"It cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished"

greg sargent, the horse's mouth, in the american prospect, via atrios...

Take a look at this article which I pulled from the New York Times archive. It appeared on page one on April 25, 1975. It's about a famous speech Gerald Ford gave in which he declared the Vietnam War over:

Ford Says Indochina War
Is Finished for America

NEW ORLEANS, April 25 -- President Ford, calling on the nation to develop an agenda for the future, declared today that the war in Indochina was finished "as far as America is concerned."

Mr. Ford urged the beginning of what he called "a great national reconciliation" and added:

"We are saddened, indeed, by events in Indochina. But these events, tragic as they are, portend neither the end of the world nor of America's leadership in the world. Some seem to feel that if we do not suceed in everything everywhere, then we have succeeded in nothing nowhere."...

The President made his remarks in a speech to more than 4,500 members of the student body of Tulane University, who greeted his appearance and speech in the campus field house with prolonged and enthusiastic applause, particularly his comment that the war was finished as far as this nation was concerned....

"Today, American can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam," Mr. Ford said.

"But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished -- as far as America is concerned," he said.

hel-l-l-l-looooooo...? < knock, knock > anybody there...? i know you're in there... the lights are on...

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