June 5, 1969
Page 14977
NIXON AND MUSKIE WARN AGAINST ISOLATIONISM
(Mr. PUCINSKI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute, to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous matter.)
Mr. PUCINSKI. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, President Nixon delivered an excellent address at the U.S. Air Force Academy in which he quite properly denounced those who would force America into a return to isolationism.
Mr. Nixon's courageous warning to those who would have America put its head in the sand and remain oblivious to the problems of the world was most timely.
It is the tragedy of our time that prominent voices in this country have refused consistently to see the uninterrupted danger of Soviet colonial expansion.
I congratulate President Nixon and hasten to add that another impressive voice in this Nation who has demonstrated the same good judgment of understanding the drift toward isolationism in this country is Senator EDMUND MUSKIE of Maine.
It is a most interesting coincidence that a day before President Nixon spoke out so eloquently against the dangers of isolationism, Senator MUSKIE delivered a similar speech in Providence, R.I., but one that got substantially less coverage from the national press.
Senator MUSKIE told the graduating class at Providence College that the real challenge of our time is "how can we absorb the painful lessons of Vietnam without an excessive swing of the pendulum back to isolationism."
Senator MUSKIE told the graduating class and, in effect, all of America that–
This question will tax your imagination for the remaining third of this century.
It should be a source of great satisfaction to all Americans regardless of their political affiliation that there are at least two strong voices here in Washington warning against the drift toward isolation – the same kind of drift that we saw in the middle 1930's in America and which ultimately plunged this Nation and the world into the costly and brutal World War II.
I feel a great deal more confident about the future when I see on the Republican side the impressive voice of President Nixon warning against isolation and, on the Democratic side, the highly respected voice of Senator MUSKIE cautioning likewise against isolation. This could be the beginning of a real bipartisan foreign policy which could restore to America true leadership in foreign affairs.
I include in the RECORD the Associated Press report of Senator MUSKIE's speech:
PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Sen. Edmund Muskie. D-Maine, said today the war in Vietnam marks the end of an era in which the united States sought to maintain international stability by supporting Regional Military Alliances.
"In this sense, the Vietnam war is a watershed in American history," Muskie said in a commencement address at Providence college.
"It marks the end of the post-war era in which we sought to maintain international stability through regional defense alliances support primarily by American military strength," Muskie said.
He said the success of that program in Europe led to its application in Asia. "There, however, we have learned to our increasing sorrow that the conditions which led to our success in Europe no longer exist" he said.
He said this has led to deep division in America.
"How can we absorb the painful lessons of Vietnam without an excessive swing of the pendulum back to isolationism?" He asked. "That question will tax your imagination for the remaining third of this century."