RIPPLE SALVO… #325… THE PEACE INITATIVES: “A GARDEN OF FLOWERS…”…but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE of a review of the three-year long air war OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…
24 JANUARY 1967… New York Times Head Lines on partially cloudy Tuesday…
Page 1: “Johnson Invited to Talks in Hanoi”…”An invitation from President Ho Chi Minh to President Johnson to come to Hanoi for peace talks was reported here (Washington) by three clergymen who have just returned from North Vietnam….Ambrose Reeves, of South Africa, Reverend A. J. Muste of New York; and Rabbi Abraham Feinberg of Toronto, outspoken critics of United States policy in Vietnam. The group reported that the National Liberation Front did not make unification of North and South Vietnam a condition for peace and said they expected a period of considerable duration between the end of the war and a move toward unification. Bishop Reeves interpreted the invitation to President Johnson as a suggestion that if these two men could be brought face to face something could be done…” Rabbi Feinberg recalled Ho Chi Minh’s words this way: ‘Mr. Johnson has stated that he would talk to anyone, anywhere about peace. I invite Mr. Johnson to be our guest, sitting just as you are here, in the palace of the former French Governor General of Indochina. Let Mr. Johnson come with his wife and daughters, his secretary, his doctor, his cook, but let him not come with a gun at his hip. Let him not come with his admirals and generals. As an old revolutionary, I pledge my honor that Mr. Johnson will have complete security. The three visitors in a joint statement at the conclusion of the visit said: ‘We deeply regret at this moment we have serious doubts of the possibilities of an early cessation of hostilities. We have every reason to think that the Government and people of North Vietnam have an iron determination to fight for their independence and eventual reunification of their country.’ They urged an immediate end to the bombing without any conditions on the ground that otherwise there could be no program toward ending the war. They said the bombing was unworthy of the United States. They said the Ho Chi Minh invitation would be delivered to Mr. Johnson.”… “The White House said: ‘We have had on communication from Ho Chi Minh ourselves, but we would carefully evaluate any proposals which we might receive.’ “…
Page 1: “Johnson Proposes Raising Social Security Benefits: Seeks Higher Payroll Tax”…”President Johnson asked Congress today to authorize the biggest single increase in Social Security benefits, starting July 1, to be financed in part by higher payroll taxes, starting in mid-1968. He also proposed a variety of programs for the elderly and disabled, including a major tax reform, higher welfare payments by the states and measures to combat discrimination against older job-seekers. John W. Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, said the proposals amounted to the most sweeping programs for older Americans ever recommended by a President. Mr. Johnson asked for the following: *an increase of at least 15% in Social Security payments ranging to a high of 59% for those receiving minimum payments, * an increase in the amount of earnings taxed from $6,000 to $10,800, and *an overhaul and simplification of the tax structure for the aged.”… Page 1: “High Court Voids Laws on Loyalty in State Schools”… “The Supreme Court declared unconstitutional today New York State’s laws designed to keep subversives off the faculties and staffs of public schools and state colleges…’swept away the state’s complicated and intricate scheme of anti-subversive laws and regulations, some of which have been on the books since 1917.”… Page 1: “Rusk Renews Plea for Consul Pact”… “The Administration opened a new campaign today for Senate ratification of the consular convention with the Soviet Union. It was confronted however with fresh warnings by J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, about increasing the dangers of Soviet espionage through such actions.”… Page 1: “Foes of Mao Near Peking Reported Quelled by Army”…”Chinese Army troops loyal to Mao Tse-tung have taken over a center of resistance to the regime in a suburb of Peking, according to Japanese reports quoting wall posters in the Chinese capital.”… Page 2: “Chinese Students to Leave France”…”Chinese students burned papers here today for a mass return to their homeland. their embassy advised the foreign Ministry and school administrator that all of the Chinese undergraduates in France were being recalled to take part in the ‘cultural revolution’ “…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM… LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JESSE JUNIOR TAYLOR… NAVY CROSS…
The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the NAVY CROSS (POSTHUMOUSLY) to LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JESSE JUNIOR TAYLOR, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in aerial flight as a Pilot in Attack Carrier Air Wing SIXTEEN embarked in USS ORISKANY (CVA-34), during a rescue combat air patrol over hostile territory in North Vietnam on 17 November 1965. Although his aircraft was severely damaged by heavy enemy ground fire while he was attempting to locate a downed pilot, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER TAYLOR persisted in his efforts until he had definitely ascertained the location of his fellow airman. He then proceeded to attack enemy gun sites which threatened the approach of the rescue helicopter. Only after his aircraft caught fire and a crash was imminent did LIEUTENANT COMMANDER TAYLOR cease his efforts. With his aircraft burning and heavily damaged, he suceeded in reaching the coast of the Gulf of Tonkin in an attempt to ditch but did not survive the crash of his crippled aircraft. In sacrificing his life to save the life of a fellow airman, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER TAYLOR displayed the highest degree of courage and self-sacrifice. His actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”
LCDR JESSE TAYLOR was listed as Missing in Action after the incident that earned him the NAVY CROSS. His remains were identified and returned to the United States in 1975…
24 January 1967…Operation Rolling Thunder… New York Times (25 Jan reporting 24 Jan ops) Page 3: “Storms Curtail U.S. Bombing of Nortyh Vietnam”… “Stormy weather held American squadrons to 42 bombing missions against North Vietnam today (24th), about one-third of the normal tempo of operations when skies are clear. A principal target was the railroad yards at Thanh Hoa, 80 miles south of Hanoi, which were hit by Navy all-weather Intruders. In other action over the North, enemy gunners shot down an Air Force F-4C Phantom jet. Its two crewmen remain missing. The Phantom was the 466th plane the United States has lost over the North.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 24 January 1967 (the F-4C was downed on 23 January and reported in my 23 January RTR post– Pilots BRIDGER and GRAY, Captured/POWs)…
RIPPLE SALVO… #325… In yesterday’s RTR your Humble Host reported that on 23 January 1967 the White House was pussy-footing very carefully and keeping a tight leash on the strike pilots of Operation Rolling Thunder. The targeting was superficial and unimportant. The reason: The Administration had goofed on a very promising opportunity to get peace negotiations going on 6 December when several strikes on targets very close to Hanoi and Haiphong interrupted some sensitive diplomacy– a peace initiative code named MARIGOLD. The diplomats and White House forgot to tell the operators in SEAsia that something was cooking and that we didn’t want to scare Ho Chi Minh away from the opportunity. MARIGOLD wilted. Therefore, six weeks later when another “flower ” or two, or three– one was called SUNFLOWER– were thought to have blooming possibilities, the White House was taking no chances. Thus, the tight rein on the war horses in Southeast Asia. Here are a few paragraphs from James Hershberg’s “Marigold: The lost chance for peace in Vietnam,” that are useful in explaining why the January and February operations were at half speed or less. I quote from pages 534-535.
“QUITE A GARDEN OF FLOWERS”
As Marigold languished, other efforts to bring the enemies to the negotiating table, or at least pass messages or signals between them, moved forward. Like LBJ’s thirty-seven day bombing pause a year before, the period december 1966 through mid- February 1967 marked one of the war’s most intense phases of diplomatic activity before opening of direct United States- DRV (North Vietnam) talks in the spring of 1968. Signaling an approaching crossroads, the feverish efforts to ascertain possibilities to open peace talks paralleled a private White House determination to prepare for an intensification of the war. “the problem,” Rostow wrote LBJ on January 19, “is this: If we do not get a diplomatic breakthrough in the next three weeks or so, it probably means that they plan to sweat us out down to the election in 1968. As you know, I share your view that we would then hae to think hard about how to apply our military [power against the North with maximum effort and minimum risk of enlarging the war as a whole.
By late January, U.S. officials were hard -pressed to keep track of the mushrooming initiatives–from secret messages to public appeals or cryptic statements, third-party meditation efforts by governments, private organizations, and individuals (including a veritable parade of Western activists, sympathizers, and do-gooders to Hanoi in Salisbury’s wake (see the three wise men in para one of this post) to quiet direct United States–DRV contacts, serious overtures to half-balked stunts or cynical ploys, schemes hatched in both Western and eastern camps as well as in nonaligned countries. You have got “quite a garden of flowers to fix up today, Rusk cracked to Bundy one morning.”
From Washington’s perspective, the most serious contender for the title of MARIGOLD’s successor was the Soviet Channel, code-named “SUNFLOWER.” Washington’s inclination to turn to the Kremlin had been prompted by increasingly explicit diplomatic hints. Thompson (US Ambassador to USSR) about to leave to take up his new post, was told by Dobrynin “that perhaps during my stay in Moscow I would be able to have contact with a certain ambassador, obviously meaning the North Vietnamese.” To this was added Dong’s (Pham Van Dong–#2 in the DRV) seemingly forthcoming approach to talks (“we would know what to do” if the United States unconditionally halted bombing) in his interview with Salisbury, which he personally conveyed to Dean Rusk in mid-January after returning to the United States.”
Pham Van Dong’s full statement to Salisbury as Salisbury disclosed to Dean Rusk in a 3 January 1967 interview: “If the United States really wants a settlement, the first thing is to have good will. Of course, we know what we should do if the US shows good will. If they stop the whole war, we know what we should do. If they stop doing harm to the North, we know what we should do.” This is a quote from a Dean Rusk to LBJ memo on 14 January 1967.
When LBJ said on 20 January 1967, “We are conducting the most careful and self-limited air war in history,” he was groping for an olive branch, a sign of “good will” to set the stage for SUNFLOWER. Meanwhile, the warriors — the bargaining chip– carrying the fight to the enemy’s homeland far from the “garden of flowers” continued to charge… “Half a league, half a league, half a league onward. All in the valley of Death rode the six hundred. ‘Charge,’ was the captain’s cry; THEIR’s NOT TO REASON WHY, THEIR’s NOT TO MAKE REPLY, THEIR’s BUT TO DO AND DIE, into the valley of Death rode the six hundred… “
Lest we forget… Bear