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Remarks on Receiving the American Legion's Distinguished Service Medal for 1969.

February 16, 1971

Commander Chamie, my colleagues in the Congress, my comrades in the American Legion, and ladies and gentlemen, all of your guests:

I am very honored to receive this Distinguished Service award of the American Legion. And in checking the records, I found that in the past 40 years, every President of the United States has received this award from the American Legion. [Laughter]

That proves it is bipartisan. [Laughter] But as I considered the fact that every President of the United States has had the high honor of receiving the Distinguished Service award of the American Legion, I thought that the time had come for a President of the United States to, in effect, give a distinguished service commendation to the American Legion. And I welcome that opportunity to do so tonight.

As my longtime friend from California, Al Chamie, has already indicated, I am this year finishing my 25th year as a member of the American Legion. I am proud of that association.

I also am aware of the fact that in the past 2 years I think I have learned more deeply than I had ever understood before what the Legion means to America and what it can also mean to the Commander in Chief of our armed services in times of great difficulty.

I recall, for example, that when a great debate was raging in our country, a debate between honest men of differing views, as to what our defense forces should be and whether we should go forward on an antiballistic missile system for defense purposes, that the American Legion took the side of a strong national defense, as it always has. It was of assistance to the Commander in Chief who had made that difficult decision.

I recall on November 3, 1969, when I spoke to the Nation at a time when thousands of very honest people who disagreed with our national policy, who called for an immediate, precipitate withdrawal from Vietnam in a way that would have resulted in defeat for America and of all of our purposes in that part of the world--that at that time when I called for a just peace, for ending the war in a way that we would win the peace and not lose the peace, the American Legion stood firmly by the President of the United States.

And then I recall one of the more, shall I say, lonely times, and the office of the Presidency is not a lonely office--I can assure you that there is always somebody there ready to come in if you will just open the door but I remember it was lonely from the standpoint of public support, and I understood why. On April 30 of last year, I had to make a difficult decision, a decision to move on the Communist outposts in Cambodia that were being used for the purpose of killing American men in Vietnam.

When I made that decision, there were those who honestly opposed it, and I respected them for that opposition. There were others who waited on the fence to see how it would come out. There were a few--a few who came in and said, "We support you."

I remember the commander of the American Legion--4 days after the decision was made, he came to Washington, and that was as soon as he could get here. He came in to see me. He said to me very simply--Commander Milton Patrick did--as I recall, something like this: He said, "Members of the American Legion, Mr. President, know what it means to look down the barrel of a gun, and we support the Commander in Chief in his efforts to see to it that the barrels of those guns in Cambodia are spiked so that they will not be killing our men in Vietnam."

That kind of support at that time, which could have been delayed, which could have even been withheld, support that was given at a time when many were not sure as to how the operation would come out, was support that was most welcome to the President of the United States, I can assure you, clearly apart from the personalities involved, and support that I will always remember.

The fact that the operation did succeed; the fact that, as you know, our casualties since Cambodia have been reduced by two-thirds; that 100,000 Americans have come home since that time and are continuing to come home; the fact that as a result of that operation the South Vietnamese have developed the confidence and the ability that they now can undertake on the ground by themselves, as far as the ground action is concerned in operation, to cut the Communist supply line coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail--all of this, it seems to me, indicates how the American Legion, in the person of its commander, at a time when it would have been easy not to stand up, did stand up.

I am grateful for that, and I express my appreciation to all the members of the American Legion for that support in that period.

Now we are fortunate as we meet here tonight to be at a time when we can look at this very difficult war in Vietnam, when we can see that Americans are continuing to come home, when we can see the end of the American involvement in Vietnam; but an end of that involvement in a way that it will discourage that kind of war in the future and that it will allow the South Vietnamese to have the strength which they need to defend themselves and to give their people a chance to make their own choice with regard to the kind of government they want rather than to have that imposed upon them by force from the Communists in the North.

And as we look at that situation--the end of the longest war in America's history--and as we look at the time after that, I want to say to the members of the American Legion, to those representing, as you do, the leadership of this great organization throughout the country, that when we come into a period when, we trust, America will be at peace with all nations in the world, at peace not just for the next few years but perhaps for a whole generation, this is a time when it will be vitally important for the American Legion to continue to stand for the strong national defense for which it has always stood.

Let's look at the record: There are a few here who are veterans of World War I. All of you will remember that after World War I the United States became too weak and, as a result, the United States was unable to play the role, the peace-keeping role, which it could and should have played in that period between the two great wars.

We remember that after World War II the same thing happened, and the United States was unable to have the strength that it should have had at the time that the Korean war began.

And now we come to another period, a period when we will end a war, when we will be at peace with the rest of the world, and when the decision will have to be made by the American people as to whether we maintain the adequate national defense that we need.

I will simply say this: That until the United States obtains an arms control limitation between the two great super powers, one that we can rely upon and that they can rely upon, it is essential that the United States maintain an adequate armed force. We maintain that [applause]---

And we must maintain that force not because we want war, but because in the truest sense of the word in peacetime the Armed Forces of the United States all over this world are truly peace forces.

Let us remember: Whether it was World War I, whether it was World War II, whether it was Korea, or whether it was Vietnam, the United States has not started a war anyplace.

The United States has fought in defense of freedom, and we must maintain those defense and free forces.

So, Commander Chamie, all of our distinguished guests this evening, I simply want you to know that having received this award as President of the United States, as a member of the American Legion and proud of that membership, I urge you to continue to support whoever is the President of the United States, whatever his party, in the cause of the United States maintaining the strength that we must maintain to play the role that must be played by the strongest free world nation if we are to have peace for the balance of this century. I believe we can do it and with your help we will do it.

Note: The President spoke at 8:52 p.m. at the American Legion National Commander's dinner honoring the Congress of the United States in the Sheraton Park Hotel.

Richard Nixon, Remarks on Receiving the American Legion's Distinguished Service Medal for 1969. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240659

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