David Brinkley's Journal: U.S. Foreign Policy (sound)

an astonishing and remarkable development in this country's fairly Short history is this in about 15 years or less the American people went through a deep basic and profound change of attitude toward the rest of the world that of course is now taken for granted but seen in any perspective at all it is remarkable not long ago had there been trouble in Vietnam most Americans would a not have known where it was B cared or C had the faintest thought it was up to us to do anything about it but now we are concerned with what happens everywhere and not only willing but anxious to do something tonight A Brief look at how this new commitment to the world is seen in what might be called out of the way places not every RFD box holder is waiting impatiently for the paper to come so he can read Walter Lipman and the circulation of Foreign Affairs quarterly is not as big as kapper's farmer but across the country there are groups of people who meet regularly in living rooms union halls school buildings and even in laundromats while the clothes are drying or organized discussions of American foreign policy clth Falls Oregon is on on the Flyway of about 8 million ducks and geese migrating to and from Canada and when they pass through they're about 20,000 in view here it is a splendid site for hunters photographers and those who just like to look and listen most of this lake is a wildlife refuge but a part of it is open to Hunters in season and they come in such numbers the hotels and motels have signs Reading Please do not pick ducks or geese in in this room clam of Falls has no Falls but it has 17,000 people lumbering and potato farming some dissatisfaction and low prices now paid for both and it has Ben Kern he and his family own a farm equipment store that started as a blacksmith shop and every morning at 7:00 in the Attic of the store he does a program on the local radio station Reading classified on the a best [Music] bu now let's see what Best Buys you've sent in for a Monday morning for sale one white satin wedding dress size 12 worn just once well I should hope so it's 62231 after 11 if you need a good white satin wedding dress in a hurry 62231 after 11 wanted good used mandolin reasonably priced please call 693 free manure U hul good Rich Barnyard fertilizer call 68932 well there's your chance for spring here for good Rich Barnyard fertilizer but the basis of the economy is not used wedding dresses and mandolins it's the lumber [Applause] industry and the warehouser company seen here at work is the biggest payroll in town Lumberjacks are not the rough necks they used to be now they make 3:30 an hour and they go home at night and while they cut trees that are 200 years old the company has a careful system of planting new ones and letting them grow lumber prices are not good and several Mills have shut down but it Remains the biggest industry here as in all of Oregon the other money is in potatoes so-called Idaho potatoes raised in Oregon this one Warehouse handles 40 tons a day they are sorted grad sprayed with a chemical to keep them from sprouting and then shipped everywhere ready for baking and the sour cream and clth Halls has what is called a great decisions group the foreign policy Association for a dollar and a half mails each member printed discussion material and they then lay aside duck hunting lumbering and farming and gather to talk about LA and Vietnam led by Ben Kar conference in Paris that the US had a vital interest in maintaining Independence in South Vietnam and also a war just broke out in Laos what are our interests there why is Dean Rusk making statements about these countries halfway around the world I think that if we pull out or are pushed out that uh our Prestige as a world leader will suffer immensely that we will never gain the trust of a Asian nor probably an African nation for quite some time we're in so deeply now and our Prestige is so involved that I'm afraid we're going to have to stay there personally I I think it's quite unfortunate that we've got ourselves in this situation I don't think that the American public has been treated fairly by the state department or our government whichever way you want to put it I don't think that we've been allowed to have the information that we need to make decisions ourselves but we were kept in the dark all the time and then these things are popped open to us all of a sudden this is what has happened and we've had nothing to say or even to think about it the group includes the County librarian Betty Cody Dr Miriam Luton who patches up the clouth Indians after their fights and whose house this is Fred Spears the janitor at the elementary school Maran giri whose husband raises cattle and bent grass Arthur rice who moved from dairy farming in the East to cattle ranching in the west Tuffy pette a housewife a former school teacher Barbara hayatt a housewife her husband is a Salesman Martin pet a junior high math teacher who taught in Guam for two years and soon will go back before the meeting each one has already read the foreign policy association's fact sheet I just wonder if our policy in the whole Southeastern Asia has been right from the time of the uh finish of the French Indochina War it seems to me it's something has been dreadfully wrong that we didn't need to be in the mess we are there now but we can't play the record over no I know we we're in and if you were Dean Rus you'd have to make a decision now yes thank God I'm not but would you send troops you wouldn't I take it were all right but our policy I would negotiate and if Russia is willing to negotiate and uh work with us I certainly would do anything before I'd want to all Outlaw over there not me well I've seen I'd want to get in there and when they when they were ready to negotiate that means they they don't want any more fighting they want they want some time that's the time to get in there and knock the Dickens out of if we take a stand as we did in Cuba and say this is it this is the line we'll go no further I think that China will stop as Russia stopped in Cuba it's tragic that we can't grow up enough to turn to the United Nations and let these disputes be settled in a civilized way and give the United Nations strength to do it Nations Mont Rose Colorado cattle and sheep country unbelievable scenery just west of the continental divide 72 years ago they drove out the Ute Indians and started the town of Mont Rose its population by now has swollen to 5,000 the first mayor rode out of town drunk shooting his pistol in all all directions and has not been seen since now Mose has five bars one for each thousand people it also has an active chapter of the wct which installed a water fountain on the courthouse lawn across from the Elks club which has its own box it used to be a railroad Center hauling out the lead from Leadville now they keep locomotive 278 as a souvenir a few years ago one of the enduring cliches of the movie theater news reels was filmed from a sheep Ranch and a narrator who always began by saying in jovial tones it's sheep shearing time in the Rocky Mountains well it still is and a Clipper gets 30 cents for shaving a u and 60 cents for shaving a ram which is a kind of information you certainly don't get on other television programs the Clippers migrate from place to place like the oldtime Western dentists and they insist that sheep are the dumbest animals alive also seen around montose are trout ranches and this is a sort of Roundup this Ranch has seven ponds 100,000 Colorado brook trout in each they are sold to other hatcheries or anyone who wants them for 90 cents a pound and of course cattle ranching CLE this one run by Sam keer and his wife Charlotte he is an ex-engineer ex airplane pilot now running a small herd of Santa gertrudes the first completely American breed of beef cattle originated on the King Ranch in Texas in 1918 now said to grow faster and produce leaner beef and also to have the noblest character and sweetest disposition of any cattle anyway when he isn't working on his Ranch keer joins a great decisions group in his living room he says he got into it because he likes to talk and argue and they too the week we were there were discussing LA and Vietnam of our discussion series and to the most other members are Bob Spiro local public relations man for the rural electrification Administration W Wagner the county agent who got this group started Lynn Andress a high school gym teacher all listening to Jim Parker a Mont Roose Minister established neutrality of L you remember our previous discussion what I said about neutralism there is no such thing as a neutralist or ride in the fence you're on one side or the other or you have to get become that way sooner or lat don't you believe in coexistence coexistence with whom come on well with whom I mean with whom are we coexisting uh we're not coexisting with I sure I do but I don't think they do we've been coexisting with those people supposedly since 1945 well we've coexisted to the point now now where they just put in the hot line so that we don't make any mistakes and blow each other off the well we're we're tense we're really tense well isn't everybody tense over this thing but but is that coexisting they are coexisting in the sense that they're not going to force us into a major war they keep 20,000 guerillas active in Vietnam and according to the news tonight they've reconciled themselves that this is going to be a long war and they're going to maintain war on a more regular basis actually active units facing the uh Vietnamese Army our military action is the only action that keep the Communist contained anywhere anytime we can keep anybody from becoming communist that's the deal would you would you go to war over over Vietnam and law I would this is a question I would well because I think it's important and as far as the the SEO is concerned I think it's very important what has it done well our partners in Cito France they hav won a war in 100 years or any other and uh England always wants to negotiate and uh negotiating with Communists I don't believe gets you much of anywhere only loss uh maybe I haven't read enough on this thing but I don't think Sito is any value over there because there seemed like every time we start something England and France backs out and we sit there I think we should go ahead and clean up the mess here here's something uh di can't do uh as the rest of you have been doing here he' been knocking cedo and I believe a friend is a friend is a friend to work some particular individual over and I don't believe don't I don't believe we can I don't believe we can sell anybody short not the only time I think we ever have to fear our friends is in peace we don't really have to fear them in war we can't afford them that's right we can't afford them in the Beast time but we don't have to fear them in war time because they they've been backing us pretty well I wouldn't worry about Sito at all I'd start worrying about my backyard I believe it's more important for us to worry about what's happening in South America America and in Canada than it is to be worrying about uh what's happening in a small group I don't know how many thousands and thousands of miles away that's primitive and has no uh effect on us whatsoever I don't believe we really ought to withdraw completely from Southeast Asia perhaps they'd be quite happy with Communism let them worry about uh uh making them Democratic in their ideas let them worry about feeding for a while let them worry about uh all the insurrections that they have no no well let let's uh view this thing quite objectively let's let's say uh well let's let them decide what they want over there because certainly it's their right and let's pull out I mean let's pull out everything let's pull out our economic aid and let's pull out our our military forces and then we're going to say to the the king fish over there in China we're going to say mousy baby why don't you do the same thing why don't you pull all your troops out of here and of course he's going to say fine you know we're going to pull them right out and you know they're not even going to get on their foxholes they're going to be up there and the minute we move out the whole thing is going to be there it's militarily but that would certainly be the wrong thing to do in my opinion if we back out of there now militarily economically humanistically however you will we're going to suffer for it are you suggesting that the administration policy in Southeast Asia now is a good policy militarily it's the only one economically it's fantastically poor I I that word I think beyond the military we have no concept of what we need over there and I don't know why this is because we we have the resources peoplewise and MoneyWise to go over there and go beyond the military certainly no war was ever won by an army A rather major the foreign policy Association and the material it sends out says it tries to be factual and nonpartisan but difficult as that is it may even succeed because every once in a while it is attacked both from the left and the right we will look at one more of its discussion groups in a moment these are not just groups of people who use foreign policy as an excuse for getting together for a little socializing there are about 15,000 of them across the country with a membership of around 300,000 people in every state almost every town of any size they meet eight times each spring and discuss eight subjects the this year they were the common market red China and Russia Algeria Spain India LA and Vietnam the alliance for progress and peace our third Discussion Group chosen out of the 15,000 more or less arbitrarily and for no particular reason is in Little Rock Arkansas it is now trying to forget the notoriety of 1957 or the trouble as they call it and is now promoting a downtown renewal program success Y and trying to get new industry its landmarks include the state capital whose Dome is covered they say with 26 karat gold leaf and Central High School which surely will be a kind of American Landmark as long as it stands and the governor's mansion occupied by Governor fobus now in his fifth term in C ing some arens to wonder if he will ever leave 16 blocks away is a splendid 19th century mansion that was not burned in the Civil War now there in a setting of Magnolia wisteria and white columns the portrait inside is of Major John Fletcher a Confederate hero whose daughter Mrs DD Terry lives here now and has in her living room a great decisions group one of many in Little Rock in addition to Mrs Terry the members include include clay Robinson a lawyer in the state highway department father buo a Catholic priest and philosophy teacher at a Little Rock Seminary major ker a retired Air Force officer and Civil War historian and the moderator Victor Ray publisher of a labor newspaper what I'm wondering is is southeast Asia important to us and and why is it that this peninsula is a tremendously strategic area it controls the shipping rout between India between the nations in the Pacific and if we don't stay in here and do something about this then certainly red China is going to take over uh economically it is a an area that is one of the greatest rice producing areas the world and certainly red China wants for this reason but it seems to me the real question is not is this area important all areas are important but they're more or less important I think our question as to Vietnam and La is it isn't important enough to take the steps that we may have to take to save it uh from communism now I certainly hope we don't go into a third world war over this thing but I think we are taking that risk in the position we taking there and we we know we are taking this is not a kind of War we know how to fight it's a jungle it's a rough area it's not one that's well fitted for modern weapons it's it seems to me it's a wrong war in the wrong place at the WR time I think we had better make up our minds that we're going to win it seems to me that we're in a fight to the end with this Russian situation this communist situation and we better be prepared anywhere that communism raises its head and finds anything desirable we had better be prepared to get in the game M let me make this point here any any person who thinks that you can localize one particular place in this earth and say this is where they communist will or will not fight or we should or should not fight missed the central point they will fight any place that they can gain ground it happens to be in Southeast Asia at the moment very strategy and tactics is to fight you day and night to wear you down through gorilla tactics to terrify you to scare you to brow beat you to a conference table where you are sure to lose major I'm glad that we have somebody here who privy to the minds of the Communist and knows exactly what they're planning on doing I can agree with the major when especially if we get this idea that communism is all bad there's no question about it communism is a theoretical advance in in Asia and China in Southeast Asia they are guaranteeing these people equal rights if if all this is true though why is there a why we have to build walls to keep them inside Major we we can defeat Russia we can defeat China we can defeat the but we can't defeat communism unless you have obliterated the cause of Communism which is poverty as long as you try to fight a gorilla Warfare with pure politics you can never win first you've got to defeat these people in the field to dve drive them back and then build behind you we have made tremendous military successes in Vietnam we have succeeded in v in Vietnam where the French have failed we have succeeded in putting battalions in the field but the the South Vietnam are not going to fight for a corrupt system why should they why should I lose my life to protect D down take we can't go over there to these people who've never voted don't know what voting is and say democracy is what you got to have they haven't got any idea what democracy is but with what does mean something to them I guess it's the money that we're pouring in but the Communist it seems to me have something in addition to that they're pouring money in they're fighting a war they got something a third thing they have an ideology they they have something to give these people they can believe in that this seems to to help them uh to to uh put their Revolution over now what can we sell everybody here is younger than I am and I should like to ask why this idea got abroad in the thinking of most of you people here that we had no what's the word that they have got ideology ideology but we have no where did that come from why you've all read the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and why don't you why don't we know it why we have got if there ever was a country on Earth that was born in ideology I'm amazed at you I agree with Miss Terry that we really do have something tremendous to sell but today you got to offer something more there's got to be food and education and all these things to to get the people ready for it rather than just just saying we're against communism uh I want to come on just one one thing I what Miss Terry said about what we have to sell to these people now we certainly can't take the Constitution of the United States and Declaration of Independence which are 18th century political documents and try to impose them in a 20th century situation we have to really be informed and I think the real information we have to have is uh what are the conditions which allow a man to be free and that's going to take Health it's going to take food it's going to take education it's going to take roads uh Bill what does the city editor of the Arkansas Gazette think of it I don't think those places are or deserve to be considered governments in the sense that we think of Nations and governments in in our part of the world they're so backward that I think that consideration should be given to the to this uh possibility that the United States on its own or the United Nations simply move in and take over there will be no more Laos or Vietnam temporarily we just move in and take over and operate and run until the day when we think we can turn them loose to right on their own I think in South Vietnam we ought to stay there in fact I think we ought to extend it and I think we got to carry the water to North Vietnam and land our own griller forces up there maybe throw a few bombs in a Hanoi Cafe bomb of the month club or something you know and let the people Hano know that they got a war too create the fires in their backyard at the same time carry what father wallo said is exert uh every power that the government has against de and his government to compel these people and if we have to go so far as to take them over I think we should go that far too I think we should fight to win we can win and we should win in in South Vietnam and once we win there I think the same pressure ought to be applied to La I the exact same circumstances we should stay there and win that was we won the war twice in we lost again not everybody is waiting at the RFD box to read Walter Lipman but very large numbers of people do use their spare time to learn about and argue about the great issues of foreign policy one thing to conclude from it is that people generally are better informed and willing to support more advanced policies than the state department and the government generally think they are I'll be back in a moment week an interview with Newton minow chairman of the FCC who having labeled television a vast Wasteland is now retiring until then thank you and good [Music] night