Remarks at a Memorial Day Service in Arlington National Cemetery

3 - There is a second source of confusion. The people of South Vietnam are in the midst of an historic transition. They are trying to form, for the first time, a constitutional government that represents their own traditions and values. Their country has deep in its history strong regional feelings--and equally strong religious groupings- which have sometimes been in conflict. As they try to forge a constitutional system these differences emerge sharply. Various groups clash as they seek to influence the shape of things to come. Turmoil results. It is tragic, in the present turmoil, that some choose acts of desperation to express their political beliefs. This unnecessary loss of life only obscures the progress being made toward a constitutional government. It only clouds the sacrifice of thousands of lives already made for the cause of independence and political hope in South Vietnam. Seldom has a people been called upon to build a nation and wage war against externally supported aggression at the same time. But I believe South Vietnam is moving toward a government that will increasingly reflect the true will of its people. That day will come if the South Vietnamese keep their internal quarrels and differences within bounds and concentrate on taking together their first steps toward constitutional government. But there will be no transition to the politics of compromise and to the secret ballot if the external aggression against South Vietnam is not defeated. Our policy is devoted to that end. As President Kennedy said two months before his life was taken, "We want the war to be won, the Communists to be contained, and the Americans to go home. " I know of no time in our history when our men in arms have performed with greater skill and courage than those in Vietnam. They went into combat in a difficult climate, against a thoroughly professional enemy, in an unfamiliar kind of war. From the first days of combat they have not failed us once. In Vietnam the United States is committed to a decent and limited purpose: to defeat aggression and to let the people of Vietnam decide in peace their own political future. I pledge to those who have died there--to those who have been wounded--to those who are fighting--to those who may fight, that we shall help the people of South Vietnam see this through. On this Memorial Day, it is right for us to remember the living and the dead for whom the call of their country has meant pain and sacrifice. A grateful nation is in their debt. # # #