ABSTRACT
The Orlando Sentinel editorial, which was a response to President Nixon’s speech, applauded the president’s Vietnamization policy – other editorials in other newspapers did the same – while pointedly embracing the bloodbath theory. Nixon’s avowal that US troop withdrawal from Vietnam must be gradual and secret may have disappointed those hoping for a massive, imminent withdrawal. President Nixon didn’t come up with anything new in his frustrating efforts to find peace in Vietnam. Missing from the speech were the developments that had been all but worn out in the rumor mills, such as a unilateral ceasefire and a massive, imminent withdrawal of US servicemen. The policy of seeking an honorable peace with self-determination for the people of South Vietnam remains in effect, as it should. It is absurd to suppose that North Vietnam and the Viet Cong would restrain themselves from taking full and perhaps devastating advantage of any American pull-out that left the South Vietnam’s defenses weak.
