Speech #910272986

The principal sponsors of the amendment have not gone quite this far. But. recognizing the fact that hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese may fear for their lives if their amendment were to become law and if the Communists were then to take over. they have suggested. that we should be prepared. together with other nations. to open our doors to all Vietnamese who might prefer asylum abroad. The Vice President has already asked the pointed question: How many Vietnamese refugees is the Senator from South Dakota willing to accept in his State? This question has to be carried several stages further If the sponsors of the McGovernHatfleld amendment really mean what they say about offering asylum to all of those who would want to flee if the Communists took over. The sponsors of the amendment are obviously thinking in terms of some scores of thousands of Vietnamese refugees. or of one or two hundred thousand at the most. This is an impossibly low figure when one recalls that there were almost 1 million refugees from North Vietnam in just over 6 months after the Ho Chi Minh takeover. Moreover. millions of South Vietnamese have put their lives on the line against the Communists. in the government service and in the armed forces. Putting these two facts together. there is every reason to believe that the number of South Vietnamese who would want to leave their country if the Communists took over would run into the millions.