Extracted text

OCR Page 1 of 19
This Copy For PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON'S NEWS CONFERENCE #13 Held in the Oval Office At the White House Washington, D.C. February 17, 1971 At 4:03 P.M. EST (Wednesday) Official White House Transcript THE PRESIDENT: We will make this on the record today. The mike is for the purpose of a transcription which will be available, I think, rather soon after we complete the conference because it will be run simultaneously by the stenographers. Are there any questions which you want to ask? QUESTION: Mr. President, the next logical step in Southeast Asia would seem to be South Vietnamese forces moving into the southern part of North Vietnam for the same reasons that they moved into the Laotian panhandle. Would our policy rule out support for this type of move, air support for it? THE PRESIDENT: I won't speculate on what South Vietnam may decide to do with regard to a possible incursion into North Vietnam in order to defend their national security. However, I will restate our policy. I stated that policy on November 3rd and have restated it at least nine different times publicly since that time. MORE