:08:00
Uh, the, uh--
:08:04
Are you really asking me
this goddamn silly question?
:08:08
You really want me to go into this?
- Yes.
:08:11
I mean--I mean, you know,
we really got to go back to--
:08:14
You just want me to go back
to the origins of this thing then.
:08:17
All right, I'll do it, but this is
pretty pedestrian stuff, I must say,
:08:22
at this late stage of the game.
:08:24
Honestly it is.
:08:26
I'll do it. All right.
:08:28
- There"s disagreement about the origins.
- No, there's not.
:08:31
No, there's not.
There's no doubt.
:08:33
All right, I'll answer your question,
you can throw away that tape.
:08:37
I didn't expect to have to go back
to this kind of sophomoric stuff,
:08:41
but I'll do it.
:08:44
The problem, uh, began, uh,
:08:50
in its present phase,
after the Sputnik,
:08:53
the launch of the Sputnik
in 1 957, October.
:08:58
This opened a phase
of not well-coordinated,
:09:02
but universally optimistic
and hopeful communist enterprise...
:09:07
in many parts of the world.
:09:09
Renewed hostile actions...
:09:12
against United States ships on
the high seas in the Gulf ofTonkin...
:09:17
have today required me to order
military forces of the United States...
:09:23
to take action in reply.
:09:26
We always hesitate in public to use
the word "lie,'' but a lie is a lie.
:09:30
I mean,
it's a misrepresentation of fact.
:09:34
And it's supposed to be a criminal act
if its done under oath.
:09:38
Mr.Johnson didn't say it under oath,
he just said it.
:09:42
We don't usually have
the president under oath.
:09:45
There are those who ask
why this responsibility should be ours.
:09:51
The answer, I think, is simple.
:09:53
There is no one else
who can do the job.
:09:57
If necessary,
I am ready to go back.