RIPPLE SALVO… #185… “…THE MORE THEY ACTUALLY DON’T”… but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY FIVE of studying history, which, in the words of Victor David Hanson, “remains about the only way to understand who we were, are, and will be.”
2 SEPTEMBER 1966… THE TOP OF THE NEWS ON THE HOME FRONT… NYT… A fair and warm Friday at the U.N….
Page 1: “Thant Declares He Will Not Seek Second U.N. Term”…”U Thant refused today to offer himself for a second term as Secretary General of the United Nations. The Burmese diplomat made his wishes known in a statement stressing his frustrations and fear that a global war might develop in Vietnam…” Page 1: “Peking Supports Hanoi Cautiously”…”Peking’s leaders greeted North Vietnam’s national day today with a message of support that maintained the cautious approach of the Communist Chinese hierarchy to the question of intervention in the Vietnam War. Hailing what it termed Vietnamese victories against ‘United States imperial aggression’ the impression was that they think the war is going very well and that China has no inclination to intervene directly in the Vietnam War.”…“DeGualle Holds U.S. Would Gain If It Got Out”…”President DeGaulle said today that if the United States decided to withdraw its forces from Vietnam in favor of an ‘international arrangement for peace and progress, it will not in the final analysis, involve anything that would injure its pride, interfere with its ideals and jeopardize its interests. On the contrary, in taking a path so true to the Western genius, what an audience would the United States recapture from one end of the world to the other, and what an opportunity would peace find on the scene and everywhere else.’ He was speaking to a cheering audience of over 100,000 in the National Sports Stadium in Phnom Penh.”…
Page 1: “Guard Called In Dayton Rioting”…”The fatal shooting of a Negro man touched off rioting in a Negro area of Dayton today, but the authorities pronounced the situation under control tonight. A force of 900 Ohio National Guardsmen were called up by Governor James Rhodes and patrolled the city streets with several hundred policemen and sheriff’s deputies. Dayton’s Mayor Dave Hall said: ‘We are going to enforce the law. We have the men to do that.’ Twenty-three persons have been injured in the disorder. Most of them were white persons hurt by flying glass when missiles hurled by rioters struck their automobile windows. Estimates of the number of buildings damaged ranged as high as fifty. Mayor Hall said there had been 55 arrests but other sources put the number at 105. President Johnson is scheduled to give a Labor Day address in Dayton Labor Day. Dayton population is 300,000 including 70,000 Negroes.”... Page 40: “Negro And White Gangs Clash In Wide Open Riot In Michigan”…”Gangs of whites and Negroes spread violence across parts of the city (Johnson City, Michigan) last night and early this morning, injuring at least four persons. Police said the gangs had fought each other and stoned restaurants, stores, automobiles and police cruisers in the second night of violence here.”... Page 40: “NAACP Expands Club Bias Attack”…”Officials of the NAACP announced today that demonstrators against public officials belonging to segregated private clubs would be expanded to cities in seven Midwestern states. ‘We’re declaring war on public officials who belong to discriminatory organizations,’ Herbert Smith, Cincinnati chairman of the NAACP Colored People Youth Council. The campaign would be directed primarily at the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. There are 247 Youth Councils in seven Midwest states.”…
Page 3: “U.S. Force In War Raised To 303,400″…”Landings this week have poured 3,000 more Americans into the Vietnam War, which is expected to engage 400,000 by the end of the year. The U.S. command disclosed today that the total of land, sea, and air forces has risen to 303,400. Fresh casualty reports showed that combat deaths in the war approaching 5,000. Eighty-seven deaths last week pushed the five year total to 4,889. The first death occurred in 1965.”…”President Johnson signed a bill to permit Veterans of the Vietnam War to become members of the American Legion. Congress chartered the Legion, so Congress had to approve the change.”
2 September 1966…The President’s Daily Brief… CIA (TS sanitized)…South Vietnam: Chief of State Thieu publicly declared today that he will not be a candidate for the presidency of a future elected government. This is similar to an earlier statement by Premier Ky. these could be intended as conciliatory gestures to the Buddhists. The leaders in Saigon still, however, show no signs of giving in to another major Buddhist demand–that they quickly release political prisoners…
2 SEPTEMBER 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times… Page 2 (3 Sept reporting 2 Sept)…“U.S. Planes Bomb Hanoi Region”…”American pilots carried out concentrated attacks near Hanoi yesterday, bombing targets north of the capital of North Vietnam. Two fuel depots and several bridges were among them. Returning Air Force pilots reported strikes on the main rail line between Hanoi and China in ten places and the destruction of four bridges along the route. Heavy storms along the coast and in the southern part of North Vietnam limited American pilots to 70 missions and 77 targets in North Vietnam. The most significant among the Navy attacks yesterday appeared to be a raid by A-4 Skyhawk pilots with 500-pond and 1000-pond bombs on the Tuc tranh petroleum storage area three miles south of Thanh Hoa. Two Air Force airplanes, an F-104 Starfighter jet and a propeller driven A-1 Skyraider were shot down yesterday 35 miles northwest of Dong Hoi. Both pilots are listed as missing in action. The A-1 pilot was rescued by a Navy helicopter. ( Hobson reports these two losses on 1 September.) In another announcement the Air Force spokesman said 356 American planes have been shot down since August 1964.”... “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson)…Page 72: One aircraft lost on 2 September 1966…
(1) COMMANDER WILLIAM S. JETT was flying an A-1H of the VA-165 Boomers embarked in USS Intrepid on an armed reconnaissance mission south of Vinh Son ten miles from Cap Mu Ron (and the Gulf). COMMANDER JETT was able to nurse his flaming aircraft a few miles to sea and bail out to be rescued by a Navy helicopter….
RIPPLE SALVO… #185… Victor David Hanson’s 1 September essay on National Review Online entitled “The More Things Change, the More They Actually Don’t” is worth a read…. http://victorhanson.com,wordpress/?p=9436
Professor Hanson has selected 1966 to support his conclusion:
“America and the rest of the world have made enormous progress in technology, science, and social relations. But beneath the veneer of 2016, human nature remains the same, and life often operates on principles similar to those from a half-century ago–and even before that.
“We assume that life in 1900 was unrecognizable in comparison to the modern world of 1960. It was, or was not, in the same way that 1966 is both like and unlike 2016.
“That persistent continuity of the human experience is why studying history remains about the only way to understand who we were, are, and will be.”
VDH picked a great year to make his point–1966. Doctor Hanson must be reading Rolling Thunder Remembered. Every day I hold that day up to the corresponding day 50-years ago and reported in the New York Times and conclude: “The more things change, the more they don’t.”
“Studying history remains about the only way to understand who we were, are, and will be.” Thank you, Professor..
Lest we forget…. Bear ………… –30– ……….