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THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN. SECRET SENSITIVE DRAFT - May 10, 1969 Since taking office four months ago, the question to which I have devoted more of my own time and energy than to any other is how to achieve peace in Vietnam. I want to end this war. The American people and the South Vietnamese people want to end this war. But we want to end it permanently - in a way that will discourage aggression and future wars. Tonight, I would like to report to you on some of our actions to achieve peace in these past four months. It is important that you know the judgments we have reached about the nature of an acceptable negotiated settlement and about possible ways of approaching it. Review and Reassessment Our first step began before Inauguragion. This was to launch an intensivenreview of every aspect of the nation's Vietnam policy. We accepted nothing on faith. We challenged every assumption and every statistic, knowing that in Vietnam, disagreement has concerned not only judgments but the facts themselves. We made a systematic, serious examination of all the alternatives open to us. We carefully considered recommendations offered both by critics and by supporters of past policies. DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12958, Sect. 3.6 By Him NARA, Date 1/9/98