Best of Times - Worst of Times Mike Mansfield 1903-2001
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University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Mike Mansfield Speeches Mike Mansfield Papers 4-12-1977 Best of Times - Worst of Times Mike Mansfield 1903-2001 Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/mansfield_speeches Recommended Citation Mansfield, Mike 1903-2001, "Best of Times - Worst of Times" (1977). Mike Mansfield Speeches. 1502. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/mansfield_speeches/1502 This Speech is brought to you for free and open access by the Mike Mansfield Papers at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mike Mansfield Speeches by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. I BEST OF TIMES -WORST OF TIMES by Senator Mike Mansfield Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 32, Box 1 , Folder 4, Mansfield Library, University of Montana. ALFRED M. LANDON LECTURES ON PUBLIC ISSUES 1966 1972 ALFRED M LANDON SECRETARY ELLIOT RICHARDSON New Challenges m International Human Needs and Government-A Relat1ons Reahst1c Assessment WILLIAM D RUCKELSHAUS 1967 The Cm1s of Trust and the RALPH McGILL Environmental Movement The Emergmg South Poht1cs and Issues SECRETARY EARL L BUTZ GOVERNOR RONALD REAGAN The Future Belongs to Those Who H1gher Educat1on Its Role m Prepare for It Contemporary Amenca DAN RATHER GOVERNOR GEORGE ROMNEY Reporter's Notes The Challenge of International 1973 Development REAR ADMIRAL ALAN SHEPARD 1968 How Do We Stand m Space1 SENATOR ROBERT F KENNEDY GENERAL ALEXANDER M HAIG Conflict 1n V1etnam and at Home A StrategiC Overv1ew GOVERNOR NELSON A WILLIAM F BUCKLEY ROCKEFELLER The Assault on the Free Market Our Country s Problems. Solut1ons 1974 ARTHUR SCHLESINGER ANNE ARMSTRONG The19b8Eiectlon AnH1stor1cal Cr1,51s and Challenge Perspect1ve BILL\ GRAHAM The D1vme Answt>r to the Nat1onal 1969 Dilemma SENATOR MIKE MANSFIELD WALTER W HELLER A Paclf1c Perspect1ve The Energy Cm1s and the Economy GENERAL W C WESTMORELAND The Role of the US Army m T oday·s 1975 World J WILLIAM FULBRIGHT SENATOR EDWARD W BROOKE Energy and the M1ddle East Interests Nat1onal Secunty Dollars. Demands and and lllus1ons D1lemmas SECRETARY WILLIAM E SIMON 1970 Restormg Our Prospenty DANIEL PATRICK MOYNIHAN HUBERT H HUMPHREY The World m the Year Ahead How We Can Make Our Government Work 1976 ARCHBISHOP FULTON J SHEEN SENATOR HENRY M JACKSON Three Forms of Love Amenca and Freedom's Future SECRETARY WALTER J HICKEL SENATOR CHARLES McC MATHIAS. Be Part of the Solution. Not Part of the JR Problem The Alternat1ves to Detente PRESIDENT RICHARD M NIXON CARL T ROWAN It's T1me to Stand Up and Be Counted What J1m my Carter's Elect1on W1ll Mean CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN SENATOR THOMAS F EAGLETON The Alternat1ve Is Chaos 1977 Year of Opportumty m the M1ddle East1 1971 SENATOR HUGH SCOTT 1977 lmphcat1ons of Fore1gn Policy SENATOR CHARLES H PERCY JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH Does the Umted States have a Fore1gn Polley The Next Reform Respons1b1hty to Feed the World? LEONARD WOODCOCK SENATOR MIKE MANSFIELD The EconomiC Game Plan Best of Times-Worst of T1mes Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 32, Box 1 , Folder 4, Mansfield Library, University of Montana. BEST OF TIMES -WORST OF TIMES By Senator Mike Mansfield Alfred M. Landon Lectures on Public Issues Tuesday April12, 1977 Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 32, Box 1 , Folder 4, Mansfield Library, University of Montana. KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY ALFRED M. LANDON LECTURES ON PUBLIC ISSUES In December. 1966. Kansas State Un1vers1ty maugurated a lecture senes hononng a most d1stmgu1shed Kansan and elder statesman, Alfred M Landon, and explonng the area of h1s l1felong m terest- publ1c 1ssues The lectures are a tnbute to Governor Landon. not only as a governor of Kansas and cand1date for the pres1dency of the Umted States, but also as a spokesman of unusual sp1nt and ded1c at1on on public 1ssues Duiin~ Aclt~r. Pr~sid~nt B.L. Flinchbiiugh, Chilirmiln undon L~ctur~ S~ri~s © Kansas State Unlvemty, 1977 All R1ghts Reserved Pnnted m US A Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 32, Box 1 , Folder 4, Mansfield Library, University of Montana. - Best of Times- Worst of Times by Senator Mike Mansfield Over the years, Europe has pulled the interests of this country in its direction but ever since the founding of the Republic, Asia has pushed us in that direction. Unfortunately, Southeast Asia, along with latin America, both seem to rank low on the totem pole of U.S. foreign policy. We talk about NATO, Africa in recent months, the Middle East it seems perennially, the Soviet Union always, and all those areas get much more attention than do the two previously men tioned. But the thrust of our country has always been westward, even before the revolution. It meant the opening of new frontiers, the settling of Kansas and Mon tana, the Pacific Coast, it meant the opening of the China trade. When George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of this Republic, there were 13 American clippers in the harbor of Canton. It meant Commodore Perry in the last century opening up the·isolated empire of japan, which until that time had been 3 by and large for several centuries under the control of the Shogunates. It meant Dewey and the Spanish American war, our interests in the Philippines, an interest which exists even to this day because it, along with Japan, form the westernmost defenses insofar as the security of this country is concerned. It meant statehood for Hawaii and Alaska, both westward. It meant the acquisition of the trust territory at the end of the second war. It meant Korea and it meant Vietnam, laos, Cambodia, and it meant war, tragically. It also marked the beginning of the opening of the door between the People's Republic of China and the United States. It proved that foreign policies are not always infallible because one of the reasons we went into Indochina was to contain China and now the wheel has turned. On April 10, 1975, two years and two days ago, in an address to a joint session President Ford asked the Congress to approve one billion dollars in military and economic aid for South Vietnam. The next day American embassy personnel were evacuated from Phnom Penh. The end of an era was at hand. By the last of that month it was all over, less than two years ago. In Saigon and Phnom Penh the governments of generals Thieu and Lon Nol were out and new governments were in. Thus ended the final chapter in a disastrous and tragic policy to contain a non-aggressive China. Where do we stand in Asia two years later? What lessons have we learned from this attempt to interfere in vast lands and people halfway around the globe? It is time to take stock. Since President Nixon's visit to Peking in 1972, the winds of change have blown throughout Asia. After more than two decades of hostility and con frontation, the United States and China began the journey to normalization of relations, a journey still far from completed. At last our nation's policy is now grounded on fact that the United States is not an Asian power but a Pacific power. The difference is more than semantic. It is the difference between a sensible acceptance of the realities of Asia and the dangerous allusion of military om nipotence. What takes place in that vast region is of concern to Americans, but Mike Mansfield Papers, Series 32, Box 1 , Folder 4, Mansfield Library, University of Montana. concern and control are quite different matters. Simply stated, America's prin cipal long-range interests in the Far East are to avoid domination of the region by ,:~ny single power, to maintain friendly relations with China, Japan and other nations, and to lessen tensions which could trigger either a local or a great power conflict in the area. Let us first look at the People's Republic of China, the home for one-quarter of the people on this globe. President Nixon's journey was only the first step on the path to normalization of relations with China. The Shanghai communique was not a document of flesh and blood. It was a skeleton to which the sinews were to be added by both countries. In the five years since that document was 1ssued some tlesh has been added in the form of trade, cultural, educational, and scientific exchanges and visits to China by government officials including members of Congress. One such group is there at the present time. But the basic myth of the old China policy, the obstacle to normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China remains. The United States officially still treats the government of Taiwan as the government of China. The pertinent provisions of the Shanghai communique to which President Nixon and Premier Chou En-lai both affixed their signatures in February of 1972 4 reads as follows: " The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Straight maintain that there is but one China and that Taiwan is part of China. The United States government does not challenge that position. It reaf firms its interest in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves. With this prospect in mind it affirms the ultimate objective of the withdrawal of all U.S. forces and military installations from Taiwan. In the mean time, it will progressively reduce its forces and military installations in Taiwan as the tension in the area diminishes." I interpret the Shanghai communique to mean that the United States recognizes that the Chinese Civil War was over and that the eventual goal was full and formal normalization of relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States.