RIPPLE SALVO… #174… THE RIGHT OF SELF-DEFENSE… but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY FOUR of the long look back at the Vietnam air war from a mountain in Utah….
22 AUGUST 1966… On this day fifty years ago in the NEW YORK TIMES…It was a rainy Monday in Times Square…and this was the news…
Page 1: “6 Rights Leaders Clash On Tactics In Equality Drive”…”Six of the nation’s top civil rights leaders, appearing together for the first time since the emergence of the ‘black power’ issue, expressed sharply divided opinions today on how Negroes should react to the mounting racial controversy. Questioned by a panel of reporters on a 90-minute National Broadcasting Company presentation of ‘Meet the Press’ the leadership proclaimed a unity of purpose in achieving equality for Negro Americans. But their solutions for overcoming white resistance and violence ranged from the use of black vigilante groups to de-emphasis of race. Generally, the Negro leaders expressed with more clarity views they had advanced individually since the ‘black power’ slogan became an issue early this summer. James H. Meredith, who integrated the University of Mississippi in 1962, said that Negroes should take the law into their own hands, establish vigilante groups and remove whites who attack them. Stokely Carmichael, chairman of the SNVCC agreed. But the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr reiterated his adherence to non-violence. He said however that more street demonstrations would be necessary to expose social ills. ‘There is nothing more powerful to dramatize social evil than the tramp, tramp of marching feet.’ Others on the panel were Roy Wilkins, Director of the Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Whitney Young, Director of the National Urban League; and Floyd McKissick, national director of the Congress for Racial equality. Although panelists denied at the out set that the movement was deeply divided, it became apparent later in the program that a divergence of opinion continues on how Negroes should proceed. Mr. Meredith, now a student at Columbia University Law school, said he considered the Vietnam war one of the best things happening to Negroes. Mr. Carmichael described Negro Americans fighting in Vietnam as Black Mercenaries because he said frequently because the armed forces provided the only means of employment for Negroes in this country. ‘I would not fight in Vietnam. Absolutely not. I would advise every black man not to fight in Vietnam…’ Mr. Meredith: ‘Whites who fought alongside of Negro soldiers will not come back over here and support white supremacy anymore.’…”
Page 1:…”Dr. King and 500 Jeered In 5-Mile Chicago March”…”Drenched by rain, 500 civil rights workers led by Dr. Martin Luther King marched five miles through a white neighborhood in another demonstration for open housing. They were met, as in previous marches in other all-white Chicago neighborhoods by jeers, cusses and insults. About 2,000 residents lined the route despite the downpour. A gang of about 100 teenage youths pitched rocks, bricks, bottles, beer cans, apples and firecrackers toward them over the heads of policemen on hand to protect the Marchers. Fifteen persons were arrested, two of them bloodied by the police when they came too near the marchers.”… Page 1: “Asians Doubt U.S. Can Stabilize the Area”… Harrison Salisbury wrote: “There are few Asians who doubt the ability of American military power–if applied over a long period of time– to pulverize organized communist forces in Vietnam. But there are also few who believe this action will restore stability in Southeast Asia or slow the march of communism more than temporarily.”
Page 1: “Touring President Uses Republicans To Aid Democrats”…”President Johnson on a tour of five northern states has conducted what appears to be the ultimate exercise in consensus politics. Using prominent republicans to reach embattled Democrats. On the ostensibly non-political two day tour, the President swept along with him on a series of platforms– a whole roster of Republican Governors, Senators and Representatives, each as docile and smiling as the last…all lending their prestige and presence to events spot lighting Democrats.”… Page 5: “Eisenhower Asks Military Training for All Youths”…”Former President Eisenhower has urged the adoption of universal military training as the cornerstone of the United States defense establishment…He had watched in dismay ‘the rising tide of rancor engendered by a draft system’–which he concluded is unfair ( college deferments).”…
22 August 1966… THE PRESIDENT’s DAILY BRIEF…CIA (TS sanitized)… South Vietnam: Both Buddhists and Vietcong are stepping up preparations to disrupt or discredit the September constituent assembly elections. The Buddhist Institute’s communique directly urging the faithful not to vote has been transmitted as an order to Buddhist representatives outside Saigon…Recent Vietcong broadcasts have made plain an intention to use all the traditional methods of terror and intimidation in the Saigon area. All candidates are being warned to withdraw since their lives will not be ‘insured’ and all voters are urged to stay away from the polls….
22 August 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (23 August reporting 22 August ops) Page 5: “Missile Sites Raided”…” Vietcong gunfire brought down two allied airplanes this afternoon in the Mekong Delta 120 miles southwest of Saigon…the first plane shot down was a U.S. Air Force jet F-5 Freedom Fighter. While the pilot was being rescued from the Gulf of Sidra, a South Vietnamese A-1H Skyraider, which had been called in to provide cover fire was shot down (actually, two of four A-1Hs were downed) …In North Vietnam, Navy Skyhawk pilots from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt battered a railroad yard and petroleum depot on the outskirts of Thanh Hoa. The pilots said they destroyed ten railroad cars, 2 buildings and cut the tracks in three places. They said they left the yard in flames. Other Navy pilots destroyed 22 trucks when they attacked a pair of parking lots in Thanh Hoa. Meanwhile, Air Force pilots hit four surface-to-air missile sites in the Hanoi defense system. One of them was nine miles south of Hanoi. Meanwhile B-52s hit base camps and troops concentrations 120 miles southwest and 45 miles east of Saigon..”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson)…Page 71: Two fixed wing aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on 22 August 1966…
(1) LT K.G. GRAY was flying an A-4E of the VA-72 Blue Hawks embarked in USS FDR was part of a flight of Skyhawks attacking a motorized junk northeast of Thanh Hoa and ingested his own 2.75 rocket debris. He suffered resultant engine failure and was forced to eject, just a squadron mate (Lt Allan Carpenter) had had to do the previous day. Score two more for the 2.75 rocket pod… LT GRAY survived to fight another day…
(2) CAPTAIN CLYE L. JOHNS was flying an F-5C of the 10th FCS and #rd TFW out of Bien Hoa on a close air support mission near Dong Thai on the western coast of South Vietnam. The VC target was defended by 20 Quad-50 anti-aircraft guns. CAPTAIN JOHNS made several passes and destroyed many of the guns before being hit. He was forced to eject and landed in a near by rice paddy. Four Vietnamese A-1Hs arrived in time to provide cover for his rescue. Unfortunately, two of the A1Hs were shot down and the pilots joined CAPTAIN JOHNS in the rice paddy. All the downed pilots were successfully rescued by U.S. Army Hueys…
RIPPLE SALVO… #174… CARDINAL SPELLMAN SPEECH AT THE VFW ANNUAL MEMORIAL SERVICE on Sunday, 21 August 1966…
New York Times, 22 August 1966, Page 4: “Spellman …Backs U.S. Policy In Vietnam”…
“ Cardinal Spellman defended last night the presence of American soldiers in Vietnam and assailed the tactics of some anti-war demonstrators…
“It is far from genuine peace making when demonstrators forcibly interface with the movement of a troop train, forcibly interrupt a parade saluting the heroic men and women of our armed forces, and protest in rude and disorderly fashion the appearance of high ranking U.S. government officials. At various times in history, as now in our time, voices have been raised against the maintenance of armies, against military engagements of any kind. Killing or wounding a human being, says the pacifist, is always wrong–even when done in self-defense–and so it is never in the service of peace. Every man, according to the pacifist’s opinion, is forbidden to take up arms in the defense of his own life or liberty, or in defense of the lives and liberty of others. In the name of peacemaking the pacifist’s viewpoint denies individuals and nations the right of self-defense. This has never been the majority view of free men.”
“As our men see it, they are in Vietnam for no unjust or selfish purpose. They are there to answer a desperate appeal for help. Even though they bear arms and cause death and risk death, they are peacemakers. I returned from my Christmas visit with the troops with the greatest respect for them and their convictions.”
“It is my view that every individual and every nation has the right to defend itself and others against unjust aggression. The means used in that defense must of course be themselves just and no more than necessary to overcome the unjust attack. But the right to take such means is an inalienable right of all men. The exercise of such a right in no way disorders God’s world. On the contrary, it seeks to prevent the misery and disorder of deprived freedom, stifled truth, denied justice, and repudiated love, which are inherent in every form of aggression. The exercise of the right of self-defense, be it personal or national, seeks to preserve the order of God’s world and so is a true instrument of peace making.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear ………. –30– ……….