1975-President Ford announces the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam (Video)

Transcript

- [Broadcast Commentator] The President of the United States.
[band music]
- [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen,
the President of the United States
and Dr. Herbert E. Longenecker.
[audience applause]
- [Broadcast Commentator] [inaudible]
--the President of the United States but by mistake introduced
the President of Tulane University.
[audience applause]
He must have been very nervous.
There’s President Ford making his way up to the podium
on the speaker's platform.
[band music]
Everybody getting a good laugh out of that faux pas.
[audience applause]
It'll go down as one of the famous slips of the tongue.
President Ford.
[band music]
[audience applause]
President Gerald Ford getting a standing ovation
from the students, faculty, and alumnus here.
At Tulane gymnasium, about 9000 strong.
[audience applause]
Some people in the audience are waving American flags.
[applause winding down]
Now they're settling down.
Program is about to begin.
Let's go back up to the speaker's platform.
- [Herbert] Ladies and gentlemen
will you rise once again,
please, and join in singing the national anthem led
by Marilyn Thomas Bernard,
a graduate of Newcomb College, and now an instructor
at Xavier University.
- [Marilyn singing “The Star-Spangled Banner”]
♪ Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light, ♪
♪ What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? ♪
♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, ♪
♪ O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? ♪
♪ And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, ♪
♪ Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. ♪
♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, ♪
♪ O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? ♪
[audience applause]
- [Herbert] Mr. President,
members of the Platform Party,
members of the Congress of the United States,
and particularly the representatives
of the First, Second, and Third Congressional Districts,
each of whom is a graduate of this university.
[audience applause]
Lieutenant Governor Fitzmorris and other
distinguished officials of Louisiana.
Members of the Consular Corps.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Tulane's honored position among America's
leading universities is evidenced this evening
by the presence of the President of the United States.
[audience applause]
Seven years ago,
President Ford participated here
in one of the first Direction programs.
Mr. President,
you will be interested, I believe, to know that
this student-organized and student-managed program
has continued at Tulane as one of the most outstanding
collegiate forums in the United States.
[audience applause]
And I believe that applause as an expression
of the student feeling for your participation
in that early forum, which has been followed by more successes.
[audience applause]
Tonight, we welcome Gerald Ford
once again as the guest of Tulane University.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the President of the United States.
[audience applause]
- [clears throat]
Mr. President,
President Hurley,
Senator Johnston,
my good friends from the House of Representatives,
Eddie Hebert, Dave Treen, Lindy Boggs,
Lieutenant Governor Fitzmorris, students,
faculty, alumni, and guests of Tulane University.
It’s really a great privilege and a very high honor
to have an opportunity of participating
again in a student activity at Tulane University,
and for this opportunity, I thank you very, very much.
[audience applause]
Each time that I've been privileged to visit Tulane,
I have come away newly impressed with the intense application
of the student body to the great issues of our time,
and I am pleased tonight to observe
that your interest hasn't changed one bit.
As we came into the building tonight,
I passed a student who looked up from his book
and said--
[audience laughs]
As I said, he looked up from his book
and said,
“A journey of a thousand miles begins, but with a single step.”
[audience laughs]
To indicate my interest in him, I asked,
“Are you trying to figure out
how to get to your goal in life?”
He said, “No,
“I'm trying to figure out how to get to the Superdome
in September.”
[audience laughs, cheers]
Well, I don't think there's any doubt
in my mind that all of you will get to the Superdome.
[audience laughs]
And, of course,
I hope it’s to see the Green Wave
have their very best season on the gridiron.
[audience applause]
I have sort of a feeling that you wouldn't mind making
this another year in which you put the Tigers
in your tank.
[audience cheers]
When I had the privilege
of speaking here in 1968 at your Directions ‘68 forum,
I had no idea that my own career
and our entire nation would move so soon in another direction.
And I say again, I'm extremely proud to be invited back.
I'm impressed,
as I undoubtedly said before,
but I would reiterate it tonight,
by Tulane's unique distinction
as one of the only American universities
to be converted from state sponsorship to private status.
And I'm also impressed by the Tulane graduates
who serve in the United States Congress, Bennett Johnston,
Lindy Boggs, Dave Treen.
[audience applause]
Eddie Hebert, when I asked him the question
whether he was or not, and he said
he got a special degree-- drop out ‘28.
[audience laughs]
But I think the fact
that you have these three outstanding graduates
testifies to the academic excellence and the inspiration
of this historic university rooted in the past,
with its eyes on the future.
Just as Tulane has made a great transition
from the past to the future,
so has New Orleans, the legendary city,
that has made such a unique contribution
to our great America.
New Orleans is more,
as I see it, than weathered bricks and cast iron balconies.
It's a state of mind, a melting pot
that represents the very, very
best of America's evolution,
and the example of retention
of a very special culture
and a progressive environment of modern change.
On January 8th, 1815,
a monumental American victory
was achieved here-- The battle of New Orleans.
Louisiana had been a state
for less than three years,
but outnumbered Americans innovated,
outnumbered Americans used the tactics of the frontier,
to defeat a veteran British force
trained in the strategy of the Napoleonic wars.
We, as a nation, had suffered humiliation
and a measure of defeat in the War of 1812.
Our national capital in Washington had been
captured and burned.
So the illustrious victory
in the Battle of New Orleans was a powerful restorative
to our national pride.
Yet, the victory at New Orleans
actually took place two weeks
after the signing of the Armistice in Europe.
Thousands died although a peace had been negotiated.
The combatants had not gotten the word,
yet the epic struggle
nevertheless restored America's pride.
Today,
America can regain the sense of pride
that existed before Vietnam,
but it cannot be achieved
by refighting a war that is finished
as far as America is concerned.
[audience applause]
As I see it, the time has come
to look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify,
to bind up the nations wounds, and to restore its health
and its optimistic self-confidence.
In New Orleans,
a great battle was fought after a war was over.
In New Orleans tonight,
we can begin a great national reconciliation.
The first engagement must be with the problems of today,
but just as importantly,
the problems of the future.
That is why I think it is so appropriate
that I find myself tonight at a university
which addresses itself to preparing young people
for the challenge of tomorrow.
I ask
that we stop
refighting the battles and the recriminations of the past.
I ask that we look now
at what is right with America,
at our possibilities and our potentialities
for change and growth, and achievement and sharing.
I ask that we accept
the responsibility of leadership
as a good neighbor to all peoples and an enemy of none.
I ask that we strive to become,
in the finest American tradition,
something more tomorrow
than we are today.
[audience applause]
Instead of my addressing the image of America,
I prefer to consider the reality of America.
It is true that we have launched our Bicentennial celebration
without having achieved human perfection,
but we have attained
a very remarkable, self-governed society
that possesses the flexibility and the dynamism
to grow and undertake
an entirely new agenda,
an agenda for America's third century.
So, I ask you to join me in helping to write that agenda.
I am as determined
as a president can be to seek
national rediscovery of the belief in ourselves
that characterized the most creative periods
in our nation's history.
The greatest challenge of creativity,
as I see it, lies ahead.
We, of course,
are saddened indeed by the events in Indochina,
but these events,
tragic as they are,
portend neither the end of the world,
nor of America's leadership in the world.
How so?
[audience applause]
Let me put it this way, if I might.
Some tend to feel
that if we do not succeed in everything everywhere,
then we have succeeded in nothing anywhere.
I reject categorically such polarized thinking.
We can, and we should help others to help themselves,
but the fate
of responsible men and women everywhere in the final decision
rests in their own hands, not in ours.
[audience applause]
America's future depends upon Americans,
especially your generation,
which is now equipping itself to assume the challenges
of the future, to help write the agenda for America.
Earlier today, in this great community,
I spoke about the need to maintain our defenses.
Tonight,
I would like to talk about another kind of strength,
the true source of American power that transcends
all of the deterrent powers for peace of our armed forces.
I am speaking here
of our belief in ourselves
and our belief in our nation.
Abraham Lincoln asked,
in his own words, and I quote,
“What constitutes the bulwark
of our own liberty and independence?”
And he answered,
“It is not our frowning battlements,
“or bristling seacoasts, our Army, or our Navy.
“Our defense is in the spirit
“which has prized liberty as the heritage of all men,
in all lands everywhere.”
It is in this spirit
that we must now move beyond the discords of the past decade.
It is in this spirit that I ask you to join me
in writing an agenda for the future.
I welcome your invitation,
particularly tonight, because I know it is at Tulane
and other centers of thought throughout our great country
that much consideration is being given
to the kind of future Americans want,
and just as importantly, will work for.
Each of you are preparing yourselves for the future,
and I am deeply interested in your preparations
and your opinions and your goals.
However, tonight, with your indulgence,
let me share with you my own views.
I envision
a creative program that goes as far as our courage
and our capacities can take us, both at home and abroad.
My goal is for a cooperative world at peace,
using its resources to build,
not to destroy.
[audience applause]
As President, I am determined to offer leadership
to overcome our current economic problems.
My goal is for jobs for all who want to work,
and economic opportunity for all who want to achieve.
I am determined to seek self-sufficiency
in energy as an urgent national priority.
My goal is to make America independent
of foreign energy sources by 1985.
[audience applause]
Of course, I will pursue interdependence
with other nations
and a reformed international economic system.
My goal is for a world
in which consuming and producing
nations achieve a working balance.
I will address the humanitarian issues of hunger
and famine, of health and of healing.
My goal is to achieve or to assure basic needs
and an effective system to achieve this result.
I recognize the need for technology that enriches life
while preserving our natural environment.
My goal is to stimulate productivity,
but use technology to redeem,
not to destroy our environment.
[audience applause]
I will strive
for new cooperation rather than conflict
in the peaceful exploration of our oceans
and our space.
My goal
is to use resources for peaceful progress,
rather than war and destruction.
[audience applause]
Let America symbolize humanity's
struggle to conquer nature and master technology.
The time has now come
for our government to facilitate the individual's
control over his or her future
and of the future of America.
[audience applause]
But the future
requires more than Americans
congratulating themselves on how much we know
and how many products that we can produce.
It requires new knowledge to meet new problems.
We must not only be motivated to build a better America,
we must know how to do it.
If we really want a humane America that will, for instance,
contribute to the alleviation of world's hunger,
we must realize that good intentions
do not feed people.
Some problems,
as anyone who served in the Congress knows, are complex.
There are no easy answers.
Willpower alone does not grow food.
We thought,
in a well-intentioned past, that we could export
our technology lock, stock, and barrel
to developing nations.
We did it with the best of intentions,
but we are now learning
that a strain of rice that grows in one place
will not grow in another;
that factories that produce at 100% in one nation produce
less than half as much in a society
where temperament and work habits
are somewhat different.
Yet, the world economy has become interdependent.
Not only food technology, but money management,
natural resources and energy, research and development.
All kinds of this group require
an organized world society
that makes the maximum effective use of the world's resources.
I want to tell the world:
let's grow food together,
but let's also learn more
about nutrition, about weather forecasting, about irrigation,
about the many other specialties involved in helping people
to help themselves.
[audience applause]
We must learn more about people,
about the development of communities, architecture,
engineering, education, motivation, productivity,
public health and medicine, arts and sciences, political, legal,
and social organization.
All of these specialties and many, many more are required
if young people like you
are to help this nation develop an agenda
for our future, your future, our country's future.
I challenge, for example, the medical students
in this audience to put on their agenda
the achievement of a cure for cancer.
I challenge the engineers in this audience
to devise new techniques for developing cheap,
clean, and plentiful energy
and as a byproduct, to control floods.
I challenge the law students in this audience to find ways
to speed the administration of equal justice
and make good citizens out of convicted criminals.
I challenge education,
those of you as education majors,
to do real teaching
for real life.
I challenge the art majors in this audience
to compose the great American symphony,
to write the great American novel,
and to enrich and inspire our daily lives.
America's leadership is essential.
America's resources are vast.
America's opportunities are unprecedented.
As we strive together to perfect a new agenda,
I put high on the list of important points
the maintenance of alliances and partnerships
with other people and other nations.
These do provide a basis of shared values, even...
as we stand up with determination for what
we believe.
This, of course, requires a continuing
commitment to peace and a determination
to use our good offices wherever possible
to promote better relations between
nations of this world.
The new agenda,
that which is developed by you and by us,
must place a high priority
on the need to stop the spread of nuclear weapons
and to work for the mutual reduction
in strategic arms and control of other weapons.
And I must say parenthetically,
the successful negotiations at Vladivostok,
in my opinion, are just a beginning.
Your generation of Americans is uniquely endowed
by history to give new meaning
to the pride and spirit of America.
The magnetism
of an American society, confident of its own strength,
will attract the good will and the esteem of all people,
wherever they might be in this globe in which we live.
And it will enhance our own perception of ourselves
and our pride in being an American.
We can. We can, and I say
with emphasis, write a new agenda
for our future.
I am glad that Tulane University and other great American
educational institutions are reaching out
to others in programs
to work with developing nations,
and I look forward, with confidence,
to your participation in every aspect
of America's future,
and I urge
Americans of all ages
to unite in this Bicentennial year,
to take responsibilities for themselves,
as our ancestors did.
Let us resolve tonight to rediscover
the old virtues of confidence and self-reliance and capability
that characterized our forefathers two centuries ago.
I pledge, as I know you do,
each one of us, to do our part.
Let the beacon light of the past shine forth from historic
New Orleans, and from Tulane University,
and from every other corner of this land
to illuminate a boundless future
for all Americans and a peace for all mankind.
Thank you very much.
[audience applause]
- [Herbert] Mr. President.
[audience applause]
President Ford, I know that
reaction from this great audience tonight
bespeaks the warmth in which you've been received here,
and the appreciation that all of us have
for making this a third
address that you've given in New Orleans today.
We are most appreciative of your visit.
[audience applause]
[Herbert] Ladies and gentlemen,
the president has had a long day in New Orleans.
His plane is going to leave very shortly to
take him back to Washington.
There are some members
of the platform party who will be going with him
and I'll ask them to join us as we now leave this platform.
And well, I'll ask you, please, to remain seated
until the president's party has left the area completely.
I call upon Dean Gordon, Dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences, to give you a signal
when it will be appropriate [audience laughs]
for you to leave this hall.
Thank you all for coming.
[audience applause]
- [Broadcast Commentator] President Ford
and some of the Louisiana
congressional delegation, now leaving the gymnasium at
Tulane University after addressing 9000 students.
[audience applause]
Mr. Ford talked about an agenda for the future,
an agenda to unify, to bind up the nation's wounds,
and to restore it to health
and optimistic self-confidence,
but perhaps the most frenzied applause came
when the president said that cannot be achieved by refighting
a war that is finished as far as America is concerned.

Description

Color footage with sound of President Gerald Ford announcing the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam in a speech given at the gymnasium of Tulane University at 8:00 p.m. on April 23, 1975. This appears to be a videotape of a broadcast, as it contains the voice of an unknown commentator. The video opens with an unidentified announcer’s voiceover while footage is shown of President Gerald Ford, accompanied by Tulane University’s president, Herbert E. Longenecker, making his way through the crowd towards the speaker’s platform. The announcer says, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States and Dr. Herbert E. Longenecker,” but an unidentified broadcast commentator does not hear the word ‘and’, and he believes that the announcer has mistakenly introduced Tulane’s president as the U.S. president, hears the crowd roar (for the presidents’ entrance) and, thinking that the crowd has heard what he heard, says that the announcer must have been very nervous, that everyone is getting a good laugh of that faux pas, and that it will go down as a famous slip of the tongue – when it clearly wasn’t a slip at all. President Ford mounts the speaker’s platform to standing ovation, to face a crowd of 5,500 faculty, students and alumni. Dr. Longenecker takes the podium to introduce Marilyn Thomas Bernard, Newcomb alumna and current Xavier University faculty member, who sings the National Anthem (2:05). Longenecker continues his introduction, welcoming members of the platform party and members of Congress of the United States, especially Representatives from the first, second, and third Congressional districts, each of whom is an alumnus of Tulane University {F. Edward Hébert, Lindy Boggs, and David C. Treen; Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., is also a graduate}, Lt. Gov. James E. Fitzmorris, members of the consular corps, and others (3:37). Longenecker mentions Pres. Ford’s participation in the student-organized program “Direction” seven years prior, which draws applause. Pres. Ford takes the podium (6:30), waves to those behind him, and begins, address his comments to Longenecker, Tulane Student Senate President Grady S.Hurley, Johnston, Treen, Boggs, Hébert, Fitzmorris, students, faculty, alumni, and guests. He makes a joke about the difficulty of students getting to the new Superdome to see football games (7:30), mentions the Green Wave football team, obliquely refers to its rivalry with LSU (9:00), mentions his prior visit to Tulane as a “Direction ‘68” speaker, describes Tulane’s unique distinction as being the only American university to be converted from state sponsorship to private status , compliments Tulane alumni on their contributions to governmental service (10:50), gives a great description of New Orleans as “a state of mind, a melting pot representing the very, very best of America’s evolution” (11:20). He goes on to describe the victory of the Battle of New Orleans, how it restored a sense of national pride, and he uses this as a segue to announce the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam (13:00). He describes beginning a great national reconciliation, engaging with the problems of today and of the future, and goes on to give his vision for how this program might proceed, speaking to the students by discipline and highlighting the contributions that they might make to help develop an agenda for the future (26:30). He goes on to promote a continuing commitment to peace and better relations between nations (28:55), and a halt to the spread of nuclear weapons and a reduction in strategic arms (29:15). He urges all Americans to unite in the Bicentennial year, to take responsibility for themselves and to rediscover the old virtues of self-reliance and capability of their forefathers (31:00). He ends the speech by asking that the beacon light shine forth from New Orleans and Tulane University to illuminate the future for all Americans (32:00). The President receives a standing ovation, then Dr. Longenecker thanks him, acknowledging that this was the President’s third address in New Orleans that day. Dr. Longenecker continues to say that the President is heading back to Washington immediately and that some members of the platform party are accompanying him, so he asks that everyone stay seated until the President’s party has left the area completely and Dean of Arts and Sciences Dr. Joseph E. Gordon gives them the signal that it is appropriate to leave the gymnasium. He thanks everyone for attending, and steps away from the podium. The President joins him and they walk across the platform, shaking hands with everyone else on the platform as he leaves. Other notable Tulane personnages on the speaker’s platform include incoming president Dr. F. Sheldon Hackney; Dr. John J. Walsh, Chancellor of the Medical School; Arthur Waechter, Board of Administrators; Beatrice M. Field, director of Alumni Activities; C. Murphy Moss, Shepard F. Perrin, Jr., and Gilbert H. Vorhoff, Tulane Alumni Association; Dr. Arthur L. Welden, professor of biology, and Dr. Dale U. von Rosenberg, professor of chemical engineering, representing the University Senate; Deborah A. Rosenblum, president of the Newcomb Student Senate; Mrs. Frank T. Riess, president of the Newcomb Alumnae Association; and Albert J. Wetzel, director of University Development. Full transcript of the speech, photographs, and other documents associated with this historic event are available.

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Audiovisuals

Details

Title: 1975-President Ford announces the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam (Video)
Creator: Tulane University
Transcriber: Velasquez, Alan
Date Created: 1975
Description: Color footage with sound of President Gerald Ford announcing the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam in a speech given at the gymnasium of Tulane University at 8:00 p.m. on April 23, 1975. This appears to be a videotape of a broadcast, as it contains the voice of an unknown commentator. The video opens with an unidentified announcer’s voiceover while footage is shown of President Gerald Ford, accompanied by Tulane University’s president, Herbert E. Longenecker, making his way through the crowd towards the speaker’s platform. The announcer says, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States and Dr. Herbert E. Longenecker,” but an unidentified broadcast commentator does not hear the word ‘and’, and he believes that the announcer has mistakenly introduced Tulane’s president as the U.S. president, hears the crowd roar (for the presidents’ entrance) and, thinking that the crowd has heard what he heard, says that the announcer must have been very nervous, that everyone is getting a good laugh of that faux pas, and that it will go down as a famous slip of the tongue – when it clearly wasn’t a slip at all. President Ford mounts the speaker’s platform to standing ovation, to face a crowd of 5,500 faculty, students and alumni. Dr. Longenecker takes the podium to introduce Marilyn Thomas Bernard, Newcomb alumna and current Xavier University faculty member, who sings the National Anthem (2:05). Longenecker continues his introduction, welcoming members of the platform party and members of Congress of the United States, especially Representatives from the first, second, and third Congressional districts, each of whom is an alumnus of Tulane University {F. Edward Hébert, Lindy Boggs, and David C. Treen; Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., is also a graduate}, Lt. Gov. James E. Fitzmorris, members of the consular corps, and others (3:37). Longenecker mentions Pres. Ford’s participation in the student-organized program “Direction” seven years prior, which draws applause. Pres. Ford takes the podium (6:30), waves to those behind him, and begins, address his comments to Longenecker, Tulane Student Senate President Grady S.Hurley, Johnston, Treen, Boggs, Hébert, Fitzmorris, students, faculty, alumni, and guests. He makes a joke about the difficulty of students getting to the new Superdome to see football games (7:30), mentions the Green Wave football team, obliquely refers to its rivalry with LSU (9:00), mentions his prior visit to Tulane as a “Direction ‘68” speaker, describes Tulane’s unique distinction as being the only American university to be converted from state sponsorship to private status , compliments Tulane alumni on their contributions to governmental service (10:50), gives a great description of New Orleans as “a state of mind, a melting pot representing the very, very best of America’s evolution” (11:20). He goes on to describe the victory of the Battle of New Orleans, how it restored a sense of national pride, and he uses this as a segue to announce the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam (13:00). He describes beginning a great national reconciliation, engaging with the problems of today and of the future, and goes on to give his vision for how this program might proceed, speaking to the students by discipline and highlighting the contributions that they might make to help develop an agenda for the future (26:30). He goes on to promote a continuing commitment to peace and better relations between nations (28:55), and a halt to the spread of nuclear weapons and a reduction in strategic arms (29:15). He urges all Americans to unite in the Bicentennial year, to take responsibility for themselves and to rediscover the old virtues of self-reliance and capability of their forefathers (31:00). He ends the speech by asking that the beacon light shine forth from New Orleans and Tulane University to illuminate the future for all Americans (32:00). The President receives a standing ovation, then Dr. Longenecker thanks him, acknowledging that this was the President’s third address in New Orleans that day. Dr. Longenecker continues to say that the President is heading back to Washington immediately and that some members of the platform party are accompanying him, so he asks that everyone stay seated until the President’s party has left the area completely and Dean of Arts and Sciences Dr. Joseph E. Gordon gives them the signal that it is appropriate to leave the gymnasium. He thanks everyone for attending, and steps away from the podium. The President joins him and they walk across the platform, shaking hands with everyone else on the platform as he leaves. Other notable Tulane personnages on the speaker’s platform include incoming president Dr. F. Sheldon Hackney; Dr. John J. Walsh, Chancellor of the Medical School; Arthur Waechter, Board of Administrators; Beatrice M. Field, director of Alumni Activities; C. Murphy Moss, Shepard F. Perrin, Jr., and Gilbert H. Vorhoff, Tulane Alumni Association; Dr. Arthur L. Welden, professor of biology, and Dr. Dale U. von Rosenberg, professor of chemical engineering, representing the University Senate; Deborah A. Rosenblum, president of the Newcomb Student Senate; Mrs. Frank T. Riess, president of the Newcomb Alumnae Association; and Albert J. Wetzel, director of University Development. Full transcript of the speech, photographs, and other documents associated with this historic event are available.
Extent: 35 min., 9 sec.
Form: Color, Umatic tape
Type of Resource: moving image
Genre: Historical films
Topical Subject(s): Universities & colleges
Motion pictures
Presidents
Public speaking
Students
Geographic Subject(s): New Orleans (La.)
Publisher: Tulane University Digital Library
Language: eng
Identifier (Local): 1975-PresidentFord.mp4
Rights: Physical rights are retained by the University Archives, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Contact: specialcollections@tulane.edu