President Nixon's "Silent Majority" speech to the nation about the Vietnam war, November 3rd, 1969.

On November 3rd, 1969 President Richard Nixon responded to the growing criticism of the war in Vietnam in a television address to the American people with the goal of better informing them of U.S. policy and the efforts his administration had made to end the war. President Nixon explained that he had inherited the war from President Lyndon Johnson's administration as well as explaining some of the problems that would be associated with a full and immediate troop withdrawal. He believed that the large-scale protests were representative of a minority of public opinion and that there was larger support for the war throughout the nation. Nixon referred to these people as, “the great silent majority". In the speech, President Nixon outlined his efforts to make peace and outlined his plans to achieve his campaign goal of “peace with honor” in Vietnam by gradually shifting the burden of the fighting to the South Vietnamese.

"And so tonight-to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans-I ask for your support. I pledged in my campaign for the Presidency to end the war in a way that we could win the peace. I have initiated a plan of action which will enable me to keep that pledge.

The more support I can have from the American people, the sooner that pledge can be redeemed; for the more divided we are at home, the less likely, the enemy is to negotiate at Paris. Let us be united for peace. Let us also be united against defeat. Because let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that."