RIPPLE SALVO… #147… PUBLIC SUPPORT AT 54%… but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SEVEN of a return to the skies of North Vietnam in the summer 1966…
26 JULY 1966… PAGE ONE OF THE HOME TOWN PAPER… NYT… A sunny day and a rainy Tuesday night… cool coming…
Page 1: “Rights Bill Wins First House Test By Close Margin”…”President Johnson’s 1966 Civil Rights Bill narrowly cleared its first parliamentary obstacle in the House of Representatives today. The clo9se vote on a procedural issue raised new doubts about the prospect for the bill as long as it continued a much disputed open housing section. The vote 200 to 180 was on a maneuver to force the bill out of the House Rules Committee, dominated by conservatives, and to begin a weeks debate on the bill. The margin was smaller than many of the measures backers had expected. Altogether 180 Democrats and 20 Republicans voted to bypass the Rules Committee and 105 Republican voted no…. Page 1: “Ky Urges Facing the Chinese Now”… “Premier Nguyen Cao Ky called for an armed confrontation with Communist China now rather than later. Citing Communist China as the ‘real enemy’ in southeast Asia now and especially the future, the leader of the Saigon government military junta declared: ‘Sooner or later, we as free men will have to face the Communist Chinese. I think it is better to face them right now rather than in 5 to 10 years.'”…Article included Ky comments taken from an interview in U.S. News and World Report…”Ky called for an allied invasion of North Vietnam to crush opposition north of the 17th parallel even at the risk of bringing Communist Chinese troops into the war. Authoritative sources here in Washington discounted Air Vice Marshall Ky’s proposal today. The State Department had no comment.” … Page 1: “McNamara Prods Allies On forces”…”Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara today in Paris criticized a tendency of some North Atlantic allies toward what he called a double standard in their views of the necessity of the alliance. This, he said, at the opening of the conference of ministers of the alliance here, involves a tendency to view Communist aggression in Europe as unlikely and thereby to play down any need for the members to contribute ground forces. But similarly the Secretary said, if the United States shows any tendency to move forces, it is quickly seized upon as an indication that the United States is unwilling to meet its Atlantic obligations. Mr. McNamara offered this observation as part of an overall call to make the alliance stronger. He spoke of the parity between the United States contributions and those of some other countries.”…
Page 1: “Stock Prices In Worst Fall Since November 22, 1963″…”…steepest decline in 32 months; fell 16.32 points to new low for 1966 of 852.83. sharpest since day of President Kennedy’s assassination. There was no specific news to account for the setback.”… Page 2: “Spray Killing Of Enemy’s Crops Stepped Up by U.S. In Vietnam”…”Chemicals lethal to plant life were sprayed over 59,000 acres of crops in Vietcong controlled territory in the first six months of 1966. This year’s spraying carried out by American and South Vietnamese airplanes already had equaled all the crop killing of previous years of the war. It is done to deny food to enemy soldiers and their supporters. the spraying begun in 1962 has blighted about 130,000 acres of rice and other food plants. The area is ten times the size of Manhattan. Analysts said the program, which is to be intensified, was a primary cause of the food shortages plaguing Communist troops in parts of South Vietnam. The herbicides being used, ‘2,4-D’ and ‘2,4,5-D’, are so potent that if borne by a wind they can kill plants 15 miles from where they are sprayed. It can cause eye irritation for humans and if ingested can cause upsets to the gastrointestinal system….”
Page 3: “Thant Is in Moscow to Discuss Vietnam”… “Secretary General U Thant of the United Nations said on his arrival here (Moscow) today, that he was going to discuss ‘ways and means of improving the international situation’ with Soviet leaders. He made it clear this included Vietnam. He is expected to see both Brezhnev and Kosygin.”… Page 3: “Flier Who Escaped Saw Companion Beheaded”… “The United States airman (Navy Lieutenant Dieter Dengler) who escaped from a North Vietnamese prison watched from hiding as communist soldiers beheaded a companion who escaped with him and spent 23 days on the run.”… Page 3:”Hanoi Issues a Black Book On U.S. In Vietnam”…”The North Vietnamese press agency begun distributing the first 10,000 words of what is called a Black Book’ on the activities of the United States in Vietnam. The report, calling the Americans ‘the biggest war criminals in our era’, gave an account of the origins of the current conflict and charged the United States with violations of the United Nations charter and the 1954 Geneva agreements.” … Page 3: “Hanoi Again At P.O.W. Leniency”…”President Ho Chi Minh gave a new hint of leniency today for American airmen held captive in North American pilots captured held captive in North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh: “The main criminals are not American pilots captured in North Vietnam, but the persons who send them there–Johnson, Rusk, McNamara– these are the ones who should be brought to trial.”…
26 July 1966…The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized)… Vietnam: we have now established that during late May and early June Hanoi infiltrated an entire division –some 5,000 men–across the Demilitarized Zone into South Vietnam’s northernmost province. This is the first North Vietnamese unit known to have infiltrated across this zone. All three regiments slipped in within a few weeks of each other, the quickest entry into South Vietnam for a unit of this size. Hanoi may intend to use the Demilitarized Zone as an avenue for further infiltration, since it has many advantages in both security and ease of entry. recent photography of the area just north of the zone shows that some road construction activity may be under way, possibly similar to that which has facilitated infiltration through the Laos panhandle over the last year…
26 July 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times…Page 3: “Raids By U.S. Planes In North Set Off Many Blasts And Fires”...”United States bombers struck in central and southern North Vietnam yesterday learning military camps, fuel depots and a train in flames. the number of planes involved in the 71 missions was not high but the attacks touched off an unusually large number of explosions and fires. At one troop staging area near the coastal city of Vinh, about 170 miles south of Hanoi, an Air Force F-4 Phantom reported about twenty explosions following this bomb strike. Evading six surface to air missiles other Air Force pilots damaged tow fuel depots and set fire to a 14-car railroad train in areas 30-45 miles north of Hanoi. No American planes were lost in North Vietnam. A bright orange fireball rose 200-feet in the air and five separate fires broke out at the Hie Sonchau petroleum storage 34 miles southwest of Thanh Hoa after an attack by A-4 pilots from the carrier Oriskany. Pilots of a A-1 Skyraider reported having destroyed seven trucks at another depot near Thanh Hoa. Other A-4 pilots wrecked five buildings at a fuel dump outside Vinh. Completing their first week of attacks over North Vietnam, Marine pilots flew eight missions near Donghoi about 45 miles north of the DMZ. In a strike on an ammunition dump 30 miles northeast of the city pilots reported they set off 30 explosions. One plane, an Air Force Supersaber, was shot down yesterday but the pilot Captain Gerold J. Furrell bailed out near Bien Hoa and was rescued.” … “VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES” (Chris Hobson)… Two aircraft downed in Southeast Asia…
(1) CAPTAIN M.G. MAYFIELD and 1LT R.D. CLARK were flying an RF-4C of the 16th TRS and 460th TRW was a photo reconnaissance mission north of the DMZ along the coast and was hit by AAA with the consequence of the crew having to abandon the aircraft at sea. Both crewmen were rescued by helicopter.
(2) An RF-101C of the 20th TRS and 460 TRW crashed alongside the runway at Tan Son Nhut after avoiding an obstruction on the runway upon return from a photo reconnaissance mission. The pilot survived the crash severely injured.
RIPPLE SALVO… #147… LBJ RIDING A LITTLE HIGHER (but not for long)…. In late July 1966, one month into the POL campaign, a nationwide poll of the voters gave the President a needed boost. The Secretary of Defense Historical Series edition covering the McNamara/Clifford years by Edward Drea put it this way (page 77):
“As expected, bombing so close to the enemy’s two main cities elicited loud protests and charges of escalation from the communist bloc, from neutral nations, and even from allies. Opponents of the war at home joined the chorus denouncing the attacks. But the criticism, though initially fiercequickly subsided. Johnson’s domestic popularity soared as did support for his Vietnam policy (jumping 12 points to 54 percent), propelled by hopes the bombing would soon end the war. It seemed that Americans wanted the war to end, even if escalation was the way to do it. Official intelligence assessments, though, now offered a far bleaker forecast. On 23 July the CIA concluded that two weeks of expanded air strikes had apparently not weakened North Vietnamese determination to carry on with the war.” The President’s happy days above a 50% approval rating will be short-lived.
Lesson learned: Gradual escalation is failed policy and gradual defeat. Sort of like pussy footing around when a solid stomping is required. Recall that Rolling Thunder 51 update only added a hand full of POL targets vice the big boost sought by Admiral Sharp. Timidity is stupidity. Fortune favors the bold…
Lest we forget… Bear ………. –30– ……….