Thursday, January 26, 2012

1971: ROMNEY, PENTAGON PAPERS, BRAINWASHING

Williamson Daily News, June 17, 1971
Secret Documents Support the Deception
DUONG SON (2)--A top-ranking member of the Nixon ASdministration said here Wednesday night that the Pentagon papers carried by the New York Times support his long-held belief that the American people were "brainwashed" on Vietnam.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary George Romney was here as the keynote speaker for a reception and dinner honoring Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr.
The former governor of Michigan and candidate of the Republican presidential nomination said the secret papers trace the escalation of American involvement into an "ever larger tragedy throughout the Kennedy and Johnson years."
Romney told the crowd of 2,300 that he was told in 1965 that it would be a South Vietnamese war and "that we would not Americanize the conflict." He said that he believed the nation's leaders, but when he saw signs of an American buildup, he tried to warn the American people "every way I could."





1968: ROMNEY'S BRAINWASHING PHOBIA

The Windsor Star, Nov 2, 1968
This Time Over the Bombing Halt
DMZ--Gov. Romney reacted Friday to President Johnson's bombing halt announcement with a warning to voters from the same lexicon that tripped him up in his run for the presidency.
"We should not risk being brainwashed again by the bombing halt," the governor said.
It was a statement intentionally reminiscent of the remark made last winter about being "brainwashed" by American officials during a visit to Vietnam. The statement cost him dearly in the New Hampshire primary campaign.
Friday he argued the electorate not to judge the value of the bombing halt until four questions are considered:
"Why the bombing halt just before the election?"
"Did the North Vietnamese make any reciprocal military commitments?"
"Are the North Vietnamese trying to influence the election?"
"Have they concluded they can do better fighting and bargaining with President Johnson's pupil, Hubert Humphrey, than with Dwight Eisenhower's pupil, Richard Nixon?"
"We don't know," the governor said, "so don't risk being brainwashed again."
"I hope the American people are not going to overlook the fact that this comes within a few days of the election."

1968: ROMNEY TASKS NIXON ON VIETNAM

Times Daily, Feb 14, 1968
New Hampshire a Hard Line State
By RELMAN MORIN
CONCORD, N.H. (AP)--The battle in the New Hampshire primary campaign between Richard M. Nixon and Gov. George Romney of Michigan now appears to be narrowing to a single issue--the war in Vietnam.
"In the main, New Hampshire is a hard line state," said Stewart Lamprey, president of the State Senate and Nixon's fiscal agent. Nixon has been taking a hard line in respect to the war.
A top Romney lieutenant, who asked not to be identified, said, "If we can draw him (Nixon) in on a meaningful basis, I am prepared to make Vietnam the issue." And he added, "What really are his solutions to Vietnam?"
He indicated that Romney's aides would argue that "Nixon's view of the war doesn't differ much from President Johnson's."
As further evidence of the importance attaching to the war issue in the campaign, the Romney chief said that starting immediately only one highway billboard slogan will be posted for Romney, instead of the four now seen throughout the state. He said it will read, "Romney's right. We must be told the truth about Vietnam."
Until now, the Romney billboards have touched on four separate issues.
One New Hampshire observer said, "Seventy-five percent of the interest in the election relates to the war."
Nixon indirectly ridiculed Romney on the question of neutralizing South and North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, a step the governor has proposed.
Nixon began his criticism by saying, "Now any beginning student of foreign affairs knows..."




1968: ROMNEY BLASTS NIXON ON VIETNAM


The "Citadel", Hue City, Tet, 1968



Reading Eagle, Feb 16, 1968
Dick Nixon has LBJ Plan
HUE CITY, RVN (UPI)--Michigan Gov. George Romney's New Hampshire campaign strategy was shaping up today as an effort to pin an LBJ brand on GOP presidential candidate Richard Nixon's Vietnam stance.
The war has become the issue of major contrast between the two Republican hopefuls in the early weeks of the primary contest and yesterday Romney criticized the former vice president for what he said was Nixon's failure to propose alternatives to President Johnson's policy.
"Sadly, he evades suggesting what to do about our present dilemma in Vietnam," Romney told a Bedford, N.H. news conference. "He only offers more of the same. It is truly ironic that Mr. Nixon has become a me-too candidate on Vietnam.
It was Romney's first attack on Nixon and the governor's campaign statements of late evidenced careful preparation of the issue.
Romney renewed in speeches across the state his own proposal to attack the Vietnam problem by working toward the gradual "neutralization" of all Southeast Asia.
Nixon, sticking to the theme that aggression must not be allowed to succeed in Vietnam, told a Boston audience it was "vitally important that we not compromise on the principle of resisting aggression abroad because any aggression now runs the risk of escalating into global destruction."
The "me too" issue arose in Nixon's 1960 try for the presidency. Advisers told him he was hurting his campaign by not offering foreign policy proposals that differed distinctly from those of his opponent, John F. Kennedy.
Romney is still the acknowledged GOP underdog in New Hampshire and aides have said he needs a strong issue to help his campaign catch fire.





1968: ROMNEY'S VIETNAM PLAN

Lewiston Daily Sun, Jan 18, 1968
"Neutralize"
DANANG--After many months of vacillation, Gov. George Romney of Michigan finally has come out with a definite plan for peace in Southeast Asia. His proposal reflects his idealism, confirms his desire for peace, but unfortunately ignores the realities of the situation facing the United States and the world.
Gov. Romney chose a Keene, N.H. audience as the first to learn the details of the policy he said he would follow if elected President. He has been campaigning in New Hampshire as the only announced candidate for the Republican nomination, and plans to return in another week for another round of vote-seeking efforts.
The Romney peace plan calls for "guaranteed neutralization" of North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, to keep out of the cold war and "liberated from the destructive presence of so-called wars of national liberation." The plan would include "a removal of foreign military troops or bases in the area and there would be no alliances by nations in the area with outside blocs, either eastern or western. The principal of self-determination would sway internally. The nations concerned would be free to pursue and should be assisted in achieving economic development cooperatively on a regional basis."
The Romney goal is desirable and attainable from the American viewpoint. But it is contrary to the Communist aims and purposes. The neutralization of Southeast Asia only could become real if Red China and Russia were willing to give up the objective of Communist conquest. The "wars of national liberation" only form the current means of Communist penetration and take-over.
Removal of foreign military troops or bases would bring American servicemen home, while Communist troops remained behind to force the people into submisiion. The unhappy experience of Laos gives ample evidence of the Communist tactics.
Gov. Romney strongly was critical of President Johnson's policy and his failure to find the path to peace. But the course he proposes would, in the long run, amount to American withdrawal and Communist success. He will need a more realistic policy if he is to win the support of the American people.