User:Indy beetle/Robert F. Kennedy's Vietnam War speech

Senator Robert F. Kennedy's Vietnam War speech was delivered on March 2, 1967 before 20 United States Senators. In it he called for a stop to the bombardments in North Vietnam and proposed a three-point exit strategy for the United States in the Vietnam War.

Background
On February 16, 1967 Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York asked his aide, Adam Walinsky, to begin drafting a major speech on the Vietnam War.

Speech
At 03:40 Kennedy rose in the Senate Chamber to speak. In attendance were 20 senators, the largest gathering of senators to hear a speech in several weeks. There in support of Kennedy were Mike Mansfield (the Senate Majority Leader), J. William Fulbright, George McGovern, Joseph S. Clark, Claiborne Pell, Albert Gore, Joseph Tydings, and John Sherman Cooper. In opposition to Kennedy were Everett Dirksen (the Senate Minority Leader), Robert Byrd, Henry M. Jackson, Frank Lausche, and Gale W. McGee. Also in attendance were Charles H. Percy and Edward Brooke.

Aftermath
In response to critical nature of the speech, the Johnson administration leaked information to Washington Post columnist Drew Pearson, leading to an article accusing Kennedy of masterminding a plot as Attorney General to assassinate Fidel Castro. Pearson also said "some insiders" thought the supposed plot indirectly led to President John F. Kennedy's assassination and was a source of severe guilt for Robert Kennedy.