RIPPLE SALVO… #115… WAR vs GREAT SOCIETY… but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED FIFTEEN of a review of the Vietnam “air war”– Rolling Thunder…
23 JUNE 1966…ON THE HOME FRONT… (NYT)… A sunny, hot and humid Thursday in New York City….
Page 1:”Ky’s Troops Storm Saigon Compound of Buddhist Foes”… Government rangers and police joined in a dawn raid on the headquarters of the Unified Buddhist Church where an accused killer had taken refuge. Monks and youths were seized, including the accused killer who shot a policeman five days earlier. There was no shooting in the roust of the 200 extremists and the restoration of order… Page 1: “Rivers Hints At Cut in Top Age of Draft”…Mendel Rivers, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has suggested that the period of direct draft liability during peacetime might be substantially reduced below the current age level of 26. The comment was part of the opening of a full scale hearing on the much criticized Selective Service System….Page 1: “Johnson Is Backed on Cities Program”…A House panel approved a Demonstration Project that the Administration had been pushing for 5-months. They approved a bill that LBJ hopes will transform cities into “masterpieces of American society.” …Page 2: “Johnson to Honor Vietnam War Hero” in a Medal of Honor ceremony in the White House. Lieutenant Charles Q. Williams of the Green Beret Special Forces braved gunfire and led his troops to a victory after being wounded in the first portion of the extended battle at Dongxon on 9-10 June 1966… oohrah… Page 3: “U.S. Finds No Shifts In Hanoi’s Policies”…” The State department confirmed that North Vietnam is still asking for an end to all bombing of its territory as a condition for peace talks or guesture of any kind. This is the same position as in January– “…bombing must end, unconditionally and permanently.”
Page 3: “Isolation of Reds Is Over, Hall Says”:…”The Communist Party U.S.A. opened its first convention since 1959 and Gus Hall declared “the party fought its way back out of political isolation.” Nearly 400 persons crowded into the century old Webster Hall on East 11th Street for the start of the five day gathering. They had said 300 delegates representing 49 states would take part. The Communist Party in the Soviet Union messaged the convention: “The Communists of all countries attach great importance to the role of Communist Party USA in its principled struggle for the defense of the scientific theory of Marxism-Leninism, for the consistent line of strengthening the unity of the internationalist Communist movement.”
Page 22: “Mississippi Strife Studied By FBI”…Philadelphia, Mississippi teenagers in pick-up trucks with Confederate flags flying were cruising the town while the Negroes were staying home and avoiding confrontations and shooting opportunities such as had occurred the previous night. Dr. Martin Luther King has planned a new rally in Philadelphia and has asked for Federal Marshall protection, in part because local police are not restraining anti-marchers.”…Page 27: A $1.50 Minimum Pay was signed into law making New York state the highest minimum wage in the country and will affect 750,000 workers.
Page 38: OpEd… “In the Nation”… “A Search For Equity In the Draft”… When the United States is officially and totally engaged in war the future potential social contribution of a citizen of military age becomes a minor consideration of deferment. The overriding necessity is for manpower and the judgments of draft boards are confined to determining whether the eligible will be of more value to the war effort in the industrial pool at home, or in the armed forces except when assignment to military service imposes a hardship on a family. For the First and Second World Wars the order of induction into the armed forces of those certified for such service was fixed by lottery. The lottery system has the unique virtue of freedom from fallible judgment and impartiality…”
23 JUNE 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (24 June reporting 23 June ops)…Page 3: “A United States spokesman announced that Navy and Air Force jets flew 65 missions against North Vietnam yesterday. The strikes concentrated on fuel storage areas 35 to 40 miles north of Hanoi, as they did in operations Tuesday that led to dog fighting in which one MIG and one Navy fighter were shot down…”Vietnam: Air Losses” One aircraft lost…
(1) LTJG LAWRENCE FREDERICK NYMAN and ENSIGN HARRY JOHN BELKNAP were flying an F-4B of the VF-151 squadron aboard USS Constellation on a night BARCAP and was inexplicably lost at sea. Pilot disorientation was suspected… LTJG NYMAN and ENSIGN BELKNAP were Killed in Action and died so young and so far away from home in the service of our country… and here we are fifty years later feeling for and thinking of a pair of warriors who perished without a trace…
RIPPLE SALVO… #115…SUBTERFUGE … One of my motives for this rather extensive review of the “air war” is my interest in the plethora of social, cultural, economic and military issues that came to a boil in the mid-1960s and forced our government and our people to initiate numerous and major changes in our laws, mores and attitudes that have led to the condition of our nation now, fifty years later, in 2016. Events and actions that went into the history books in the mid-1960s put us on a different path and this review is my attempt to better understand how and why our country got into the dire straits we are having to face and resolve fifty years further down the road. In this salvo I consider the permanent problem of “guns or butter” decisions and deceptions. The allocation of scarce resources is central to all of the difficulties of our times. The dilemma faced by President Johnson in prosecuting the Vietnam war and simultaneously initiating his “Great Society” programs is a classic case of “guns or butter.” What follows is an interesting account of the process of funding the Vietnam War and the issues and deceptions involved in the President’s 1967 defense budget… I ask your indulgence and patience with this old financial manager (Navy O&M budgets 1984-86) in bringing the following out of Edward Drea’s volume 6 of “Secretaries of Defense Historical Series” to my review of Rolling Thunder… I quote (pages 152-153):
“Few congressmen were willing to vote against Defense appropriations for the Vietnam War. Fewer still were willing to vote for a tax hike to pay for the war unless the administration took the initiative, and the blame, by originating a tax proposal. President Johnson was just as unwilling to take the lead. During 1966, he followed a familiar pattern. In economic affairs as in military matters, he preferred working issues through small, controlled groups, not tipping his hand in advance, and reaching conclusions only with painstaking deliberateness. Johnson recognized the growing price of the Vietnam War but remained determined that the administration’s economic policies would not interfere with his legislative agenda and the creation of the Great Society. He continued to balk at increasing taxes to pay the added costs of the war, and chafed at the Federal Reserve Board’s increase in interest rates to fend off the inflationary threat. As for Congress, the majority of its members made no secret that they supported funding for the war far more than for the president’s domestic programs, many of which were awaiting congressional action and many more that were on the way to Capitol Hill. Nor were senators and representatives likely to advocate tax increases during an election year, a fact not lost on the president who, convinced he could not get a tax hike, believed that asking for one might boomerang into substantial cuts in his domestic programs.
“Formulation of Johnson’s economic policies followed a pattern similar to that evidenced during America’s military escalation in Vietnam in the summer of 1965. Policymakers worked behind the scenes on contentious issues while presenting a public façade of optimism and consensus. The president refused to make hard and fast decisions, insisting on further information from his economic advisors or congressional colleagues. Yet repeatedly and personally, he introduced “a series of piecemeal tax and expenditure changes that could be implemented quietly and easily,” much like his policies of incremental deployments and gradual escalation in Vietnam. There were attempts to manipulate public opinion or orchestrate policy concurrence–such as Johnson’s demand that his advisors collectively sign major recommendations affecting the economy–which in some instances seemed to take precedence over substantive analysis. As with the development of its military policy, the administration publicly claimed the economy was fine while privately considering further measures to stabilize it. In part the subterfuge resulted from the uncertainty of the war. While there were estimates about the price of the conflict in early 1966, accurate budget forecasts were important without knowing first how long it would last and how many U.S. troops would deploy to Southeast Asia. But there was also an intentional effort to minimize the Defense budget by resorting to accounting gimmicks and legislative language to mask or understate requirements. The increasing reliance on sleight of hand contributed to a growing credulity gap that steadily widened in 1966.”
Reprise from Ripple Salvo #104 …”National Self-Deception”…Sorensen: “If we can but tear the blindfold of self-deception from our eyes and loosen the gag of self-denial from our voices, we can restore the country to greatness.”… The quoted passage from Drea is indicative of the deceit that is at work at every level of our government and it is my contention that, as Jack Nicolson said in his role as a Marine Colonel…”Truth…you can’t handle the truth,” our society has become fast and loose with the truth and is OK with untruth. Deception has become a national value… and self-deception on a wide scale has become an acceptable personal trait for most Americans… No wonder we are unable to work together to solve the problems we have been kicking down the road for decades… Sorensen’s sage assessment is where a recovery to glory begins…
Lest we forget… Bear ………. –30– ……….