Have too many things on their mind. Paying their taxes, seeing that the kids are right, not in trouble. They work real hard, maybe their , justare working too trying to stay out of trouble and doing the right thing every day, day in and day out. If there is anything to me, the silent majority is a Community Like this one, and ordinary community in the United States right here. This is what the United States is, the people who have their security tied up in their property, they take pride in their property, in their home, and this is what they work for. This is their life. So they are really silent because i feel that they just dont think they can fight city hall. They dont have any organization. No one is backing them up and leading them. Is he that leader . He is trying. That is why they are picking on him. He is trying to be the majority leader. Nobody is saying that we are the silent majority. A lot of people say the same things, that they dont want to get involved, until you play the right chord, and then they are involved. As long as it is somebody else, it doesnt bother you. But when it is yours, it is a different story. Is, when i hear an announcer say on tv, only 68 of our men were killed this week. What do they mean, 68 . That is 68 families that are torn to pieces because their boys are dead, or we just had 1000 or 1100 of our boys were injured. What do they mean by injured . An arm or leg or and i . Doesnt that count or an eye . Doesnt that count . I drive a dump truck. Are 19children that years old, 18, 19. I read an article about a letter to the president and a lot of people would look at pictures of these poor guys that have only got a half of body, and navy they ought to go over there personally and take a look at some of this stuff. I have had a guy say to me, if i had a gun or if i had a hand, i would blow my brains out. But i cant even pull the trigger. We are very bitter because i think a lot of our boys, if you really take it down, have gone into the service. There are so many here, you dont know about it. Talk, you will find out there are an awful lot of boys from this neighborhood that have left for the service. Jack, you were there. You were there. You got wounded three times, twice, whatever it was. I got hit in the head and we had 57 killed and 100 wounded. Strange. Really i went to indiana for my buddys funeral, because he was a real good friend of mine. And to see it, with the people really go through when the sun gets killed, especially a favorite son, like, he was the only son in the family. Went through war. Im back here. He was in a war. He didnt get killed. Everybody doesnt get killed in a war. [automatic gunfire] so we went in there and sat, and we said Southeast Asia was a strategic position. Oft was the original intent the United States. But now, seven years later, all of that has gone by the wayside. In many lives are lost, many are maimed, gis come back for the rest of their life. ,nd it is not like world war ii where we wanted it was all over. How are we going to distance ourselves from vietnam . You cant win a war like that. Who is paying for the war . We are. For what . For what . For what . Where is all the answers . Where is all the answers . Communism should be stopped so we might as well be in vietnam, because the first thing you know, communist china would love to get down into the pacific. They dont have enough room for their people as it is, and they would just take over everything if they dont stop them in asia. Fight, we say it is to stop communism, but that doesnt seem right. After all, russia hasnt lost a man. And look at what we have lost. You feel we have stopped of the communism or do you feel it wasnt the real issue . No, i feel that there are children born in vietnam that are now grown to manhood and have never known anything but war. And i feel those people over there must be sick and tired of war. And i think they are entitled to a time for peace. I have heard it said that some of the boys come back and they say, those people dont even want us there. And it makes you wonder, doesnt it . A lot of them were glad we were there. A lot of them hated me. Most of them thought that if you were in american, you owed them something he didnt think we do owe them something. Well them the right to live. I think a lot of those people are peasant people, they are ignorant. They are going to go the way the country offers them the most, so perhaps they would go communist, communistic. Jake said, it would be their choice, yes, but we are try to save them from it. If we got out tomorrow, do you think the government intention government contention that there would be a bloodbath would hold true . No, there wont be a bloodbath. Wouldly people that suffer a bloodbath would be all these people, but they would suffer a bloodbath because when they lose, they are put to take off to switzerland and live off the money they have been hoarding away the last in years. They will never get touched. That is my contention. I would like to end it. I dont know how, but i would like to end it. Of ibe dropping out wouldnt be dropping atom bombs on this people, because those people arent to blame for being at that war. There have their forms and government that they believe in, same as we do, and why shouldnt they stick up for their rights, whether they are what side are one side or the other . I would like to end it. I would like to get our boys out of there. How come i dont know. I wouldnt want to hurt them at the same time i wouldnt want ours to be hurt. As i said, i had a son in vietnam and he said, why should i have to go . And i said, what do you think . And he said, its because im an american and a citizen of this country and that is the only reason i go. 18yearold owes something to this country, to serve. I have a son over there right now. And i lost two brothers in world war ii. We had something to fight for it world war ii. And you had nobody who wouldnt volunteer, very few volunteer. I wouldnt mind, i think, serving my time in the army for the country. I think the country has given me a lot of things, given me a chance to go to school. I had to work through school, but at least they get me a chance to go. I would worry about going over to vietnam, bu because i would hate to fight somebody else is war. What is the difference between world war ii and the vietnam war . Face the facts, we were attacked. Said,eel like how my dad you are getting attacked, a direct attack. It is at home, ok, it is right there, it is pearl harbor. In. Came some guy punches you in the mouth, you are not going to just let them walk away you. Thats how i feel. But im think i would go to vietnam. Think i willped go to vietnam. I will be damned if i will go. Real love protesting and tearing things up, it is more for that than they are for the war. I resent your statement that i have a flag on my car and i am a hawk. I am concerned with keeping the war going. Butink they want to end it, they are trying to show that they are americans. Why are we there . Made a lot of mistakes around 1963, 1964, and i dont think wrong decisions should cost me my life or my arms or my legs or Something Like that. Isif you go to vietnam, what going to happen to your prosperity . Work, givepeople to them salaries, give them big money, that is why you have to have these things. You have world war ii, you have vietnam come after this, you are going to go to the east. So many people have to die, and it is a dirty shame. It is your politicians who have to take a good portion of this blame, because i think there is a lot of them get a certain percentage of these defense contracts and things that go out and i think there go out. And i think there are a lot of politicians that are involved in this and they get the cot, this is what is just prolonging everything. Michael talked about the black market they are, or generals who have helicopters with chrome runners, and guys who have rifles to get promotions. They have weapons and they might as well consider the vc get. Vc dad. Vc dead. I wasnt there in world war ii, but i imagine there were a lot of inequities. So many things around the war are fixed around the dollar. So many people are making money, and i dont want people making money off of me. People are making money left and right and that is why i think the war has been prolonged. I have already buried one son and i have seen another comeback, and to people right now are going to end up there. I dont need to get this nervous about it, but to see somebody who comes back is 19 and you dont know what kind of future he is going to have, you kind of wonder, is it all worth it . And im 20 right now, so my whole age group is going to end up there. We end it. Hope and i cant get an answer how. I wish i could. [inaudible] well, it is a moneymaking deal. Justs the government keeping it going, that is all. I thought it was a government for the people. Thats what it is for, the rich people, but the materiel and everything is being made by big manufacturers. And they are making a profit. I got hit by a piece of General Motors shrapnel, i dug it out of my leg and it said gm and it had numbers on it. So General Motors is making mortars. What else can i tell you . They are making money. That is what it is all about. They are supposed to be making cars. [laughter] our government spends so much money on other nations, giving them everything we have, we would be better off because we could spend the money on poverty and cleanup the cities. Use the manpower and money we are spending on the work to concentrate on the curing of the ills we have here, environmental problems and poverty, housing, education, institutions, helping children with muscular dystrophy and everything else. Money spent on war is unreturnable. Is just blownat up. A 500 bond is 500 wasted. How do you feel about the effect of the war on this community . This more, i think is wrong. A waste of time and money in human lives. Sacrifice, for what . Somebody tells us we are fighting communism, or something. Why do we have to be the police man of the world . What about our allies, socalled allies . What are they contributing . Thell tell you what, problem is that if they start feeding the people that are hungry in this world, they wouldnt have any of the spirit lets face it. Any of this. Lets face it. Most of the hunger in the world is the cause of communism, actually. Can you imagine the amount of hungry people they could feed just in this country, just in this country . Something i think think of the hospitals you could build. You want to have overcrowded schools, for transportation systems, children going hungry, all these problems could be solved. The money they put into the war, if they put it into the social problems of this country, it would be such an improvement. And if the whole world that the same thing, we wouldnt have the problems. We all should try to solve our own, in our own country. I agree with you. That money could be used someplace else. It shouldnt be used, a couple of thousand dollars to make a bomb and just blow the bomb up. The money could be used here. There is a lot of people that needed. The peopleets by all that take the content gets down to the people who need it. I dont know if that is going to work, because it is not the american way. It could improve conditions here. Weve got a good come up that could have it a hell of a lot better. Theres a lot of ways. For one thing, use it for educational purposes. If you educate people, it would reduce poverty, wouldnt it . I want to educate people about the war. It has to start in washington, and our representatives. We have to get them to our way of thinking. We are supposed to be the majority. The silent majoritys about to make itself heard, not by shouting obscenities, not by disorderly street demonstrations waving vietnam flags and demanding america throw in the sponge. That is what he said. But that is not necessarily the truth. Did you find that out here . All right. How could he speak from them speak for the majority, when he doesnt know who they are . When we talk about divisiveness in the country, i think agnew was purposely keeping the country divided. That is his purpose. Because when people are divided, they fight with each other and they forget about the major issues involved, like you were talking about, but we have to do in this country to help the Poverty Program and for people, or housing. Housing has never been taken corrupt in this country. It has just been a side issue. So if we fight among ourselves about agnews contention, the way he criticizes certain people to keep us divided, then we cant do much with our elected officials. And i think that is purposeful. You are talking about our Vice President doing these things. Why . Who is he serving . Party anderving the the people running the country. I dont think they want people like the average guy to get together and demand his representatives make an accounting of what he is doing. But you are talking about the people that are running the country. We are the people that are supporting the country. We support the country and somebody else runs it. Is that what you are telling us . That is exactly it. I dont make the policy. Somebody better than us makes the policy, or somebody that should be more in the know makes the policy. But i hope they know what they are doing. If they dont know what they are doing, we are in trouble. The silent majority is like it tells you in the bible. Romans third chapter, second verse, obey the laws of your land because the laws of your seen fit to put power in government and you ought to obey the laws of the land as you obey the laws of god. We were brought up never to question a source, people of our age group, and the government was right in the policeman was right and the priest was right and mom and dad were right and the school board was right. Everybody that was in Authority New what was best and they told us how to think. I never told my dad he was crazy. Should i let my government now i think they are crazy . They are crazy. This is an insane thing that we are doing. How would you say it . How should i say . And a proper manner. I didnt like school when i was going to school. The sister at my school hit me in the hand one time and i told my father and he gave me a couple of more wax. Couple of more whacks. What can we do so the government will hear us . We are the middleclass, the socalled silent majority. What can we do . There are 200 of us right now. That is why the Younger Generation is trying, that is why they are protesting. If you want to complain or do you want to go to work, or about . What is the reason for voting. What is the idea for voting . Sayf you see that if you there is going to be a war every 10 years, what good is your vote going to do if we are going to have a war every 10 years . I dont blame them if they dont want to go. But i look at it this way. This is their country, this is the country they were born in. True, they didnt ask to be born here. But it is the government that it is in trouble that is in trouble. Do your best to help them. So many people get it wrong. You have to understand there is a definite difference between the country and the government. The people in this country arent fighting the vietnam war, the government is fighting it. The government is the people, supposedly. No its not. I agree, not in this situation, its not. Will it take for all of us to become unruly because they utterly refused to listen to us when we have the white gloves and the nice smile . Nixon said he would not be dictated to from the people in the streets. The people in the streets army. The people in the streets are me. But we have to have respect for each others opinion and accomplish what we do in every Society Without anybody getting hurt. [helicopter overhead] you look back at american history, we always looked up to the United States as being number one. That means a lot. You are going to have to lose lives. If the people continue to feel like this on the majority es, we will never this vow disavow ourselves of vietnam. But if we have to trust the man matter what, it is eventually going to reach the establishment of the bureaucracy is going to have to come down. It is going to have to come down and represent the people like it is supposed to. The bureaucracy right now is powerful. The government is too powerful. Our neighbors and the people who lived in this community over 15, 20 years, they are now beginning to realize that they do have something, some stake in the politics of the government, and that we are the government. What can we do here on Garfield Ridge to see that we are represented and our voices are heard and that it means something . I dont care if i am heard and they say, the heck with it, but no one listens to us. Everybody is talking about revolution. But the most effective revolution in this country will be a tax revolution. Dont pay your taxes. Notell, it takes everybody, just a few people. They should all get together and just strike, everybody strike. What would that do . Its tough. What it would do is that it which of the government the people are stronger. In 1969, taxes go up 30 . Expect a 20 raise in 1970. And we all just sit back and accept it. It has been printed in advance. Would you agree with me and saying that the only people who benefit, who can gain anything because of our tax laws, are the very wealthy are the very poor who dont have anything, so they dont pay any taxes . We support the country and yet, we have the least to say about it. We are the silent majority and i believe we are becoming vocal and want to do something about it. But the definition of your silent majority come i dont think agrees or is the same as president nixons. That is a myth. That is a myth. About thet talking solid majority you are talking about. The majority of the people are not going to stay silent. We are beginning to talk. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [yankee doodle played on guitar] charlton that decade of the 1960s rolled with pride and shame, words of all time and words of passing fancy. The decade created a new bike capillary of the minutes a new vocabulary, kennedy, pope john, the beatles, the peace wall, pope paul, the , black power,sand woodstock,hippies, the pill, james bond,