U.S. Senator
In
1952, Mansfield was elected to the
United States Senate after he had narrowly defeated the Republican incumbent,
Zales Ecton. An early supporter of
Ngo Dinh Diem, Mansfield altered his opinion on the
Vietnam War after a visit to Vietnam in 1962. He reported to
John F. Kennedy on December 2, 1962, that US money given to Diem's government was being squandered and that the US should avoid further involvement in
Vietnam. He was thus the first American official to comment even mildly negatively on the war's condition. On September 25, 1963, Mansfield introduced Kennedy during a joint appearance with him at the Yellowstone County Fairgrounds, Kennedy expressing his appreciation afterward and adding, "I know that those of you who live in Montana know something of his character and his high standard of public service, but I am not sure that you are completely aware of what a significant role he has played in the last three years in passing through the United States Senate measure after measure which strengthens this country at home and abroad." Mansfield delivered a eulogy on November 24, 1963, as President Kennedy's casket
lay in state in the Capitol rotunda, saying, "He gave that we might give of ourselves, that we might give to one another until there would be no room, no room at all, for the bigotry, the hatred, prejudice, and the arrogance which converged in that moment of horror to strike him down." During the Johnson administration, Mansfield, convinced that it was a blunder based on just aims, became a skeptic of US involvement in the
Vietnam War. In February 1965, he lobbied against escalating aerial bombardment of
North Vietnam in the aftermath of
Pleiku, arguing in a letter to the president that
Operation Rolling Thunder would lead to a need for "vastly strengthened... American forces." In 1964, Mansfield, as Senate Majority Leader, filed a procedural motion to have the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 discussed by the whole Senate rather than by the
Judiciary Committee, which had killed similar legislation seven years earlier. Mansfield voted in favor of the
Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and
1968, as well as the
24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965. Mansfield voted in favor of the initial Senate amendment to the
Civil Rights Act of 1957 on August 7, 1957, but did not vote on the House amendment to the bill on August 29, 1957. Mansfield did not vote on the
Civil Rights Act of 1960 or the confirmation of
Thurgood Marshall to the
U.S. Supreme Court. Mansfield co-sponsored
Mark Hatfield's Neighborhood Government Act, which would have diverted social service provisions to neighborhood levels, and also supported the
Comprehensive Child Development Act of 1971 and the
Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. He hailed the new
Richard Nixon administration, especially the "
Nixon Doctrine" announced at
Guam in 1969 that the US would honor all treaty commitments, provide a
nuclear umbrella for its allies, and supply weapons and technical assistance to countries where warranted without committing American forces to local conflicts. In turn, Nixon turned to Mansfield for advice and as his liaison with the Senate on Vietnam. Nixon began a steady withdrawal and replacement of US troops shortly after he took office in January 1969, a policy supported by Mansfield. During his first term, Nixon reduced American forces by 95%, leaving only 24,200 in late 1972; the last ones left in March 1973. During the economic crisis of 1971, Mansfield was not afraid to reach across the aisle to help the economy: What we're in is not a Republican recession or a Democratic recession; both parties had much to do with bringing us where we are today. But we're facing a national situation which calls for the best which all of us can produce, because we know the results will be something which we will regret. Mansfield attended the November 17, 1976, meeting between President-elect
Jimmy Carter and Democratic congressional leaders in which Carter sought out support for a proposal to have the president's power to reorganize the government reinstated with potential to be vetoed by Congress.
Mansfield Amendments Two controversial amendments by Mansfield limiting military funding of research were passed by Congress. • The Mansfield Amendment of 1969, passed as part of the fiscal year 1970 Military Authorization Act (Public Law 91-121), prohibited military funding of research that lacked a direct or apparent relationship to specific military function. Through subsequent modification the Mansfield amendment moved the Department of Defense toward the support of more short-term applied research in universities. The amendment affected the military, such as research funding by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). • The Mansfield Amendment of 1973 expressly limited appropriations for defense research through the
Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is largely independent of the military, to projects with direct military application. This controversial amendment greatly reduced ARPA funding for many university-based computer projects, thereby forcing many American
computer science experts to move to private sector research facilities such as
Xerox PARC. However, for that very reason, the amendment is also credited with giving birth to the contemporary computer technology industry. An earlier Mansfield Amendment, offered in 1971, called for the number of US troops stationed in Europe to be halved. On May 19, 1971, however, the Senate defeated the resolution 61–36. ==U.S. ambassador to Japan==