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The McGovern–Hatfield Amendment (alternately, Hatfield–McGovern Amendment) was a proposed amendment to an appropriations bill in 1970 during the Vietnam War that, if passed, would have required the end of United States military operations in the Republic of Vietnam by December 31, 1970 and a complete withdrawal of American forces halfway through the next year. It was the most outstanding defiance of executive power regarding the war prior to 1971. The amendment was proposed by Senators George McGovern of South Dakota and Mark Hatfield of Oregon, and was known as the "amendment to end the war."

The amendment was heavily opposed by the administration of President Richard Nixon. A revision of the amendment intended to gain more widespread support extended the deadline for withdrawal to the end of 1971. Nevertheless, the amendment was opposed by Nixon and his backers in the Congress, who argued that a withdrawal deadline would devastate the American position in negotiations with North Vietnam. On September 1, 1970, the amendment failed by a 55–39 margin.

McGovern's speech

Minutes before the voting began, McGovern appealed for support with the strongest and most emotional language he had ever used regarding the war:

Every senator in this chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave. This chamber reeks of blood. Every Senator here is partly responsible for that human wreckage at Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval and all across our land—young men without legs, or arms, or genitals, or faces or hopes.
There are not very many of these blasted and broken boys who think this war is a glorious adventure. Do not talk to them about bugging out, or national honor or courage. It does not take any courage at all for a congressman, or a senator, or a president to wrap himself in the flag and say we are staying in Vietnam, because it is not our blood that is being shed. But we are responsible for those young men and their lives and their hopes. And if we do not end this damnable war those young men will some day curse us for our pitiful willingness to let the Executive carry the burden that the Constitution places on us.
So before we vote, let us ponder the admonition of Edmund Burke, the great parliamentarian of an earlier day: "A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood."

According to historian Robert Mann, McGovern's brief, passionate speech shocked his Senate colleagues. As McGovern took his seat, most senators sat in stunned silence. "You could have heard a pin drop," recalled John Holum, McGovern's principal staff advisor on Vietnam. As the Senate prepared to begin voting on the amendment, one senator approached McGovern and indignantly told him that he had been personally offended by the speech. McGovern replied, "That's what I meant to do."^[1]

Text of the amendment

McGovern–Hatfield Amendment, H.R. 17123

(a) In accordance with public statements of policy by the President, no funds authorized by this or any other act may be obligated or expended to maintain a troop level of more than 280,000 armed forces of the United States in Vietnam after April 30, 1971.

(b) After April 30, 1971, funds herein authorized or hereafter appropriated may be expended in connection with activities of American Armed Forces in and over Indochina only to accomplish the following objectives:

(1) the orderly termination of military operations there and the safe and systematic withdrawal of remaining armed forces by December 31, 1971;

(2) to secure the release of prisoners of war;

(3) the provision of asylum for Vietnamese who might be physically endangered by withdrawal of American forces; and

(4) to provide assistance to the Republic of Vietnam consistent with the foregoing objectives; provided however, that if the President while giving effect to the foregoing paragraphs of this section, finds in meeting the termination date that members of the American armed forces are exposed to unanticipated clear and present danger, he may suspend the application of paragraph 2(a) for a period not to exceed 60 days and shall inform the Congress forthwith of his findings; and within 10 days following application of the suspension the President may submit recommendations, including (if necessary) a new date applicable to subsection b(1) for Congressional approval.^[2]

Vote Total

Senate vote on the Amendment to End the War

September 1, 1970

Party

Total votes

Democratic

Republican

Nay

21

34

55

Yea

32

7

39

Result: Failed

Roll call vote^[3]

Senator	Party	State	Vote
George Aiken	R	Vermont	Nay
James Allen	D	Alabama	Nay
Gordon Allott	R	Colorado	Nay
Howard Baker	R	Tennessee	Nay
Birch Bayh	D	Indiana	Yea
Henry Bellmon	R	Oklahoma	Nay
Wallace F. Bennett	R	Utah	Nay
Alan Bible	D	Nevada	Nay
J. Caleb Boggs	R	Delaware	Nay
Edward Brooke	R	Massachusetts	Yea
Quentin Burdick	D	North Dakota	Yea
Harry F. Byrd	D	Virginia	Nay
Robert Byrd	D	West Virginia	Nay
Clifford P. Case	R	New Jersey	Yea
Frank Church	D	Idaho	Yea
Marlow Cook	R	Kentucky	Nay
John Sherman Cooper	R	Kentucky	Nay
Norris Cotton	R	New Hampshire	Nay
Alan Cranston	D	California	Yea
Carl Curtis	R	Nebraska	Nay
Thomas J. Dodd	D	Connecticut	Nay
Bob Dole	R	Kansas	Nay
Peter H. Dominick	R	Colorado	Nay
Thomas Eagleton	D	Missouri	Yea
James Eastland	D	Mississippi	Nay
Allen J. Ellender	D	Louisiana	Nay
Sam Ervin	D	North Carolina	Nay
Paul Fannin	R	Arizona	Nay
Hiram Fong	R	Hawaii	Nay
J. William Fulbright	D	Arkansas	Yea
Barry Goldwater	R	Arizona	Nay
Charles Goodell	R	New York	Yea
Albert Gore Sr.	D	Tennessee	Nay
Mike Gravel	D	Alaska	Yea
Robert P. Griffin	R	Michigan	Nay
Edward Gurney	R	Florida	Nay
Clifford Hansen	R	Wyoming	Nay
Fred R. Harris	D	Oklahoma	Yea
Philip Hart	D	Michigan	Yea
Vance Hartke	D	Indiana	Yea
Mark Hatfield	R	Oregon	Yea
Spessard Holland	R	Florida	Nay
Ernest F. Hollings	D	South Carolina	Nay
Roman Hruska	R	Nebraska	Nay
Harold Hughes	D	Iowa	Yea
Daniel Inouye	D	Hawaii	Yea
Henry M. Jackson	D	Washington	Nay
Jacob Javits	R	New York	Yea
B. Everett Jordan	D	North Carolina	Nay
Leonard B. Jordan	R	Idaho	Nay
Ted Kennedy	D	Massachusetts	Yea
Warren Magnuson	D	Washington	Yea
Mike Mansfield	D	Montana	Yea
Charles Mathias	R	Maryland	Yea
Eugene McCarthy	D	Minnesota	Yea
John L. McClellan	D	Arkansas	Nay
Gale W. McGee	D	Wyoming	Nay
George McGovern	D	South Dakota	Yea
Thomas J. McIntyre	D	New Hampshire	Yea
Lee Metcalf	D	Montana	Yea
Jack Miller	R	Iowa	Nay
Walter Mondale	D	Minnesota	Yea
Joseph Montoya	D	New Mexico	Yea
George Murphy	R	California	Nay
Edmund Muskie	D	Maine	Yea
Gaylord Nelson	D	Wisconsin	Yea
John Pastore	D	Rhode Island	Yea
James B. Pearson	R	Kansas	Nay
Claiborne Pell	D	Rhode Island	Yea
Charles H. Percy	R	Illinois	Nay
Winston L. Prouty	R	Vermont	Nay
William Proxmire	D	Wisconsin	Yea
Jennings Randolph	D	West Virginia	Nay
Abraham Ribicoff	D	Connecticut	Yea
Richard Russell Jr.	D	Georgia	Nay
William B. Saxbe	R	Ohio	Nay
Hugh Scott	R	Pennsylvania	Nay
Richard Schweiker	R	Pennsylvania	Yea
Ralph T. Smith	R	Illinois	Nay
Margaret Chase Smith	R	Maine	Nay
John Sparkman	D	Alabama	Nay
William Spong Jr.	D	Virginia	Nay
John C. Stennis	D	Mississippi	Nay
Stuart Symington	D	Missouri	Yea
Herman Talmadge	D	Georgia	Nay
Strom Thurmond	R	South Carolina	Nay
John Tower	R	Texas	Nay
Joseph Tydings	D	Maryland	Yea
John J. Williams	R	Delaware	Nay
Harrison A. Williams	D	New Jersey	Yea
Ralph Yarborough	D	Texas	Yea
Milton Young	R	North Dakota	Nay
Stephen M. Young	D	Ohio	Yea

Notes

^ Mann, Robert (2001). A Grand Delusion: America's Descent Into Vietnam. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-04369-0. pp. 666–669 Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
^ Congressional Research Service, Congressional Restrictions on U.S. Military Operations in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Somalia, and Kosovo: Funding and Non-Funding Approaches, January 16, 2007.[1]
^ "WITHDRAWL DEADLINE FAILS BY 55 TO 39" (PDF). CIA.gov. Retrieved 2 July 2024.