Ronald Reagan Writes About Vietnam in 1968: A Change of Policy is Needed

Reagan supported the Vietnam War, but not the President who declared it, and he makes that distinction here, to an officer, apparently, then serving.

In my opinion we must have a change of leadership in Wash. & a change of policy in the conduct of the war.

An enthusiastic “hawk”, Reagan felt that Johnson was not willing to go all-out to win the war, and that asking soldiers to die in combat with their hands tied was, at the least, immoral. But for the men who fought there - and often came home to contentious receptions - he had the greatest respect. “Please know that many of us are eternally grateful to all of you,” he closes, “for what you are doing to preserve freedom.”

Autograph Letter Signed (“R.R”), as Governor, 1 page, octavo, no place, no date [September 23, 1968]. To “Dear Capt.” Being a draft to be typewritten, and bearing a large secretarial slash across the text.