The "Silent Majority" Speech treats Richard Nixon's address of November 3, 1969, as a lens through which to examine the latter years of the Vietnam War and their significance to US global power and domestic life. This book is critical reading for students of American political history and U.S.-Asian/Southeast Asian relations.

Scott Laderman is a professor of history at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. His previous books include Tours of Vietnam: War, Travel Guides, and Memory (2009) and Empire in Waves: A Political History of Surfing (2014).

Series Introduction

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

A Brief Note on Language

Timeline

Part One:

Introduction. Toward "Peace"

1. Richard Nixon, the Cold War, and Southeast Asia

2. Vietnamization and the Illusion of Peace

3. Nixon and the Bloodbath Theory

4. The "Great Silent Majority" and Right-Wing Revanchism

Epilogue. Conjuring Nixon in the Twenty-First Century

Part Two: Documents

1. Richard Nixon, "Address to the Nation on the War in Vietnam," November 3, 1969

2. Mrs. Dennis W. Harrison to Richard Nixon, November 4, 1969

3. Commentary by George Salem, KWGN Television, November 5, 1969

4. Editors, "President on Solid Ground in Search for Vietnam Peace," Orlando

Sentinel, November 5, 1969

5. Robert T. Park, et al., to Richard M. Nixon, November 17, 1969

6. Excerpt from Colonel Robert D. Heinl, Jr., "The Collapse of the Armed

Forces," Armed Forces Journal (June 7, 1971)

7. Excerpt from George McT. Kahin, "History and the Bloodbath Theory in Vietnam," New

York Times, December 6, 1969

8. Richard Nixon, "Address to the Nation on the Situation in Southeast

Asia," April 30, 1970

Index