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In his speech, Reagan confronted the issue directly, as if trying to exorcise its paralyzing spell. "Let me say to those who invoke the memory of Viet Nam: there is no thought of sending American combat troops to Central America." This prompted the night's most thunderous ovation, one that was sustained on both sides of the aisle. (It also drew some querulous editorial fire. The New York Times, referring to his pledge not to send in combat troops, asked, "If the stakes are as he says, why on earth not?") In the televised Democratic response, Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut invoked Viet Nam as an argument against the Administration's policies in Central America. "The American people know that we have been down this road before," he said, "and that it only leads to a dark tunnel of endless intervention."
Simply by using a joint session of Congress to turn the spotlight once again on El Salvador, Reagan may have elevated a nagging foreign policy problem into a prominent campaign issue for 1984. Says one of his top political advisers: "It's waving a red flag. It's raising the urgency. It reminds me of Lyndon Johnson's escalating the Viet Nam War."
Yet counterbalancing these concerns, both within the Administration and in Congress, is the fear of being blamed for losing El Salvador and the rest of Central America. Explains Reagan's chief of staff, James Baker: "We do not want a Central American country to go Communist on our watch. We are pointing out to Congress that it shares that responsibility." Indeed, one reason that Congress has thus far been willing to give Reagan at least half a loaf in his requests for Salvadoran aid is the realization that the fragile regime might otherwise fall to Communist rebels, an event that could not only endanger U.S. security but also prove a political liability for those responsible. By taking his case to Capitol Hill, Reagan made it clear he would hold members accountable if they thwarted his policies. His concluding line: "Who among us would wish to bear responsibility for failing to meet our shared obligation?"
Reagan went to great pains to stress that saving Central America was a bipartisan burden. The only two Presidents he invoked were Democrats. He read at length from Harry Truman's 1947 speech to Congress arguing that international
Communism must be contained Communism must be contained and praised Jimmy Carter because he "did not hesitate" to send arms to El Salvador when the rebels launched their "final offensive" in the fall of 1980.