ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED 16 AUGUST 1966

RIPPLE SALVO… #168… (1) MAO (2) UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES…but first…

Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED SIXY EIGHT of matching the past with the present…August 16, fifty years ago. A cloudy, rainy Tuesday…

Page 1: “Accord Reached In Airline Tie-up; Union Will Vote”…”An agreement to end the airline strike was reached this morning after an all-night bargaining session between the International Association of Machinists and five airlines. The union’s 35,400 striking members will vote on the contract at meetings on Friday. Two weeks ago, the membership rejected a proposed contract, but the union’s leaders expressed optimism that the new accord would be approved. The terms of the three year contract were withheld to give the union members the details. But it was reported that the agreement would cost around $87-million, or 6% per year in increased wages and benefits. The Johnson Administration remained silent today about the proposed settlement, which could seriously fracture its stabilization program by encouraging other unions to seek contracts exceeding its guide posts calling for wage agreements of 3.2 per cent per year.”… Page 1: “Government Seeks Curb On Jet Noise”…”A nationwide program to control jet aircraft noise is quietly underway in the Government.  President Johnson called for a broad attack on the problem in his Transportation message to Congress last March. It was the first action acknowledgement that aircraft noise is too complex a problem for state and local government to handle alone. The far reaching program involves five Federal agencies, state and local government units and the aviation industry.”… “Page 1: “The Herald-Tribune Is Discontinued”… “Publisher Blames Strike Against Merged Papers”…”The New York Herald-Tribune was formally closed yesterday bringing to an end a long and distinguished journalistic tradition. The Herald was born in 1924 as the result of a merger of two proud names in journalism. The Herald, founded in 1835 and the Tribune, founded in 1841 by Horace Greely. John Hay Whitney, who had been the publisher of the Herald-Tribune…laid the closing of the morning paper in a labor dispute that has prevented the publication of the newspapers planned by the merged publishing enterprise. “I feel that today is a day of monitoring, rather than recrimination.”…

Page 1: “Enemy Plan Found For Seizing Saigon”…”United States military officials said today that they have uncovered enemy plans to take over Saigon by force. The plot might have worked but it stands no chance now because the United States has put so many forces into the area and plans to put in more…The plan was conceived more than a year ago when South Vietnam governments were failing one after another following scheming by Generals and Buddhist leaders…One high official said: “The enemy has built a large force in a logical, well conceived and well paced plan. He has increased his command and control structure and his support elements for the build-up. It was a near thing. The enemy wanted to have in place near large population centers, particularly Saigon, a powerful force ready to exploit the squabbling and disorganization that follows a coup d’etat.”

Page 1: “Kennedy Chides Johnson On Cities”…”Senator Robert F. Kennedy implied today that the Johnson Administration was using the war in Vietnam as an excuse for not increasing federal aid to troubled cities. The nation, the New York Democrat said, can afford to finance the war and the broad social programs. Senator Kennedy and others called for sharply increased federal spending in urban areas during the opening of Senate sub-committee hearings into what is called ‘the crisis of the cities.’ He urged ‘creation of a high level Administration study group to report to Congress within a year on steps being taken to deal with a series of converging forces which rip at the fabric of life in an American city.’ But within hours after he spoke the Senate demonstrated that it was firmly on the President’s side on holding down domestic spending. By a vote of 47 to 34, it rejected an effort to expand the urban areas in solving their transportation program, and  then it continued funding the program at its current levels of funding for two more years.”…Page 1: “Syria and Israel Clash In Galilee”…”Syrian and Israeli planes fought an air duel this morning near the Sea of Galilee. It was their second armed conflict in less than a month in that area. Secretary General U Thant was informed of the outbreak by United Nations truce officials, who moved in quickly to arrange a cease fire.”…

16 AUGUST 1966: OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…NYT (17 August reporting 16 August ops) Page 3: “In the air, United States bombers made fresh strikes at North Vietnam following up on their near record of 133 missions Monday, a total only six short of the record for such strikes of several airplanes each set earlier this month. Four of the jet bombers were attacked by Communist MIG-17s. The Soviet-built fighters fired 37mm cannon at the four Navy Skyhawks as they were attacking a train 70-miles south of Hanoi. The heavily laden Skyhawks took evasive action without firing back and escaped unharmed after having damaged four box cars.”…Page 1: “Foes Missile Falls, Hits Haiphong Area”…United States Navy pilots reported that a surface-to-air missile fired at the flight of A-4 Skyhawks yesterday missed its target, reversed itself and exploded in a populated area east of Haiphong…The pilots reported that fires were reported in the area after the missile detonated. The Navy pilots were attacking an oil storage area 15 miles northeast of Haiphong when the missile was fired at them.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson)…There were no fixed wing losses in Southeast Asia on 16 August 1966… (two days in a row!!!)

RIPPLE SALVO… #168…. MAO and UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES… Two articles in the NYT for 15 August 1966 are cause to open the Bear’s zuni range for a couple of salvos: (1)Westmoreland’s succinct explanation of a tenet of Mao Tse-tung’s doctrine that was in play in South Vietnam in 1966, and (2) a short article that put the focus of the press on the House of Representatives sub-committee whose charter provided the House an opportunity to dig deep into “un-American activities.”

(1) Westmoreland and Mao… The General said that the Vietcong in the Mekong Delta were attempting to move into Phase 2 of Mao Tse-tung’s
classic military strategy. The General broke the Vietcong strategy into three Phases. In Phase 1: Terrorism and sabotage. Phase 2: The use of small, flexible and highly mobile military units. In Phase 3: The use of larger units. The current handbook in play in America is not Mao’s “Little Red Book.” The principal source for the ongoing forced change, revolution, is Saul D. Alinsky’s “Handbook for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals.” This is the “playbook” for American “progressives,” including the DNC.

Alinsky: “The Process of Power:” (1) Organize, get people together, (2) Power comes from organization, and (3) Change comes from power. In another section, “Tactics,” Alinsky illustrates how the “have-nots” can take power away from the ‘haves’ by using the points of a human face: (1) The nose–if your organization is too tiny to make any noise, stink up the place. (2) The ears: If your organization is small in numbers then conceal the members in the dark, but raise a din and clamor that will make the listener believe that your organization numbers many more than it does. (3) The eyes: If you have organized a vast, mass-based people’s organization, you can parade it visibly before the enemy and openly show your power.   (Black Lives Matter?)

Alinsky writes that the prerequisite for an organizer in America who is “working in and for a free society” is: “possession of a basic truth.” For example, “a Marxist begins with his prime truth that all evils are caused by the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalists. From this he logically proceeds to the revolution to end capitalism, then into the third stage of reorganization into a new social order or the dictatorship of the proletariat, and finally the last stage–the political paradise of communism.”

(2) The NYT of 15 August 1966 elevates the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) into the daylight. The HUAC was an investigative committee of the House of Representatives created in 1936 (80-years ago) to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizen, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties. In 1969, the House changed the name of the committee to House Committee on Internal Security. When the abolished the committee in 1975, its functions were transferred to the House Judiciary Committee (Wikipedia).

In those days the idea of accommodating communism was un-American…My how times change… I note that Newt Gingrich, who knows a thing or two, suggested in June 2016 that the HUAC should be re-established. Good idea… Hide those Alinsky “Handbooks,” all you rascals who are hell bent to end capitalism in America.

Mao: “Little Red Book”…”The people are the sea in which the guerrilla swims.”

Alinsky: “Rules for Radicals”… The people are the sea in which his radicals swim (see below)*.

Islamic Jihadists: “The Koran”… The people are the sea in which Islamic Terrorists swim.

Alinsky (page 19)*… “Between the Haves and the Have-Nots are the Have-a-Little, Want Mores–the middle class. Torn between upholding the status quo to protect the little they have, yet wanting change so they can get more, they have split personalities. They could be described as social, economic, and political schizoids. Generally they seek the safe way, where they can profit by change and yet not risk losing the little they have. They insist on a minimum of three aces before playing a hand in a poker game called revolution. Thermopolitically they are tepid and rooted in inertia. Today in Western society and particularly in the United States they comprise the majority of the population.”

Lest we forget….        Bear           ……….  –30–  ……….