US Presidency
1975

Or, on the other hand, I could ask the Congress for authority to enforce the Paris accords with our troops and our tanks and our aircraft and our artillery and carry the war to the enemy. There are two narrower options: First, stick with my January request that Congress appropriate $ 300 million for military assistance for South Vietnam and seek additional funds for economic and humanitarian purposes. Or, increase my requests for both emergency military and humanitarian assistance to levels which, by best estimates, might enable the South Vietnamese to stem the onrushing aggression, to stabilize the military situation, permit the chance of a negotiated political settlement between the North and South Vietnamese, and if the very worst were to happen, at least allow the orderly evacuation of Americans and endangered South Vietnamese to places of safety. Let me now state my considerations and my conclusions. I have received a full report from General Weyand, whom I sent to Vietnam to assess the situation.