NET Journal; 265; Who Invited Us

- Transcript
Any tea who invited us 58 minutes 28 seconds Tommy Belcher, don't build it, Charles Cullin, Raul Kassariz, Charles Neal, Ronald Kuss, Don Scarbury, Anthony when somebody talks about justifying the death of a son in Vietnam, the grief and the sadness and the feeling of being cheated would happen to anybody but there's no compensation because nobody has helped me to understand how in any way this is anything but the waste of a very beautiful human being
who's not only a beautiful human being but also my son and I watched him trying to be a soldier down inside he was a scared little boy he tried and you'd see his pain and moral conflict coming out to stop in front of the White House say the thing was my dead son but it was necessary and that that's the way it is was almost like calling a ghost and one of the hardest things I've had to do since he died like crashing and burning an helicopter
a nation cannot remain great if it betrays its allies and lets down its friends our defeat and humiliation in South Vietnam without question would promote recklessness in the councils of those great powers who have not yet abandoned their goals to world conquest this is the beginning of us against them 1918 the harbor in Vladivostok, Siberia we landed 10,000 troops after the Russian Revolution to join the French who lost their investments under the Tsar, the British who wanted to keep the Russians weak and the Japanese seeking concessions in Siberia the mission overthrow of the new Soviet state a threat to individual enterprise everywhere as one of President Wilson's advisers put it
but the Bolsheviks couldn't be beaten and a sixth of the earth was closed to capitalism a permanent campaign against communism began some might call it a contest between capitalism and socialism it has influenced foreign policy ever since and led to other US interventions today the costs of the confrontation are so enormous that many aspects of United States policy face a challenge we won't come back till it's over there and we won't come back till it's over over there 10 years in Vietnam as the underdeveloped world becomes more the battleground in the revolution of rising expectations 1, 2, 3, 4, what are we fighting for?
deepening domestic crisis and arouse public finally a new administration and now President Nixon promising to reduce our commitments what is at stake if we leave Vietnam how does successful revolution or civil war in a poor small country heard us how important is the oil the metal and the sugar of the underdeveloped world to us and our allies how does intervention begin 50 years after the Russian revolution the Cuban revolution again American involvement the Bay of Pigs invasion at first Castro and his guerrillas were heroes for overthrowing the Batista dictatorship then 18 months before the missile crisis we tried to destroy Castro why some possible answers he was putting socialism 90 miles from our shores
he insisted on controlling foreign investment or taking it over we lost a billion and a half dollars in sugar oil and mineral interest Castro lined up with the Russians and said he would support revolution in South America we responded with alliance for progress dollars for the rest of Latin America and the CIA trained liberation army for Cuba Castro quickly crushed the Bay of Pigs invasion and sold us back his prisoners President Kennedy just after the invasion it is clear that this nation in concert with all the free nations of this hemisphere must take an ever closer and more realistic look at the menace of external communist intervention and domination in Cuba the American people are not complacent about I am hurt and tanks and planes less than 90 miles from their shore but a nation of Cuba's size is less a threat to our survival than it is a base for subverting the survival of other free nations throughout the hemisphere
over there over there and the words and the word over there four years after the Bay of Pigs revolution on another Caribbean island one that the United States had control for years 20,000 Marines land in the Dominican Republic President Johnson doesn't want another Cuba we fight to preserve a military regime we seek no territory we do not seek to impose our will on anyone we intend to work for the self-determination of the people of the America within the framework of freedom when forces of freedom move slowly whether on political or economic or military fronts the forces of slavery and subversion move rapidly and they move decisive
we know that when a communist group seeks to exploit misery the entire free American system is put in deadly danger we also know that these dangers can be found today in many of our lands there is no trouble anywhere these evil forces will not try to turn to their advantage and we can expect more efforts of triumph by terror and conquest through chaos many experts did not see the communist threat perceived by President Johnson yet thousands of Dominicans were killed today grinding poverty still prevails and a harsh regime rules despite millions from America in aid the possibility of civil war persists oil dictates in Venezuela whatever the intentions of the alliance for progress American oil operations come first Venezuela produces a fifth of all the profits for standard oil of New Jersey
petroleum in fact produces about 60% of all US profit from the underdeveloped world oil industry leaders recently told the White House that American investment in the Middle East was in danger unless we adopted a more considerate policy toward the Arab nations back in 1953 the CIA wasn't very considerate it overthrew the government of Iran because Iran had nationalized its oil fields a threatening precedent American companies ended up with 40% of what had once been a British monopoly 1958 crisis again in the Middle East Lebanon a pro-American government faces civil war its opposition wants to join NASA in his bid for a socialist union of Arab states a dream that would threaten British French Dutch and US control of the world's greatest oil reserves Marines stay in Lebanon until a pro-American government is once again in control
does our intervention really solve their internal problems when President Truman gave arms and officers to Greece in 1948 the communist threat was smashed and he was applauded today after all our help a fascist dictatorship rules in 1953 President Eisenhower okayed American military action in Guatemala to overthrow a left-wing government that had defied the united fruit company there's been constant guerrilla skirmishing sense each president has said he intervened to avoid the high human toll of revolution or to contain conflict that could bring the superpowers face to face all much of the world moans and agonies and urns for change our most vigorous commitment is to stability to be ready to move in the air or on the ground in combating brush fire wars or meeting the challenge of all out global conflict strike command it has to put widely varied and highly selected
and it can deliver that function whatever place and in whatever form the particular crisis may demand and do it on mighty short notice we're ready and able anywhere anytime this is the mission of the United States strike command if you would deny the virtues of preparedness but with pledges to defend 42 nations many on stable what criteria for action do we use? the Japanese foreign minister and ambassador and secretary of defense layered we want Japan to play a bigger military role in Asia but after World War II Japan itself had to be rebuilt the Japanese were the key to keeping the rim of Asia in our camp is the Eisenhower who first involved us in Vietnam linked the future of Vietnam and Japan
there is Japan vital to the security of the free world Japan is an essential counterweight to come in a spring in Asia our industrial power is the heart of any collective effort to defend the Far East against aggression her more than 90 million people occupy a country where the arable land is no more than that of California more than perhaps any other industrial nation Japan must export to live for Japan there must be more free world outlets for her products she does not want to be compelled to become dependent as a last resort upon the communist empire should she ever be forced to that extremity the blow to free world security would be incalculable one of Japan's greatest opportunity for increased trade lies in a free and developing Southeast Asia the great need in Japan is for raw materials
in southern Asia it is for manufactured goods the two regions complement each other marketable so by strengthening Vietnam and helping ensure the safety of the South Pacific and Southeast Asia we gradually develop the great trade potential between this region rich in natural resources and highly industrialized Japan to the benefit of both in this way freedom in the western Pacific will be greatly strengthened and the interest of the whole free world advanced at Princeton University's moratorium observance last fall the overseas economic interests of the United States were linked to foreign policy decisions and invited historians said America is in Vietnam to stop a worldwide trend toward self-determination that would hurt our economy
what would probably happen in Southeast Asia and what will probably happen in Latin America over the next 30 or 40 years is that there will be a kind of inevitable gradual movement toward the left toward nationalist revolutions, towards revolutions against American hegemony and under the circumstances the United States does correctly perceive that Vietnam is the key to a whole area and the loss of that area has a kind of psychological political impact on the retention of Latin America first of all the fact is the United States is now a deficit nation in terms of raw materials it really needs the raw materials of the world and it needs them to continue a high level of production at home to lose access in particular to raw materials is to lose the ability to expand at home it loses the ability to consider new kinds of technological innovations sophisticated industry requires sophisticated metals and by and large the United States does not have these
these pilots wouldn't have jets to fly if the United States couldn't get specialty metals two and a half tons of chromium go into a jet engine the U.S. has no chromium the free world producers are Iran, Turkey, the Philippines, Rhodesia and South Africa cobalt goes into jet engine steel we have none the Congo is a major source alumbium is another vital rare metal our country has none Brazil is the supplier a ton of nickel goes into a jet engine we import three quarters of all we use we have no manganese which is basic to all steel making generally we control the production of these metals of the source the most profitable setup if the supplying nation had control it could win better terms for itself or trade elsewhere do we then stand to strive the world because of our needs a former Pentagon planner in charge of international security was queried but if there were anything to the dominoe theory if over a long period of time in dochina were taken out of our orbit would there be an economic interest then that we would have
how it's regarded as being almost insignificant there is nothing in dochina that's necessary to the American economy in terms of investment the French have always had far more of an investment there than we Latin America when Governor Rockefeller talks about the need for the raw materials and the need for the market and perhaps the need for military assistance more military assistance well I think you can clearly make a better case for the importance of the large continent of South America which is central cheek by jaw with us then you can for the importance to us economically of dochina and I think the Governor Rockefeller's report quite correctly states importance to us in both the economic and the human sense of having more progress of a social and economic nature in Latin America our involvement in Latin America goes back to 1846 and the Mexican American War
many historians say we provoked it the war cost Mexico half its territory and gave us Texas, California, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada every client free of inflation or our country's right now hear the calls throughout the land come and proudly take your stand now uphold your chief and hand goes of the crime in 1898 Teddy Roosevelt helped get the Spanish-American war started we had already taken over Hawaii and now we aim to liberate the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico from Spain we did, they became virtual colonies and the Philippines and Puerto Rico were actually annexed trust them, I will not will you rose without the crime today in Manhattan the large Puerto Rican community is one historical outcome of the Spanish-American war a leader of the community looks back at the exodus from the island well if you see, please never hear this in a typical neighborhood where my people end throughout the city of New York Puerto Ricans we amounted a million today
we have been coming to the city in the last 20 years in great amounts we left the island in most of them in the marine tiger who was a ship that could handle Puerto Ricans by the South they could make it, they came here, and they ended in this kind of alarms they left the island for different reasons the most important ones is the fact that there was no job there was no work for them over there they were making maybe $1.25 per day the sugar cane industry or the coffee plantations the island was taken over by the American economy and most of the industries that have been established in Puerto Rico are owned by American capitalists we have a common world status in paper but it has not been developed to the extent that Puerto Rican people will take cover their own economy or their own system Congress of the United States is the one that legislates every scene that affects the island and every time a Puerto Rican leader gets up and five-foot people
the first thing you will have behind him will be the FBI it will be the CIA it will be the space of police it will be a complete harassment of him and the whole Puerto Rico has been invaded in a way like other countries of Latin America have been invaded in the past when he gets to Washington then the Democrats will run like over the Philippines began with Admiral Dewey sailing into Manila Harbor his classic order, you may fire when ready gridley although the Spaniards were quickly defeated the war didn't end President McKinley had promised the Filipinos independence but then reneged because of pressures from big business the Filipinos who have been fighting Spain now faced a new foreign power and they fought on it was a long cruel war two years, 125,000 U.S. troops 5,000 Americans killed Filipinos, nobody count at the end, we were a Pacific power the Philippines further opened the door to the markets of the Orient welcome, change, they'll be we'll regain prosperity McKinley and protection marches on
Mark Twain was a leading member of the Adian Purilously a citizens group which opposed American expansionism Twain wrote we've invited our clean young men to shoulder a discredited musket into bandits work under a flag which bandits have been accustomed to fear not follow we've debased America's online blackened her face before the world but each detail was for the best we know this American Marines often landed on foreign soil in the following years Brigadier General Spudley Butler, a Marine hero who led many of these missions after his retirement wrote I helped make Honduras right for American fruit companies in 1903 I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914 I helped make Haiti and Cuba
a decent place for the national city bank boys to collect revenues in I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916 in China 1927 I helped see to it that standard oil went its way un-molested I was rewarded with honors, medals and promotions looking back on it I feel I might have given Al Capone a few hints the best he could do was operate his record in three city districts we Marines operated on three continents today the good friends of one by day come up to mountain with the sun since General Butler we've advanced the good neighbor policy and the alliance for progress but today's coffee commercial picture of life is hardly accurate in Colombia poverty, unemployment and illiteracy are worse than ever
the guerrillas hold parts of the countryside and a former dictator is trying to make a comeback to return Peace Corps volunteers comment I was in Colombia in the last two years and I think there were two really dominant impressions during that time first of all, anytime we found any kind of inequity which we really wanted to work to organize overcome it was usually against the local power structure it would upset it in some way and consequently as Peace Corps volunteers we were really urged to strain ourselves in fact it was mandatory because we were there at the invitation of the Colombian government with a contract with our government and anything to upset that contract we couldn't work for the other thing that impressed me is that there is a group forming in Colombia of young people who are trying to do something about the inequities of power structure and they really dislike our being there because anything we do is going to help continue the very things that they're working against
these are Colombians I was in the same place as my wife and son in Colombia I worked principally with school construction but in that kind of work I was always supposed to work within their red and narrow program difficulty is that in a lot of cases the school construction of virtually any other project the people ought to be very mad at their government because they're simply not getting the things they pay their taxes for the government isn't doing what a government ought to do for them and yet any Peace Corps worker who took a handy government stance of any kind was in a lot of trouble we were expected to go through the same political channels that have ruined Colombia and most other Latin American countries stay always within the narrow bureaucratic limits of that country's structured community development program which really as a matter of fact constructed very few schools and certainly didn't do what it reported to do
and that has changed the present system in which very few people represented in their government Bolivia, last year, Governor Rockefeller's fact-finding trip resentment had yet another U.S. inquiry into the obvious awareness that Rockefeller family operations in oil, banking, shipping, mining and real estate dominate much of the economy the governor on his return I think that it's fair to say that as a result of the trips that one could observe that all is not well in our relations in the Western atmosphere there are needs for some fundamental changes I think that we've been able to see some new trends of developing and realize even more strongly the tremendous interdependence and growing interdependence between the nations of the Western atmosphere Reporting to President Nixon, the governor said
the chances of communist subversion are alarming Latin America's new military regimes may be the only way to preserve stability we should provide more generous trading terms to encourage development we should provide more military assistance today Congress seems to be cutting back on everything but military assistance what is the future in Latin America? Chile, relatively stable and democratic viewed as a model of development by money, may soon provide some answers American business owned Chile's key resource copper after some urging the U.S. firms allowed Chile to buy in as a 50-50 partner now Chile is bidding for total ownership, immediate nationalization Chile says it is a victim of economic imperialism the copper companies naturally don't want to give up a profitable investment they insist that the capitalist model of development is best
and that it can work in Chile a Chilean banker and leader of the Latin American financial community sums up feelings about U.S. economic policy we are sending more dollars to the United States and those dollars that the U.S. is sending to Latin America as I say, this is not a plot nobody is responsible for this this is if you want a structural imbalance but it is a fact that we have to recognize and try to correct it this is the reason why the Latin American countries, as you were mentioning in the so-called consensual of Vignade del Mar, are trying to reshape or remodel the inter-American economic relations imagine that we are given the Latin American companies one million dollars a day it is impossible the future is nationalization there is no other way
and the new government, the popular government feature we will start from September 1970 we will take immediate reposition nationalization Latin America can no longer afford the luxury of the alliance for progress rhetoric which means high-term loans at high interest rates it means delivery in U.S. ships which is something 50-60% higher than the rest of the shipping costs throughout the world tied to buying U.S. products, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera as Chile's crucial presidential election approaches, this is the situation the armed forces might move as in Peru and Bolivia and the copper mines would be nationalized the far right which is strong, surprisingly, is also for nationalization the far left which just missed winning the presidency last time has agreed on a unity candidate they would undoubtedly drive the hardest nationalization bargain
the left coalition in Chile includes the once outlawed Communist Party the far left is strongest at the copper mines this is El Teneente, the largest underground copper mine in the world Keneca, the American owner, pays what is considered a good way the miners are Marxist-oriented their union is the strongest in the country and the miners demands have political impact we the Chileans are for the immediate nationalization because we cannot put our efforts into helping to raise the standard of living of another country we are an underdeveloped country if we were a fully developed country and it would be possible for us to help another country we would do it if the mines were Chilean we would work with much more contentment no matter if the salary is the same as now
but we would be doing it with the idea that our kids will have a better standard of life in the future everybody in Chile isn't against private enterprise and foreign nationalization the business community insists it needs foreign capital to grow and it wants to keep the current government in power a young executive with standard oil tells why he would side with SO against nationalization I have the experience of SO and SO has been a good company in Chile we have obtained many things from it and also through its policies I have been able to see a great difference between the national manager and the American manager everybody is given an opportunity here also the progress anybody can make in the company it is measured in terms of their ability nationalization by taking away things is immoral
leading agricultural engineer in this country in Chile you must have as a goal the nationalization of the cover mines unless you don't do that you are not going to have the financial resources to perform the changes this country needs in the other sectors of the economy and especially in the agricultural sector I think that Chile is going socialist I don't know whether in the next few years but I think that a very big percentage of the Chilean population thinks that the only way out of underdevelopment is socialism the lands for progress was really an answer to the Cuban revolution to the idea of the Cuban revolution in Latin America and of course if most of the population of Latin America is in the countryside they are peasants
the idea of a land reform was necessary to neutralize the possible explosion that would develop in the most miserable part of the Latin American population the lands for progress set as a goal until 1970 to put half of the landless population of agriculture in Latin America as owners of land it hasn't been accomplished even one or two percent of the goal that was set by the lands for progress socialism in Chile means a deep land reform means the nationalization of all the copper and iron mines nationalization of the banks, private banks and means also the transfer of income from external drainage and from very limited circles to the majority of the people of this country
not only in income but in education in sanitary conditions and also in dignity Senator Karl Munt, a ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee tells why he envisions a body blow to American interests if Chile goes socialist well we'd be heard in the first place because we have a lot of American interests in Chile they would immediately expropriate them they would compensate the owners, the American owners for them they would discontinue wherever they could trading with the United States in favor of trading with the communist block they would do what communists always do they're an expanding organization they're aggressive in nature, imperialistic in design they would immediately start working on their Latin American neighbors so we would be in jeopardy with our relationships with Latin America just as Cuba having a communist government
sends in the infiltrators constantly into other Latin American areas trying to overthrow the government and set up a communist camp and you wouldn't want a continent down there run by a communist dictatorship this would be terrifying, this would probably mean that we would indeed have to become isolationist and hire myself and base ourselves but how you would done a version of atomic attack and eventually a holocaust I just wouldn't be able to imagine Well, state department view I do believe that the United States has been too paternalistic over a period of years and if you go back as has been done by congressman and has been done by our own shop to 1823 let's say roughly the era of the Monroe doctrine and then just tabulate the number of times that the United States has solved the problem, whatever it is, the problem in Latin America by armed intervention, by police action, by continuity of occupation
we've built an ironclad umbilical cord that runs from us to the southern half of this hemisphere to me it's very clear that what Latin America is saying or what we should now embrace is a lower profile I think it's long overdue I think it's high time that we treat a sovereign nation like a sovereign nation the conflict which tends to increase the profile I think I can define as originating from a congressional intent to protect the American investment be that investment on the private sector or investment of foreign assistance dollars this is a special army performance at Fort Bragg North Carolina home of the green berets there is a select audience all the military leaders of Latin America except Cuba today more of South America is under military rule than before the alliance for progress although in principle the United States doesn't do business with dictatorships
in practice the policy is applied only to Cuba it was a demonstration of the latest in anti guerrilla warfare instant truck the blue represents the Cold War or counterinsurgency mission this mission is of utmost importance today and will continue to be so in the foreseeable future many Latin American officers have been trained in the United States and hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent upgrading the armies they command in several countries the army has taken over the civilian government promising stability by general consent these are harsh dictatorships as in Peru one of Peru's generals talks about the value of the Fort Bragg get-again we have a great importance in that they should continue until international communism has been destroyed as far as its influence our importance in South America officially this is the ninth annual conference of American armies
post general William Westmoreland army chief of staff a week of secret briefings contingency planning and weapons discussions a purpose, a valuation of hemispheric security we attempt to make such an appraisal every year so that we will have a better understanding as to the threat these annual conferences have played a very significant role and breaking down communication barriers particularly but I think all participants have gained from each change of ideas I think overall the hemispheric security is beneficial good afternoon I am Sergeant Wingrow the operation sergeant on the left the sergeant fair be the intelligent sergeant of the camp detachment critics of our emphasis on military operations in Latin America predict that this will lead to further U.S. interventions in the southern hemisphere Vietnam, the so-called secret war in Laos and U.S. troops in Thailand have generated a new weariness about third world involvements American GIs themselves are beginning to raise questions
this newspaper put out by soldier stationed at Fort Bragg challenges the whole green beret idea the army has forbidden its distribution on the base the staff meets after duty hours in town they discuss an approach to an article on the green berets start off real pro green beret like this is how the country started out you know bring out the glory of it and the tremendous individualism of it build up the special forces is really truly the great things and then start asking questions about it because that's what the whole country is doing now how we started then bringing in people the South American generals now South America is going through hell you know and how we start bringing in oriental people into our country help teaching them are nice little methods like we don't know but maybe the military is planning a kuditha of the world the long arm of the green berets has reached right into Latin America when Castro's comrade Che Guevara left Cuba to bring the revolution to the mainland
he said socialism with its central controls was Latin America's only hope for development some able economists agree but the peasant support Che expected didn't come and when he slipped into the Bolivian Andes green berets were already there training Bolivian Rangers as this army film shows because of a volatile past the Bolivian government must maintain armed forces strong enough to ensure law and order in the face of possible armed people inspired by either external or internal influence United States Army mobile training teams have been instructing Bolivian special forces in counterinsurgency skills complete to the staging of mozzarella situations in real villages for training purposes these Bolivian Rangers received a cram course in counterinsurgency skills under the technical supervision of their U.S. Army instructors flying in the gandies the climax to weeks of training was a special counterinsurgency exercise
staged in the region a search and seizure problem was set up by the U.S. Army mobile training team as a final test of all that had been learned under the watchful eyes of U.S. Army instructors the enemy spy was abused they discovered and unmasked the guerrillas posing as villagers as well as finding hidden enemy supplies the marked problem came to a successful conclusion and the U.S. Army instructors were proud of their students performance the Bolivian Rangers had demonstrated confidence in handling a typical counterinsurgency situation a problem which had been simulated for the occasion for the next time could well prove to be the real thing the real thing was the pursuit, capture and execution of Major Ernesto Che Guevara
before the final pistol shot, Guevara had said wherever death may surprise us, let it be welcome provided that this our battle cry against imperialism may have reached some receptive ear and another hand may be extended to use our weapons ironically last fall the Bolivian Army itself took up the cry of Yankee imperialism seized the government and nationalized American oil operations a rude aftermath to the Green Beret mission Senator Frank Church of the Foreign Relations Committee compares the interventionism of the United States with that of the Soviet Union well I think that it's clear that both the Soviet Union and the United States the two superpowers of this Cold War period have been following policies that are quite alike even though our internal systems differ very greatly both sides have seen this period as one of ideological struggle
and both sides have attempted to establish spheres of influence which they have tried to make ideologically pure we've got to become less fearful of other people's ideologies in many of the countries of Africa and Latin America in all likelihood revolution is quite possibly the only way that the existing structure can be forced to yield and the great internal changes brought about even in our country in our own history the most important internal changes have come with the violence we had to fight a war for our own national independence we had to fight a civil war on the question of the preservation of the union and the abolition of slavery even the labor movement in the turn of the century came into being with considerable violence when you look at the problems that confront
many people in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America it's clear that some of these old feudal orders are not going to give way except through revolution if we're interested as we should be in a foreign policy which seeks to protect the safety and the freedom of the American people that's what we set the federal government up for in the first place not to restructure the world that's going to be our foreign policy and that should be the foreign policy then we can draw our military bases in a way that would conform to those needs we could eliminate half of the military bases that we have in foreign countries today we could reduce American military forces in a dozen different plans we could bring the military budget down to the point where it would no longer constitute more than half of the federal budget and then we would have additional money to apply to the problems that are plaguing our own people
troop levels and overseas bases are being cut back by the administration although not as deeply as Senator Church suggests the first Nixon Defense budget is likely to be 6 to 8 billion dollars less than the last Johnson budget but there is still uneasiness about military influence on policymaking if you read the history of crises you'll find that in almost every case the unpolitical matters the military advice has to be wrong because their objective is quite different their responsibilities are to protect our nation so that you'll find that Robert Kennedy writing about the Cuban crisis pointed out that the military were wrong but that shouldn't be held against them because their responsibilities are different I think that we have been concentrating too much on military force and many things that can secure us better than military might
and of course I'm utterly convinced that what we are standard days for that's the man's strong fight for freedom over the centuries will win in the long run but it's got to be done by each country themselves and we can give a helping hand but we shouldn't get involved militarily the start of any military involvement in the underdeveloped world is often with the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA the secret civilian operation has agents all over the world their job to report threatening developments and recommend action an advisor to President Kennedy later to deal with the CIA as a diplomat talks about its operation I think that varies from country to country and depending on the circumstances that they have pigs obviously was the CIA operation so there's no doubt that there's been direct involvement by intelligence and military organizations in internal political affairs of certain countries in Latin America and elsewhere
this is to me a disastrous course as we move into the 70s there has to be a good deal of live and let live in the United States cannot even presume much less act in the way of intervening so directly in the affairs of other countries Colonel Fletcher Proudy now retired served for nine years with the Joint Chiefs of Staff as a liaison man with the CIA earlier Proudy served in Vietnam he watched as the first US agency involved the CIA, maneuvered and the American commitment escalated Proudy feels that inadvertently policy can begin with the CIA because it makes the initial judgments out in the field for example in Latin America where several of the countries have had a little bit or maybe a lot of this CIA intelligence and then military supporting activity I think you'll recall there were trouble in there were troubles in Colombia
where in the back regions of Colombia is a good bit of insurrection and rebel activity we went in there we carried out certain activities but they ended but the request to go there originates with the local agent a man that makes the contact this is equally true of Bolivia of Guatemala, of activities in Nicaragua at certain times but in each case it's a similar pattern that the man who receives the input from an intelligent source feels that there is something that ought to be pursued something that ought to be done most cases quite a benevolent effort it's not intended to build up into something like Vietnam we carry this out for a certain period of time we achieve a certain objective maybe it's to support something through an election or to pick something up in the case of a coup before or after a coup
and we need a little military support some aviation or maybe a ship to put some people in over the beach the various services participate but participate at the request of an agent who's there on the ground with the people or the agent's request must go up through the government before it gets over to the military equally true in Africa where there have been many activities coming up from the time of the Congo through Angola in Ethiopia other places where the contacts are ever present where the people are stationed throughout the world much of the involvement in the Congo was the same as the involvement in Vietnam it just turned off much of the involvement in India at the time of the border crisis when the Chinese armies attacked at the junction of the border between Pakistan and India involved CIA support activities with military units Indonesia was turned off in 58 it got to a point where there was no point of supporting it
there wasn't enough popular support to warrant this there was a certain activity in Tibet that had a lot of support but due to the factors it was turned off why Vietnam wasn't turned off really is one of the mysteries because even before the Gulf of Tonkin it should have been real clear to us that there were not true military objectives by just beating the bushes down in Vietnam and by killing people there and if there aren't true military objectives and you can't take over these countries and bring them democracy or even tranquility with a gun whether it started from agent activity or whether something else brought us there but Vietnam was the exception it didn't get turned off I'm a retired military man I understand the military side of this but I think that a lot of us don't realize that it is not a military initiation where this policy comes and unfortunately in many cases it is not a diplomatic
initiation it is not a part of the planning of diplomacy as we regularly visualize this it is more the reaction to the agent contact itself Lyman Kirkpatrick stricken with polio in mid-career went on to become inspector general of the CIA now a professor of political science at Brown University Kirkpatrick insists the sole function of the CIA should be gathering and evaluating data but he realizes the agency's unique position I would be the last to deny it might be influential in policy levels but certainly all of the heads of CIA that I worked with and observed were very careful not to recommend a U.S. action or any action in the part of the U.S.C recommendation for U.S. action will come from the State Department or the Defense Department or the White House there was a period I think when our government went through the intensification of trying to use covert political activities when they couldn't accomplish it by diplomacy
or intergovernmental relations and the Bay of Pigs I think was sort of the peak of this particular period a national disaster from every point of view and I trust that we learned then that you don't use covert political activities unless you have a progression mapped out which might ultimately mean the use of military forces I was in the unhappy position that of being the inspector general of the agency which means that you're everybody is after you because you're always critical of everybody and we did a study which I can't go into which recommended some structural changes to make sure it didn't happen again can you have to check it and you have to keep constantly checking it of course you do get bias you've got subjective reporting in the Bay of Pigs and you can constantly get bias bias for example in Vietnam we're always winning but we still keep on taking terrible losses this is the type of thing first recruit Patrick I ask you this is a professor of political science not as somebody who was once in the CIA one in your opinion is the United States justified
in intervening politically or militarily particularly in the affairs of another country to protect its security or national interest well my answer to that would be very seldom if ever and must be very embarrassed for your government then I am embarrassed for the government but I'm embarrassed for the nation more than the government because the nation is equally involved in this so this isn't something you know government isn't an abstract group of characters it's simply wander into an issue and get involved we've had recall before us and an American sieve as well as political science recall is there and we've had what now three or four national elections since we got involved in Vietnam and the recall hasn't done it made the change so this is of course I think you put your finger on one of the key national issues when do we get involved and on what occasions and who are the proper people to get us involved who are the proper leaders of a nation to get us involved
and I trust that we will have a critical re-examination of this issue I consider it fundamental in our future relations with the world a president is always in part history is captive but president Nixon has declared many of the policies of the past obsolete and he sees lesser burdens on America as we encourage others to assume responsibility his formula let me briefly explain what has been described as the Nixon doc a policy which not only will help end the war in Vietnam but which is an essential element of our program to prevent future Vietnam's first the United States will keep all of its treaty commitments second we shall provide a shield if a nuclear power threatens the freedom of a nation allied with us or of a nation whose survival we consider vital to our security third in cases involving other types of aggression
we shall furnish military and economic assistance when requested in accordance with our treaty commitments but we shall look to the nation directly threatened to assume the primary responsibility of providing the manpower for its defense the defense of freedom is everybody's business, not just America's business American soldiers have begun to come home from Vietnam president Nixon says we are moving from the era of confrontation into a new epoch of negotiation will we then be able to curb our own strong forces, political, economic and military that drive outward regardless will new vision guide us or will the past prevail the first and most important fact of imperialistic communism to promote world revolution
destroy freedom and colonize the world we face a relentless struggle in every corner of the globe we'll be over, we're coming over and we won't come back till it's over over there let me then make clear as the president of the United States that I am determined upon our system's survival and success regardless of the cost and regardless of the peril Johnny get your gun, get your gun, get your gun take it on the run of the run of the run in times past large nations have used their power to impose their will on smaller nations
today we have placed our forces at the disposition of the nations of this hemisphere to assure the peoples of those nations the right to exercise their own will in freedom hurry right away no delay go today make your daddy glad to the past such a lead tell your sweetheart not to fight to be proud her boys in line the path ahead is long the way ahead is hard so we must in the words of the property mount up on the wings of equals run and not grow weary we'll be over we're coming over we're coming over we're coming over and we won't come back till it's over over there
this is NET the public television network
- Series
- NET Journal
- Episode Number
- 265
- Episode
- Who Invited Us
- Producing Organization
- National Educational Television and Radio Center
- Contributing Organization
- Thirteen WNET (New York, New York)
- Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip-75-68x966p1
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip-75-68x966p1).
- Description
- Episode Description
- A critical study of the history of American military intervention in the affairs of other nations, from Vladivostok in 1918 to Vietnam in the '60s. The program also attempts to probe the 'roots of future Vietnams'.
- Broadcast Date
- 1970-02-16
- Asset type
- Episode
- Rights
- Published Work: This work was offered for sale and/or rent in 1972.
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 00:59:11.949
- Credits
-
-
Producing Organization: National Educational Television and Radio Center
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: cpb-aacip-41d5c5338bb (Filename)
Format: 2 inch videotape: Quad
-
Thirteen - New York Public Media (WNET)
Identifier: cpb-aacip-16f10e9027a (Filename)
Format: 1 inch videotape
Generation: Master
-
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-7777a771a9d (Filename)
Format: 2 inch videotape: Quad
Generation: Master
-
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Identifier: cpb-aacip-c89acf44e30 (Filename)
Format: 16mm film
-
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Identifier: cpb-aacip-3fc88b8800e (Filename)
Format: 16mm film
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
- Citations
- Chicago: “NET Journal; 265; Who Invited Us,” 1970-02-16, Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed July 4, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-68x966p1.
- MLA: “NET Journal; 265; Who Invited Us.” 1970-02-16. Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. July 4, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-68x966p1>.
- APA: NET Journal; 265; Who Invited Us. Boston, MA: Thirteen WNET, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-68x966p1