RIPPLE SALVO… #541… On 28 August 1967 the President’s right hand man, Walt Rostow, rallied to the aid of the President to produce better answers to the question of why not “bomb the port” and “mine the harbor”??? than those Secretary McNamara had provided in the Stennis hearings on 25 August. Rostow asked CIA Director Helms to provide a one pager that supported the Administration policy. On 29 August Helms provided a memorandum for the President that provided the best case he could for NOT obliterating Haiphong and stuffing the harbor with mines… you be the judge… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED FORTY-ONE of a 1000-day return to a bloody page in American history–the air war of the Vietnam War…
29 August 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a nice Tuesday in the Big Apple…
VIETNAM: “Team Leaves Washington To Observe The Elections in South Vietnam–Lodge to Aid Observers–Team Heads For Saigon”...”An enlarged Presidential commission left for Saigon today to observe and be observed at the elections next week in South Vietnam. To escort the 22-man team and to brief it on Vietnam, President Johnson named Henry Cabot Lodge, former ambassador to Saigon. Members of the commission are ‘to lend their presence’ to the proceedings, Mr. Lodge said. ‘They are to get an impression, to be around where people can talk to them…they have not been asked to report any formal conclusions, though all are free to do so.’ “… Page 1: “Crowd Taunts Ky at Rally in Hue, South Vietnam”… “Shouts of ‘Down With the Cowboy Leader’ and ‘Down with the Hooligan” greeted Premier Nguyen Cao Ky today as he made his first campaign appearance with Vietnam civilian presidential and vice president candidates. About 10,000 people attended the rally at Hue University.”… Page 1: “Foe Shells Bases Near Buffer Zone–10 Marines Die–Shore Guns Hit Destroyer, Killing Sailor”… “The North Vietnamese shelled three United States Marines bases near the demilitarized zone and a Marine airfield near Danang today killing 10 Marines and wounding 116…the base at Dongha was attacked twice with rockets, mortars and what are believed to be 152-mm shells, the largest in the North Vietnamese arsenal. The enemy was firing from within and north of the DMZ to strike the Marines at Conthien, 2 miles south of the zone and a Marine battery at Giolinh, one mile south of the zone. The Marine air facility at Marble Mountain 3 miles southeast of Danang was hit with 10 rounds. Four Marines were killed and 80 wounded.”… (A scorecard: Dongha hit by 19 rockets in 15 minute attack that killed 5 and wounded 15; Golinh was hit by 84 rounds that wounded 6; and Conthien was hit by 118 rounds that wounded 3)…. Page 1: “Coastal shore batteries inside the demilitarized zone struck the U.S. destroyer DuPont four times, killing one sailor and injuring three others. Damage to the vessel was minor…a spokesman said a Forward Air Controller flying over the area spotted artillery positions and called in air strikes that destroyed the two positions.”…
SUMMER IN AMERICA 1967: Page 11: “Poll Finds a Drop in Support For The War–Harris Reports 11% Decline to 61% in Six Weeks”… “Public support of United States participation in the Vietnam war dropped from 72% to 61% within the last six weeks according to a Louis Harris survey published in yesterday’s New York Post. Questioning a cross-section of 1,600 families across the nation, Mr. Harris said showed that the number willing to keep fighting ‘to get a negotiated peace’ dropped from 51 to 37-per cent, while the number who ‘want to fight on’ to total victory rose from 21 to 24%. the number who ‘want to get out as quickly as possible’ rose from 24 to 34%…The suggestion of sending 100,000 troops to Vietnam was disapproved, 61% to 29%… The number who thought military progress in the war had improved rose from 42% to 63% since February. And 83% believe the war will probably go on for a long time, perhaps several years. President Johnson’s approval rating for handling the war dropped from 47% to 33% since early July... 61% of respondents see Hanoi as controlled by the Chinese and Soviets.”….
“Page 12: “War Foes To Try To Shut Down the Pentagon–Aim Of 2-Day Protest Is To Disrupt The Government”… “Organizers have scheduled October 21 and 22 to be ‘the most serious anti-war protest in American history.’..The National Mobilization Committee to End The War in Vietnam will lead the protest. David Dellinger is the chairman of the committee and others in the committee include Jerry Rubin, Professor Robert Greenblatt, and Reverend James Bevel, who is the national director of the committee.”…
29 August 1967… The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief: KOREA… Yesterday’s incidents south of the Demilitarized Zone resulted in some 29 casualties among UN forces, including US losses of one killed and 14 wounded. The previous day the North Koreans caused 16 casualties in a grenade attack on a South Korean Army checkpoint. Although these incidents are more grave than most that occur along the zone, official propaganda does not suggest the North Koreans have any territorial objectives in mind...Rather we believe the stepped up attacks are aimed at discouraging the South Koreans from sending more troops to Vietnam.
29 AUGUST 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT, 28 Aug 67, Page 10: “U.S. REPORTER TELLS OF BOMB DAMAGE IN HANOI”… “Heavy United States Air attacks on Hanoi are reported to have caused much suffering and enormous difficulties in maintaining the life of the city, at the same time stiffening the will of North Vietnamese people to fight. David Schoenbrunn, a staff writer for Newday, writing in a copy right article from Hanoi:…
“Officials frankly admit grave problems requiring a huge effort to survive, but they also insist that the bombing has yielded them major political, psychological and social gains, creating a hard-line unity in the civilian population.
“Mr. Schoenbrunn, a former correspondent of the Columbia broadcasting Company arrived in Hanoi last week. since then, he writes, there have been an average of five air raid alerts daily. The government contends that more than 100 civilians have been killed or wounded in the heaviest raids of the war, August 21 through 23.
“Mr. Schoenbrunn said he had seen 10 bodies pulled from the rubble of a block of shops and apartments on ‘Hue Street in the center of Hanoi, a few blocks from where foreigners re quartered
“His article continues:
‘Some 150 foreign diplomats, delegations and journalists witnessed the scene Tuesday, August 22 when a 1000-pound bomb hit the heart of the residential section hit the heart of the residential section. Extensive damage was done to an eye-ear-nose-and throat clinic with one doctor and one medical aide killed and several nurses hurt.
‘There was also damage to the central cathedral and pagoda. The heavies destruction came Wednesday in Gialam township and the region across the Red River from an already badly hit Longbien bridge. The bridge will be out a long time.’ “
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 29 August 1967…
(1) LT MICHAEL JOHN ALLARD was flying an A-4E of the VA-153 Blue Tail Flies embarked in USS CORAL SEA on a division strike on the storage caves at Nhan Thap south of Vinh and spun in while executing a dive bombing run. There was no ejection. LT ALLARD was killed in action and his remains were returned to the United States in September 1993 and identified in 2004. … High gross weight, slow speed, high G roll-in maneuver=stall, spin…
“Flying is inherently unmerciful and unforgiving of human error.”
RIPPLE SALVO… #541… “Effects of the Intensified Air War Against North Vietnam” by the CIA at the request of the President’s National Security advisor Walt Rostow to fortify the President’s defense of the administration bombing policy subsequent to the Stennis air war hearing testimony of Secretary McNamara…
The Summary introduction. “The intensified air war against North Vietnam has shown increased effectiveness in several ways: (1) the cost of bomb damage in the past four months almost equals the total damage inflicted in 1966; (2) most of the modern industry is now at a standstill, thus neutralizing a decade of economic growth; (3) the rail transport system is now coping with its most serious disruption to date; (4) the port of Haiphong is confronted with a growing resupply burden; and (5) the regime has been forced to adopt a more rigid evacuation program, now involving essential as well as non-essential activities and personnel. At the same time, however, Hanoi continues to meet the needs of the Communists in South Vietnam and essential military and economic traffic continues to move.” Full memo at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d298
The eight bullets of the memo are enlightening reading and highly recommended. Of course, the real message is in the bottom line– “Essential military and economic traffic continues to move.” Not what the President wants to hear. “How about mining?”
RTR QUOTE for 29 August: EDMUND BURKE: “War never leaves where it found a nation.”…
Lest we forget… Bear