RIPPLE SALVO… #592… 1968: “POLITICAL FOG OVER VIETNAM”…The line-up of aspirants for the Presidency a year before the General Election is growing…here is where each identified candidate stands on “the central issue of the campaign”–Vietnam… but first…

Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED NINETY-TWO of a return of fifty years to a time and a war– and an air war– that split our country asunder…

19 OCTOBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a cloudy Thursday with showers forecast…

Page 1: “Johnson Ordered By House to Cut Budget By $5-Billion–Plan Approved 238-164, Calls For Heavy Slashes In Non-Defense Spending–Thrift Bloc Triumphs–Administration Forces Left in Disarray–Approval By Senate Is Dubious”… “… budge will reduce military spending by at least $5-billion to $7-billion in the current fiscal year and suggested ways to do it.”… Page 1: “Four In Cabinet Condemn Bill Asking Stiff Import Quotas”... “The Johnson Administration counter-attacked in force today against a concerted drive for legislation to curb imports of dozens of products from steel to strawberries…Four cabinet officers led by Secretary of State Rusk went before the Senate Finance Committee to assail bills for stiff import quotas… such legislation would provide massive retaliation.”… Page 1: “Venus Inhospitable To Life, Soviet Capsule Discovers–Atmosphere Consists Mainly of Carbon Dioxide, 15 Times Denser Than Earth’s–Heat Recorded at 536 Degrees Fahrenheit”… Page 72: “Mariner Speeds Toward Venus–United States Craft expected to Fly By Planet Tomorrow”… Page 23: “Panel Asks $60–Million Program By U.S. To Cut Pollution By Cars”... “Panel on Electrically Powered Cars, an advisory committee to the Secretary of Commerce, submits request for funding…”…

Page 3: “Viet Cong To Spur Foes of War in U.S.–Committee Is Created to Encourage Opposition”… “One task would be to encourage deserters… announced the formation of the ‘South Vietnam’s People’s Committee for Solidarity With The American People’… Also wishing a brilliant success to the … mass protest in Washington this weekend.”… Page 8: “Anti-War Protest Ends In Violence–65 Are Injured In Melee At University of Wisconsin”... “The police used tear gas and night sticks to break up hundreds of students on the University of Wisconsin campus… 65 persons were injured… protests were directed at on campus recruiting by the Dow Chemical Company (manufactures Napalm) and prevention of job interviews.”…Page 8: “Oakland Coast Protest Continues”… “More than 2,500 chanting antiwar demonstrators picketed the Northern California Draft Induction Center here today for the third day in a row. The police arrested 73 who kept 250 inductees from entering the building, bringing the number of arrests to 218.”… Page 9: “Patriotic Groups Plan Big Weekend–Demonstrations Across United States Will Back G.I.’s in Asia”… “…five parades in metropolitan areas…two themes: ‘respect law and order’ and ‘support the troops’… and the men and women of the Armed Forces.”…

19 October 1967…The President’s Daily Brief (CIA/TS) SOUTH VIETNAM: Thieu has told Ambassador Bunker he feels obligated to follow-up on his campaign promise to approach Ho Chi Minh with a peace proposal. Thieu plans to cover the peace theme in a general way in his inaugural address, and follow this with a direct message to Ho. Thieu is thinking in terms of either a proposal for direct discussions (and asking the US to halt the bombing if he gets  favorable response) or a bombing halt to be followed immediately by a message to Ho proposing talks. (Humble Host calls attention to the fact that ROLLING THUNDER WAS ALWAYS THE NUMBER ONE BARGAINING CHIP FOR THE UNITED STATES. The misuse of our air power–the strategy of “gradual defeat”–limited the value of the chip, thereby limiting our ability to bargain.)...NORTH VIETNAM: Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett (Far Left) arrived in Laos from Hanoi Tuesday evening. This was well ahead of the schedule he had set for himself in conversations with the Vientiane press corps before leaving…no explanation for his early return…  Residents of Hanoi and the Red River Valley, who had feared US bombing of the dikes and dams during the height of the flood season, were relaxing because the high-water peak had passed and because their secondary dikes and dams were all in place to protect against possible bomb damage…  (Humble Host: the decision to fight a war from the moral high ground and spare the dikes and dams was the nice thing to do, but was it the right thing to do? We had choices, as nations going to war always do. In this case, our choice was either a long ‘nice’ war, or a short ‘nasty’ war)… As of 19 Oct 67 American Casualties: Total Killed-in-Action= 13,907, and wounded numbered 88,502 (Since 1 January 1961)… The Long War total was: KIA: 58,000… Between October 1967 and the end, the war would take another 44,000 American warriors lives!!! We made our choice–fight ‘nice’ … and 58,000 American men and a few brave women paid dearly.

19 OCTOBER 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (20 Oct reporting 19 Oct ops) Page 1: “In the latest action reported in the war, American pilots kept up heavy pressure against North Vietnamese rail lines and targets around Haiphong. A spokesman reported that a United States Air Force pilot had shot down a MIG-17 fighter plane near Hanoi while North Vietnamese antiaircraft batteries downed a Navy plane near Haiphong…Air Force pilots also struck a railroad bypass bridge at Dailoi 19 miles northwest of Hanoi. During this attack, Major Donald M. Russell of Westbrook, Maine, flying an F-105 Thunderchief jet from Takhli, shot down a MIG that was chasing another American plane. The enemy plane, downed with 20mm cannon fire, was the 85th MIG shot down by United States pilots an Air Force spokesman reported…Navy pilots again lashed at targets near Haiphong, hitting the boatyard at Lachtray, 1.7 miles southwest of Haiphong and the Haiphong barracks area, three miles southeast of the city. One Navy A-4 Skyhawk jet was shot down by ground fire during raids and the pilot was listed as missing. It was the 706th United States plane lost in the North.” (A-4 Pilot was LCDR FRED BARR, KIA, see RTR for 18 Oct).

“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) there was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 19 October 1967…

(1) MAJOR GLENN GATES JACKS, USMC, and 1LT FRED ERNEST MacGEARY, USMC, were flying an F-4B of the VMFA-542 Bengals and MAG-13 out of Chu Lai and suffered an engine failure on takeoff leading to a crash. Both MAJOR JACKS and 1LT MacGEARY perished in the accident 50 years ago this day…

On 19 October 1967 MAJOR SPENCE “Sam” ARMSTRONG of the 34th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat flew his 9th combat mission. He was flying an F-105D in “Vegas” flight as #2 on the wing of the Flight Lead, MAJOR WILLIAM KING. Also in the flight: MAJOR DALTON LEFTWICH and CAPTAIN LARRY KLINESTIVER. The target was the Bac Le railroad Yard on the northeast railroad halfway between Hanoi and China. MAJOR ARMSTRONG reported the flight in his 100 mission combat log.

“Approaching Pack I, we started picking up an undercast cloud deck. Out over the water refueling we were in and out of the weather. Regrouping and turning inbound into North Vietnam, the weather was solid undercast up to about 15,000 feet. The Iron Hand flight went inland about 30 miles and reported all undercast towards the target. The F-4 flight came in from the northwest and confirmed this report, so we made a sweeping left turn dangerously close to Haiphong and came back over the water. We dropped our bombs in Pack I with a Sky Spot control and landed. Uneventful, but it was officially a Pack VI mission and a counter.” (And he put a red mark on the hat band of his Aussie bush hat.) …

RIPPLE SALVO… #592… The final year of OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER coincided with the campaigning of the wide field of candidates pining for an opportunity to take over for President Johnson. The Vietnam war and the bombing of North Vietnam would have a prominent place in the thousands of debates on late 1967 and all of 1968. RTR and RS introduces the field of contenders in this 17 October 1967 OpEd by the Editorial Staff of the NYT…

“POLITICAL FOG OVER VIETNAM”…

“The war in Vietnam will be the central issue in the next Presidential election. It is unfortunate that the nation has to divide on a foreign policy issue since there is always the danger that unfriendly countries may misconstrue the depth of character of the division, but that is the risk that a free society has to accept. History suggests that it is a smaller risk than the secret decision-making processes tyrannies prefer.

“It is going to be impossible to prevent a candidate’s outsiders and subordinates from playing politics, in the low sense of the term, with the Vietnam issue. But the public has a right to expect that major contenders for the Presidency and other leading public men will make known their views in a serious, detailed fashion. Responsibility on this issue goes well beyond platitudes about peace or national honor or ‘backing up our men at the front.’ Responsibility means an exposition of America’s future role in Southeast Asia and an exploration of alternative courses of action in Vietnam…

“President Johnson presumably offers the nation more of the same, but it is the duty of the opposition to compel him to clarify his choices. It is all very well for him to seek to hold a middle position as in his recent assertion that he is against ‘renouncing the struggle in Vietnam or escalating it to the red line of danger.’ But what does this point really mean? What is the goal of American involvement if not the impossible one of a military ‘victory.’?

“The public likewise deserves to know much better than it does now what his Republican rivals have in mind. Richard M. Nixon calls for shortening the war by use of ‘massive pressure’ short of nuclear weapons. ‘The Administration,’ he said a few weeks ago, ‘has resigned America to a long war and a grinding war. I support the use of air and sea power.’ But if a naval blockade and saturation bombing brought no results, Mr. Nixon does not say what he would do to end a long, grinding war on the ground.

“Governor Reagan of California has been more forthright if less reassuring. Asked if he would accept a recommendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff for an invasion of North Vietnam, Mr. Reagan replied: ‘If this would bring the war to a quicker end, then yes.’

“Governor Reagan is also on record with the most cynical assessment of the war as a political issue. He told a news conference last month: If the war ended in a withdrawal, the Republicans should ask  why we waited six years to do it. If it’s stopped by bringing the enemy to the peace table by force, again it should be asked why we waited so long–until an election year. Now he accuses the President of concealing American gains so he can use the good news in the campaign.

“Michigan’ Governor Romney, little heard on Vietnam since he confessed that he had been ‘brainwashed’ on the issue, has returned to the battlefield with a charge that the Administration is following a ‘ping-pong’ course in explaining United States war aims. Senator Percy of Illinois has been voluble and perceptive in analyzing the assorted mistakes of present policymakers in Vietnam, but aside from expressing his doubts about the efficacy of bombing in the North he has offered few clues as to what policy he would pursue if the responsibility were his.

“Governor Rockefeller has been most discreet of all. He did not deny a story in The Times that he has shifted somewhat from his previous strong support for Administration policy, but when pressed on the question he retreated into total silence. Whether or not he is an active candidate, no public man with his standing has the right to refuse to participate in public debate on the greatest issue of the day.

“The United States is approaching a critical turning point in Asia. The public expects more from both parties that evasion, obfuscation or easy answers to the hardest question of 1968.”…

RTR QUOTE for 19 October: WOODROW WILSON, Speech 1919: “Things get very lonely in Washington sometimes. The real voice of the great people of America sometimes sounds faint and distant in a strange city. You hear politics until you wish that both parties were smothered in their own gas.”

Lest we forget…       Bear