Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. Delbert Latta
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. Delbert Latta
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. Delbert Latta (R - Ohio).
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. Delbert Latta
Peter Rodino (D New Jersey). The gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Latta, is recognized for 3 minutes and 45 seconds. Delbert Latta (R Ohio). Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Let me say that first of all. I think that we have to recognize that when Mr. Nixon took office he had a very serious problem. We had over 500,000 American troops in South Vietnam. The casualties were heavy. We had hit-and-run activities by the enemy going into sanctuaries that were not being hit. Action had to be taken to save American lives.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. Delbert Latta
Listening to the gentleman from Michigan, I noticed that he overlooked mentioning the fact that we didn't have very much dissent from the Cambodian Government. In fact, they indicated that publicly they couldn't say anything but they were giving us passive consent. And I think this is important to note. They were not opposed to what we were doing inwardly even though they might have expressed outwardly their displeasure.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. Delbert Latta
We had a situation, a military situation that had to be taken. And I think the American people, especially the mothers and the wives of servicemen who are alive today because of the action he took, would be asking us tonight not to vote an Article of impeachment because this President took a decisive action to save the lives of their loved ones. And I think this is the crux of the matter. There are a lot of things that go on in time of war, and this was a time of war, that you don't put on the front pages of every newspaper. I can recall back in World War II that there were a lot of things that went on that we didn't like after we learned about them that weren't put on the front pages of every newspaper. This wasn't peacetime. This was wartime. And we had a President who was concerned about it, concerned about our losses. A President who wanted to get us out and to cut those losses, to use an expression of his. And now are we about to condemn him because he brought those troops home. He even brought home the prisoners of war. I wonder whether or not they would be home today or whether we would still be losing American men in Vietnam if he had not taken this decisive action.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. Delbert Latta
It seems to me that we ought to stop, look and listen. That we don't bring up these Articles just to inflame the minds of the American people as has been alluded to just recently in the Washington Post, that we really consider these items on their merit, and this is not a meritorious article for impeachment.
Impeachment Hearings. House Judiciary Committee, July 30, 1974. Cambodia Bombing Article of Impeachment. Delbert Latta
We have already taken some actions without my support in this committee which if adopted by the House and the President is impeached on the basis of the Articles recommended to the Senate would set dangerous precedents and reduce the Office of Presidency to merely a chore boy for the Congress of the United States. And I think it is important that we continue to have in this country coequal branches of government. That we don't reduce that Office of President to a chore boy. That we let him remain as Commander in Chief. It seems as though we forget that responsibility that is given to him tinder the Constitution. A Commander in Chief sometimes has to take actions to protect the lives of his troops. And here we had a commander in action, a commander in chief taking decisive action to save lives Harold D. Donohue (D Massachusetts). The time of the gentleman has expired.