"And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support… North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that." — Richard Nixon, Address on Vietnam, November 3, 1969
Nixon's appeal to a "silent majority" was strategically aimed at:
- A
Foreign diplomats at the United Nations
- Bcheck_circle
Middle-class Americans who supported the war effort but were not visible in antiwar protests
- C
Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
- D
Black voters in northern cities
Explanation
Nixon sought to mobilize a coalition of working- and middle-class Americans uncomfortable with antiwar protests and counterculture, building on his 1968 "law and order" themes and George Wallace voters.