles Evans Hughes. If philosophy had been a test for him he would have been ruled out because he was too conservative in representing the business interests. As far as philosophy is concerned, I would be inclined to agree with the writer for the St. Louis Post Dispatch who said he thought Judge Haynsworth was a man with a razor sharp mind and a middle of the road record on the major issues. But if Judge Haynsworth's philosophy leans to the conservative side, in my view that recommends him to me. I think the Court needs balance, and I think that the Court needs a man who is conservative and I use the term not in terms of economics, but conservative, as I said of Judge Burger, conservative in respect to his attitude towards the Constitution. It is the judge's responsibility and the Supreme Court's responsibility, to interpret the Constitution and interpret the law, and not to go beyond that in putting his own socio-economic philosophy into decisions in a way that goes beyond the law, beyond the Constitution

I could leave this room and in 25 minutes, 70 million people would be dead.

In 1960, I ran for President the first time. Incidentally, I could see some of you with the political glint in your eyes as I went down there. Some of you may never be able to get to run the first time. But in any event, I remember when I ran the first time. I didn't quite make it. And I also remember that the chairman of the other party was the honored guest tonight, Senator Jackson of Washington. I was just thinking tonight as I shook his hand and was speaking about this award we are going to present: You know, suppose he had been chairman in 1968, I might not be President today. I, of course, am a Republican. Senator Jackson is a Democrat. But I can say to you what I said to the Congress a few weeks ago. And I say this particularly to all the young people who are here who are receiving these awards. When the great issues of the defense of America are involved--the security of America, the fate of our men who are fighting for America abroad--when the issues of peace and freedom are involved, when these issues are involved, we are not Democrats; we are not Republicans; we are Americans. That is what we are. And it is in that spirit that I, as President of the United States and also as a comrade and as a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, am very proud tonight on behalf of your Commander and of this organization to present the Congressional Award to a man who in his public life has spoken not as a partisan, but as an American, a man who understands national defense and is not afraid to speak out for it, a man who understands national security and is not afraid to speak out for it, a man who understands the threat to peace and freedom in the world as well as any man that I know, a man who is a great credit not only to his party but more important, a credit to the United States of America: Senator Jackson of the State of Washington.

I have said publicly before and I say it before this group today: As I look at the new generation of Americans of which you are, of course, outstanding examples or you would not have been selected for this program, it is the best educated new generation we have had--young generation; but more than that, it is the most involved, involved in the sense of being interested, not only in how you can get out and make a living, which was our primary concern in the 1930's when making a living was necessary in order to just keep going, but involved in the problems of your neighborhoods and the problems of your Nation and the problems of the world. Finally, it is a generation which knows more about the problems of the world and knows more about the problems of this country than has any generation in history. What this means is, very simply, that you are a political force, even though you do not yet have the right to vote. You will soon have it, of course. I say you will soon have it because you will be 21, or you will soon have it if you are from Kentucky because you will vote when you are 18. Of course, at some time there will be a constitutional amendment. I have noted that this particular organization, among many others, has indicated its support of that kind of a constitutional amendment.

You think of those kids out there. I say kids. I have seen them. They are the greatest. You see these bums, you know, blowing up the campuses. Listen, the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities, and here they are burning up the books, I mean storming around about this issue — I mean you name it — get rid of the war; there will be another one. Out there we've got kids who are just doing their duty. I have seen them. They stand tall, and they are proud. I am sure they are scared. I was when I was there. But when it really comes down to it, they stand up and, boy, you have to talk up to those men. And they are going to do fine; we've got to stand back of them.

Any nation that decides the only way to achieve peace is through peaceful means is a nation that will soon be a piece of another nation.

Screw State! State's always on the side of the blacks. The hell with them!

... China and Russia exist in an uneasy “Asian détente.” China’s hard-liners would prefer to see the failure of Yeltsin’s democratic government, because it would lessen the ideological threat of Russian democracy and weaken Russia’s ability to protect its interests in East Asia. At the same time, Chinese officials fear a new resurgent, nationalistic Russia because it would inevitably clash with China over important economic regions in East Asia and force China to divert its attention from other areas.

When the historians write of this period and the period that follows, some with a superficial view will describe the last 16 years as the "Warren Court" and will describe the Court that follows it as the "Burger Court." I believe, however, that every member of this Court would agree with me when I say that because of the example of the Chief Justice, a selfless example, a non-selfish example, that this period will be described, not only his but that of his successor, not as the Warren Court, not as the Burger Court, not in personal terms, but in this hallowed moment in this great Chamber, the Supreme Court. It was always that way; may it always be that way. And to the extent that it is, this Nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Chief Justice of the United States for his example.

What are our schools for if not for indoctrination against communism?

The Secretary of Labor just recently completed a study that I had requested with regard to unemployment of youth in the United States. I don't need to tell this group of employers that the unemployment rate for youth, of course, is always higher than adults in any country, industrial or otherwise. In the United States, it is three times as high. But the sad part of the statistic is that unemployment among youth in the United States is higher than in any industrial country in the world. This, of course, poses the problem, and it also poses the challenge and the opportunity for this group. I know that under the leadership of Henry Ford, naturally, the slogan of this organization was that this was the group with the "better idea," and I would suggest that under the leadership of Don Kernal this should be the group that "thinks young." In that respect, while I am not, of course, underplaying in any regard the immense responsibility that you have with regard to those in the older-age brackets, I would urge that you particularly concentrate on those programs that deal with unemployment among youth and see that they are folded into the others.

But, Bob, generally speaking, you can't trust the bastards. They turn on you. Am I wrong or right?

My point is that Boy Scout leaders, YMCA leaders, and others bring them in that direction, and teachers. And if you look over the history of societies, you will find, of course, that some of the highly intelligent people.