US Presidency
1967

I am going to call the roll now of those who live in that part of the world, in the great arc of Asian and Pacific nations, and who bear the responsibility for leading their people, and the responsibility for the fate of their people. The President of the Philippines had this to say: Vietnam is the focus of attention now... It may happen to Thailand or the Philippines, or anywhere, wherever there is misery, disease, ignorance... For you to renounce your position of leadership in Asia is to allow the Red Chinese to gobble up all of Asia. The Foreign Minister of Thailand said: ( The American ) decision will go down in history as the move that prevented the world from having to face another major conflagration. The Prime Minister of Australia said: We are there because while Communist aggression persists the whole of Southeast Asia is threatened. President Park of Korea said: For the first time in our history, we decided to dispatch our combat troops overseas..