RIPPLE SALVO… #950… IN JULY 1986 GENERAL CURTIS LeMAY WAS ASKED BY A USA TODAY WRITER IF THE UNITED STATES COULD HAVE WON THE VIETNAM WAR. THE LeMAY RESPONSE: “In any two week period you want to mention. You can remember what went on at the end,when the B-52s finally went up north and started to bomb up there. They bombed about seven days, and the white flag practically went up. President Nixon stopped right there to get our people out. Four or five more days would have ended the whole thing, but I think he was so disgusted and fed up with the opposition of the American people that he decided to just get the hell our of there, and that was it.” Twenty years earlier the General was quoted in his autobiography by his co-author MacKinlay Kantor that North Vietnam has “got to draw in their horns and stop the aggression, or we’re going to bomb them back to into the Stone Age. and we should shove them back into the Stone age with Air power and Naval power–not with ground forces.”… His Stone Age comment remained “part of the LeMay legend” and came into play when Presidential wannabe George Wallace chose General LeMay a his Vice President running mate in 1968… Two NYT news reports on the American Independent party VP candidate below… but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day NINE HUNDRED FIFTY of a remembrance of the air war fought over North Vietnam for forty-four months FIVE DECADES AGO by a legion of America’s bravest of the brave… Their war was called ROLLING THUNDER…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times for Friday, 11 October 1968…
THE WAR… Page 18: “U.S. COMBAT DEATHS DROP IN WEEK TO 190″… “United States combat deaths in the Vietnam war dropped last week to 190, the lowest total since the week of August 17, while those of South Vietnamese forces went up, weekly reports showed today. In the preceding week, 247 Americans were killed. it was the 11th consecutive week tht deaths among South Vietnamese forces have exceeded those of American military personnel. The United States command said that 1,326 Americans were wounded last week compared with 1,779 a week earlier. South Vietnamese Government casualties last week were listed at 322 men killed, 1,065 wounded and 25 missing or captured. A week earlier these totals had been 316 killed, 1,230 wounded and 32 missing or captured.”… (More than 28,000 US KIA to date)… “… “South Vietnamese infantrymen killed 44 enemy soldiers late yesterday in heavy fighting in the Mekong Delta 554 miles southwest of Saigon. United States Army helicopter gunships supporting the South Vietnamese accidentally fired onto the allied troops, killing four and wounding six. No South Vietnamese casualties were reported in the fighting.”…..
WAR & PEACE… State Department. Office of the Historian. Historical Documents. (55-59)… Seven pages of reading for your consideration. Humble Host suggests your perusal. The series informs the President that the North Vietnamese have made some troop withdrawals from South Vietnam back into Cambodia and Laos. There is even a suggestion that a reduction in Rolling Thunder ops might be a good reciprocal move. Details of conversations in Paris at two meetings are included in the series. The report in Document 58 of a formal cum informal meeting in France is a very interesting and important read. At the conclusion of the meeting the NVN delegate in note #14 appears to offer an opportunity for a breakthrough. “This concluded our formal talk. Over tea, Le Duc Tho and Thuy both said they believed that rapid progress could be made if we were really determined to move toward peace.”… When Walt Rostow read this he wrote Document 59–an Information Memorandum to the President– on 11 October that is a must read. Rostow: “We must now face the possibility–even likelihood–that they wish to wind up the war fast… they are probably prepared for a quick settlement on, roughly on our terms.” … ahhh, were it so… Link to the first and access the others in turn by mousing the small faded carrot in the right hand margin of the first document. etc….. Read at…
55. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d55
HEAD LINES: Page 1: “DETROIT TIGERS BEAT ST. LOUIS CARDINALS, 4-1, AND TAKE WORLD SERIES–Mickey Lolich Beats Bob Gibson For His 3rd Win of Series”…Page 1: “CATONSVILLE NINE FOUND GUILTY IN DRAFT FILE CASE–Baltimore Court In Disorder After Verdict Is Returned”… Page 1: “JOHNSON DECLINES TO NAME 2nd MAN FOR CHIEF JUSTICE–Citing Current Prejudice–He also Asks Warren To Stay Until Reason Prevails”… Page 1: “APOLLO 7 IS POISED TO LIFT OFF TODAY–Officials Optimistic For Start of 3 Man, 11-Day, 163 Earth Orbit Flight Leading To Moon Shot”… Page 1: “PRESIDENT JOHNSON DAYS G.O.P. THREATENS DOMESTIC GAINS–In His First Political Speech Of Campaign, He Cites Peril To Democratic Programs–Gives Praise to Muskie–Raises Possibility of Agnew Reaching White House and Implies He Is Unqualified”… Page 1: “HUMPHREY SEEKING A WAY TO FORCE NIXON TO DEBATE”… Page 1: NIXON TOLD WEST OPPOSES SUMMIT–Scranton Reporting On Trip Says European Leadership Calls Time Inappropriate”… Page 3: “THIEU DENIES REPORTS OF SAIGON COUP ATTEMPT–Tells nation In TV Address That Rumors Were Spread By Reds and Lackeys”… Page 5. “NATIONALIST CHINA WITH PRESTIGE INCREASING CELEBRATES 19TH NATIONALIST DAY”…
11 OCTOBER 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…20 days to Cessation… The final days of “going North” New York Times: No coverage of operations north of the DMZ… VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 11 October 1968… The Dog Days of October have arrived…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR THE FOUR 11 OCTOBER DATES OF THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965, 1966, 1967, and 1968… NONE…. oohrah…
RIPPLE SALVO…#950… VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE GENERAL CURTIS E. LeMAY ON THE STUMP… NYT, 9-Oct-68:
“LeMAY SEES PLAN TO DISRUPT VOTE– Says Left-Wing Protesters Aim To Upset Election”… “General Curtis E. LeMay said today he was convinced that left-wing ‘protesters’ had plans to disrupt the national election, and that ‘if we don’t get a conservative administration, this may well be our last chance.’ The retired Air Force Chief of Staff, running mate of George C. Wallace on the American Independent party ticket, told a news conference that Communist line demonstrators were systematically trying to break up meetings of all the Presidential contenders. ‘How far are we going to let this go,’ he said. ‘We have laws against disturbing the peace. All you have to do is arrest them to stop it.’ The 61-year old officer, who undertook the Vice-Presidential candidacy only last Thursday, will begin campaigning on his own last Thursday, with visits to Florida and North Carolina before appearing on ‘Meet the Press’ on National Broadcasting Company TV on Sunday. he returned last night to Los Angeles, where he is an executive with Network Electronics, Inc.
“In a 40-minute session with reporters at the Sheraton West Hotel, General LeMay said that: “I think I’m a responsible individual,’ that, ‘no one wants war of any kind, let alone me,’ and that, contrary to some reports, he did not consider nuclear weapons suitable for the Vietnam situation.
- A major factor in his entering the campaign were reports of the likely Cabinet choices of Richard M. Nixon, the Republican candidate which he said seem to consist largely of ‘left-wing Republicans’ who didn’t support the party in 1964.
- He had convinced himself that Mr. Wallace was neither a racist nor a bigot, and that there were no John Birch Society people or other right wingers in the leadership of the Wallace campaign.
- His reputation by Dr. Max Rafferty, the Republican senatorial candidate, as an honorary campaign advisor appeared to be simply a political move and that he still considered the California Superintendent of Public Instruction ‘the best man for the job.’
“Mr. Nixon’s supposed Cabinet choices–whom he demurred at naming–made him wonder, he said, ‘what kind of deals Mr. Nixon had made, and would be in a position, having made those commitments, to do anything about what needs to be done for the country.’
“His information about ‘protesters,’ General LeMay said, had come primarily with whom he had talked at rallies, who ascribed heckling to Communist organizations.’ “… End quote… (Report by Gladwin Hill)
NYT, 14-Oct-68, page 1: “LeMAY ADVOCATES THE BOMBING OF KEY NORTH VIETNAMESE SITES”…
“Gen. Curtis E. LeMay advocated today the bombing of all major military supply targets in North Vietnam, even if they were in heavily populated areas. He also advocated the closing of the port of Haiphong as a necessary step to end the war in Vietnam. ‘We are not going to get anywhere at the negotiation table until the Communists are forced to do something positive in nature,’ the retired Air Force general said. ‘I think we have to do a little more arm-twisting before this comes about.’
Interviewed on the National Broadcasting Company’s television program Meet the Press, the Vice-Presidential running mate of George C. Wallace said the North Vietnamese had placed their most strategic military supplies in population centers, ‘because we have said we will not hit them there.’ General LeMay said that the United State should warn civilians to leave the target areas before the bombing begins and that if the North Vietnamese ‘find our we mean business then they will no longer put them (supplies) in populated areas.’
“The former Air Force Chief of Staff is in Washington for a briefing on the war before leaving tomorrow for a four day tour of South Vietnam. When General LeMay returns he will report his findings to Mr. Wallace, who plans to include the Vietnam issue in a nationwide television broadcast on October 20.”… End quote… (Report by David E. Rosenbaum)…
RTR quote for 11 October: GENERAL CURTIS LeMAY: “Flying fighters is fun. Flying bombers is important.”…
To which the Bear adds the corollary: “Flying fighter-bombers is important fun.”
Lest we forget… Bear