Press Conference of Senator Eugene J. McCarthy in the Senate Caucus Room, Washington, D.C. on November 30, 1967.
"I intend to enter the Democratic primaries in four states: Wisconsin, Oregon, California and Nebraska. The decision with reference to Massachusetts, and also New Hampshire, will be made within the next two or three weeks.
My decision to challenge the President's position and the Administration's position has been strengthened by recent announcements out of the Administration--the evident intention to escalate and to intensify the war in Vietnam and, on the other hand, the absence of any positive indications or suggestions for a compromise or for a negotiated political settlement. I am concerned that the Administration seems to have set no limit to the price which it is willing to pay for a military victory.
I am hopeful that this challenge which I am making--which I hope will be supported by other members of the Senate and other politicians--may alleviate at least in some degree of this sense of political helplessness and restore to many people a belief in the processes of American politics and of American government; that on the college campuses especially and also among adult, thoughtful Americans, it may come to the growing sense of alienation from politics which I think is currently reflected in a tendency to withdraw from political action, to talk of non-participation, to become cynical and to make threats of support for third parties or fourth parties or other irregular political movements.
I do not see in my move any great threat to the unity and strength of the Democratic Party--whatever that unity may be today and whenever that strength may be.
Let me say that—as I am sure I shall be charge—I am not for peace at any price, but for an honorable, rational and political solution to this war; a solution which I believe will enhance our world position, encourage the respect of our Allies and our potential adversaries, which will permit us to get the necessary attention to other commitments--both at home and abroad, militarily and did not militarily--and leave us with resources and moral energy to deal effectively with a pressing domestic problems of the United States itself. In this total effort, I believe we can restore to this nation a clear sense of purpose and of dedication to the achievement of our traditional purposes as a great nation in the twentieth century."
