LBJ:
The contest in Vietnam Iraq is part of a wider pattern of aggressive purposes.
Why are these realities our concern? Why are we in South Vietnam Iraq?
We are there because we have a promise to keep...I intend to keep our promise. To dishonor that pledge, to abandon this small and brave nation to its enemy - and the terror that must follow - would be an unforgivable wrong.
We are also there to strengthen world order...
...Around the globe, from Berlin to Thailand, are people whose well-being rests, in part, on the belief that they can count on us if they are attacked. To leave Vietnam Iraq to its fate would shake the confidence of all these people in the value of American commitment. The result would be an increased unrest and instability, or even wider war.
We are also there because there are great stakes in the balance. Let no one think for a moment that retreat from Vietnam Iraq would bring an end to conflict. The battle would be renewed in one country and then another. The central lesson of our time is that the appetite of aggression is never satisfied. To withdraw from one battlefield means only to prepare for the next. We must say in Southeast Asia the Middle East as we did in Europe, in the words of the Bible: "Hitherto shall thou come, but no further..."
...There are those who wonder why we have a responsibility there. Well, we have a responsibility there for the same reason that we have a responsibility for the defense of Europe. World War II was fought in both Europe and Asia and when it ended we found ourselves with continued responsibility for the defense of freedom.
Our objective is the independence of South Vietnam Iraq and its freedom from attack. We want nothing for ourselves -- only that the people of South Vietnam Iraq be allowed to guide their own country in their own way...
We know that air attacks alone will not accomplish all of these purposes but it is our best and prayerful judgment that they are a necessary part of the surest road to peace.
...Such peace demands an independent South Vietnam Iraq-- securely guaranteed and able to shape its own relationship to all others -- free from outside interference -- tied to no alliance -- a military base for no other country.
These are the essentials of any final settlement.
We will never be second in the search for such a peaceful settlement in Vietnam Iraq...
...And until that bright and necessary day of peace we will try to keep conflict from spreading. We have no desire to see thousands die in battle...
Lyndon Baines Johnson, Johns Hopkins University, April 7, 1965