RIPPLE SALVO… #812… AND THE QUESTION WAS:… WHAT ARE OUR VIETNAM WAR PEACE NEGOTIATORS DOING THESE DAYS IN PARIS?… From the New York Times on 25 May 1968… “Time is becoming a critical factor in the Vietnam talks. Each side is trying to turn it into a weapon against the other. But neither can be certain how it will fare in this slow contest of will. Already it is clear that the process of diplomacy will be excruciatingly slow. Although the American and North Vietnamese negotiators agreed in principle to meet daily, in practice the intervals between their formal sessions have grown progressively longer–first two days, then three, now four. There was only one meeting last week–a week in which the American dead in the war reached near-record levels. The negotiating rhetoric grew harsher. There was no glimmer of compromise…” Continued below in Ripple Salvo… but first…
GOOD MORNING: Day EIGHT HUNDRED TWELVE of a return of fifty years to the air war with North Vietnam fought by America’s brave and bold military aviators, who were making life as miserable for the enemy as they were allowed to do… They could have done so much more…
HEAD LINES from THE NEW YORK TIMES on a sunny Sunday, 26 May 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “VIETCONG ATTACK SAIGON OUTSKIRTS–CLASHED SHARP AND SPORADIC”… “Sporadic sharp fighting broke out yesterday on the fringes of Saigon as South Vietnamese troops fought entrenched Vietcong units just north of the capital. The attacks came as the South Vietnamese announced a new cabinet with broadened popular base… Late yesterday, fighting flared near a swimming pool adjoining a South Vietnamese officers club and around a motion-picture theater in an area of shacks two miles from Saigon. Initial reports this morning indicated that 14 Vietcong soldiers had been killed in the clashes… four miles south-southwest of Saigon, units of the Ninth Infantry division and the Vietnamese National Police came under fire from an enemy force. The allied units, supported by helicopter gunships, reported having killed 14 enemy soldiers. One American was killed… A United States Air Force plane on a defoliation mission crashed off the southern coast killing the three crew members (RTR reported this loss on 23 May. KIA were LCOL EMMETT RUCKER; MAJOR JAMES I. SHANKS; and SGT HERBERT E. SCHMIDT)… Spokesmen also announced that an Air Force A-1 Skyraider (LCOL WALLACE A. FORD, KIA) and a Marine A-4 Skyhawk were downed by ground fire south of Danang. The Air Force pilot was killed and the Marine aviator ejected and was rescued. The losses raised to 266 the total of American fixed wing aircraft shot down over South Vietnam….”…
PEACE TALKS: Page 3: “SOME FLEXIBILITY HINTED BY HANOI–INDICATIONS GIVEN BOMBING ISSUES CAN BE NEGOTIATED”… By Hedrick Smith: “Sources close to the North Vietnamese delegation said today that their negotiators had purposely hinted a willingness to accept gradual diminishing of United Sates air, ground and naval warfare against North Vietnam rather than on insisting on an immediate and total cutoff. These sources expressed their opinion that if the United States took the initiative in the process, the North Vietnamese would respond. They did not specify how. Thus far, the Hanoi representatives have publicly spurned President Johnson’s demand for mutual restraint in return for a halt in American bombing and ‘all other acts of war’ against North Vietnam on which Hanoi insists. North Vietnam reaffirmed their position today. Ranking members of the United States negotiating team consider it unlikely that the North Vietnamese would ever publicly acknowledge any change in their position. They have been watchful for discrete signs of flexibility. Thus far they have felt that any hints that Hanoi may have intended were too vague to justify an American let-up on the battlefield.”…
Page 1: “FRENCH WORKERS WIN BIG PAY RAISE–NATION IS TENSE–REGIME LIFTS MINIMUM WAGE 35%–POLICE TOLD TO ROUT CROWS”… Page 41: “PARIS PERPLEXED BY STUDENT VIOLENCE–STOCKHOLM STUDENTS BATTLE WITH POLICE IN CENTER OF CITY”… “Last night’s wide-ranging student violence here in Paris and in the provinces has left the Government and the police perplexed by three key questions. First, why did the demonstrations get out of hand? Second, who are the hardcore activists manning the barricades? Finally, how can the mob violence be contained?”… “In Stockholm, hundreds of students fought with the police tonight and tried to force their way into the opera house and the city theater.”…
Page 1: “STIFFEST TEST FOR KENNEDY IS DUE IN OREGON–Stand of Humphrey Supporters Could Have Vital Impact–Rockefeller And Reagan Drives Gain Momentum”… “Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s campaign for the Presidency will get its most stringent and significant test here next Tuesday. The Democratic primary in Oregon appears to be so close in the closing days that the Kennedy camp has dropped the measured victory prediction that proved accurate in Indiana and Nevada.”…Page 50: “BIG KENNEDY TEAM AT WORK ON WEST COAST”… “…with four million Democrats and 174 delegate votes at the party’s national convention, the state is the prize of the primary states, and Senator Kennedy’s managers have acted accordingly.”…Page 53: “KENNEDY IS VICTOR IN IOWA–GAINS 25 VOTES”… “…won a majority of the state’s 46 votes.”…Page 55: ‘HUMPHREY GAINS MISSOURI VOTES–Finds Majority of Delegates For His Nomination”…”It rained hard and long across Missouri today and even Huber Humphries evocations of a bright new day fell limp beside the Mississippi. But the Vice President did not seem to mind, because has hosts here quietly hung a pot of nearly 60 convention votes on his rainbow.”
Page 1: “ABERNATHY URGES WHITE TO PROD CONGRESS TO ACT”… “…believes that militant advocates of violence in the nation’s cities will ‘lead us down the path of destruction’ if the nonviolent demonstrations of the Poor People’s Campaign do not bring a response from Congress. He called on white Americans ‘to bring pressure to bear ‘ on Congress.”… Page 71: “HOSTILITY TO POOR MARCH RISING IN CAPITAL AFTER 10 DAYS”… “From its citadel on Capitol Hill, the Congress is looking down with increasing disfavor on the demonstrators encamped two miles away an demands for broad new programs to help the nation’s poor. After 10 days of encampment in ‘Resurrection City, U.S.A.,’ the Poor People’s campaign has had little apparent impact on the legislative attitudes of Congress, the demonstration’s main target.”…
Page 4: “SOVIET BOMBER FALLS AFTER PASSES NEAR U.S. CARRIER”… “A Soviet medium bomber (Badger) crashed into the Norwegian Sea today shortly after having made a low pass close to a United States aircraft carrier (Essex), the Defense Department announced. No survivors were found and parts of three bodies were recovered..”
26 MAY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (27 May reporting 26 May ops)… Page 3: “In North Vietnam, American pilots flew 1,123 combat sorties against missile sites, antiaircraft sites and supply lines in the southern region of the country.” …”VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES” (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 26 May 1968…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 26 MAY FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION IN THE SKIES OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… LTJG READ BLAINE MECLEARY, USN… (POW)…
1968… NONE…
RIPPLE SALVO… #812… New York Times, Sunday 26 May 1968, Section 4, page 1, by Hedrick Smith: “TALKING WHILE FIGHTING: TIME–THE THIRD PARTY”… continued from above… Humble Host quotes:
“Both sides were anxious to appear unhurried. The North Vietnamese dropped hints that they expect no break in the current impasse over their demand for cessation of all American bombing in the North until Mid-June. The implication was that Hanoi would wait for Washington to make concessions.
DELIBERATE PATIENCE…
“The American negotiators responded with deliberate patience. Ambassador Averell Harriman and Cyrus Vance spoke matter-of-factly of bringing their wives to Paris this summer. Calmly Mr. Harriman suggested that the delegates were here ‘for a long time.’ When Xuan Thuy, his North Vietnamese counterpart, warned through his perpetual smile that any breakdown in the talks would be the ‘full and complete responsibility’ of the American side, Ambassador Harriman retorted that if the talks collapsed, it would be because Hanoi thought it could ‘take advantage’ of the bombing restrictions already in effect.
“For Hanoi, time provides opportunity to pursue a carefully coordinated three-pronged diplomatic, political and military strategy. militarily, the North Vietnamese have made preparations for another major offensive and American officials, noting the approach of one of the most favorable seasons for guerrilla combat in late may and June, are brace for a wave of assaults. Politically, the enemy is promoting the Alliance of Natural Democratic and Peace Forces to try to win support from urban non-communist dissidents an in time, is to provide a potential bridge to a Vietcong-dominated coalition.
HOPE FOR IMPATIENCE…
“Diplomatically, the North Vietnamese are trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Saigon. They clearly hope to play upon American public impatience for disengagement from the agony of Vietnam. This in turn preys upon Saigon’s fears of an American sellout. The ideal result of this gambit, from Hanoi’s viewpoint, would be a new political upheaval in Saigon.
“Nonetheless, there are American officials who believe that ‘we can make time tick against the enemy’ while the negotiations here inch along. (And the delegates perhaps ‘take some time reading the phone book to each other.’…) Their contention is that President Johnson, freed from political ambition in this election year, is not susceptible to public pressure as Hanoi hopes. They also hope to use the negotiating period to foster greater political stability in Saigon and project ‘a psychology of strength’ on the battlefield. Already, they note the shock of the enemy’s Tet offensive in late January has largely worn off.
“There are independent diplomats, watching the negotations closely, who suspect that time will serve neither side exclusively and that each will have to make concessions. Behind the firm facade presented by both Americans and North Vietnamese, there are hints that they may share this view. ‘There are several ways to bring an end of American bombing and other acts of war against North Vietnam,’ one of Hanoi’s top negotiators said last week. ‘We are not rigid.”… ‘There are at least 60 ways,’ an American negotiator agreed later with some exaggeration. but neither would specify precisely what he had in mind.
“A public agreement between the two powers is unlikely. Most knowledgeable diplomats expect some tacit understanding to emerge. The North Vietnamese could quietly signal their restraint by pulling back some forces along the buffer zone between North and South Vietnam. They could reduce the rate of infiltration or advise the Americans that President Johnson would be correct in ‘assuming’ that Hanoi would ‘not take advntage’ of as booming halt.”… end Hedrick Smith …
RTR quote for 26 May 1968: Final Advice by General William Westmoreland, COMUSMACV: “1. The most competent and honest officers should be installed as province and district chiefs. Your best fighters and disciplinarians should be placed in command of combat troops.” For the other nine bits of advice from the departing commander to his new job as Chief-of-Staff of the Army in the E-Ring…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d250
Lest we forget… Bear