RIPPLE SALVO… #241… JAMES RESTON on the “The Elections and Vietnam”… but first…
Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED FORTY-ONE of going back fifty years to remember young warriors and great sacrifices in a time of war– an air war…
29 OCTOBER 1966… HEADLINES AT HOME…New York Times… A sunny and mild Saturday for the Navy-Notre Dame game at JFK in Philly…
Page 1: “Johnson Given Warm Welcome By Thais”…”Thailand’s King Phumiphol Aduldet gave President Johnson a royal welcome today. It was a restrained, Thai-style welcome , which precluded roaring crowds or Texas-style friendliness.”… Page 1: “Thant Deplores Red China’s Test”…”Secretary General U Thant said today that China’s fourth nuclear test ‘is to be regretted.’ Mr. Thant’s statement was prompted by the test of a nuclear tipped guided missile. a spokesman for the Secretary General said his remarks were applicable also to the Soviet Union’s detonation of a nuclear device underground yesterday at the testing site at Novaya Zemlya. ‘Any atomic explosion anywhere at anytime is to be regretted,’ Mr. Thant said, noting that the General Assembly urged last year that all tests be suspended.”
Page 1: “De Gaulle Scores His Close Allies In Harsh Terms”…”President De Gaulle had acid words today for most of the Western world. He lectured the Americans on Vietnam, denounced West Germany for preferring the United States to France, ridiculed the advocates of all forms of allied integration and defended his original stand against Britain’s entry into the European Economic Community. Americans were most struck by De Gaulle’s passage about Vietnam. ‘We find it totally detestable that a small country should be bombed by a very big one and we find it no less despicable that that the soldiers on both sides should suffer losses.’…”… Page 1: “Carmichael Says He Won’t Go If Drafted”…”Stokely Carmichael, the militant advocate of black power completed two days of pre-induction examination for the Selective Service Board yesterday by vowed that he would not serve in the armed forces. ‘I’ll go to Leavenworth first,’ Mr. Carmichael said, then departed to California to give a speech at Berkeley.”…
Page 3: A poll of members of Congress asked each: which of these Vietnam position is closest to your own?
(1) The basic course the U.S. has been following? 259 in House picked (1) along with 54 Senators. (Gradual Defeat)
(2) Most decisive military action to meet and defeat Communists aggression? 121 in House picked (2) along with 20 Senators. (Hawks)
(3) More emphasis on peace talks, increased steps toward de-emphasis of the conflict and eventual accommodation with the Vietcong? 55 in the House along with 26 Senators. (Doves)
Page 10: “Sailors Saved Carrier By Throwing Bombs In Sea”…”The aircraft carrier Oriskany came close to being blown out of the Gulf of Tonkin by her own bombs when she caught fire two days ago, but a group of sailors, some in their teens, saved the ship. They stood their ground against white hot flames and threw about 300 bombs into the sea. Captain John Iarrobino…, the skipper, credited his crewmen with a fantastic feat getting rid of 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound bombs that lay within reach of flames darting through the flight deck.”…Sports Page: #1 Notre Dame with Terry Hanratty and Jim Seymour a four TD favorite over Navy at JFK in Philly…
29 October 1966… The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized)… High East European officials have been hinting during the past month that prospects have improved for some move toward negotiations on Vietnam. They claim, in sum, that they are certain there will be progress toward peace talks if only the USA will stop the bombing in North Vietnam. These assertions have not been accompanied by any explanation why the East Europeans believe what they say, if they do. (Large redaction) One explanation which occurs to us is that most East European regimes would like to be responsive to recent US overtures for imporved relations. To the extent they can portray their aid to Hanoi as an effort to increase their influence at the expense of the Chinese and to encourage Hanoi to negotiate, they avoid delivering direct rebuff to the US by publicly emphasizing this aid. On the other hand, if the hints have any real substance the key is in the recent Communist meeting in Moscow, about which almost nothing has been revealed. We do not believe that a descision was reached there to undertake any peace initiative. The question was probably discussed, however, and the matter may not be closed…
29 OCTOBER 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (30 Oct reporting 29 Oct ops) (page 4)…”Air Force and Navy pilots flew through the rain and the mist in North Vietnam yesterday to strike communication and transportation lines in 47 missions, each involving more than aircraft. they reported having destroyed 6 barges, a bridge, an anti-aircraft gun position near Haiphong and in the intercoastal areas.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on 29 October 1966…. oohrah….
RIPPLE SALVO… #241… ELECTION 1966… was an “off-year” election held on Tuesday, November 8. The issues were the Vietnam War, race relations, inflation, the draft, and “the Great Society”… The 89th Congress was dominated by Democrats in both houses as a consequence of the Democrats thrashing of Goldwater in 1964. I add two NYT pieces that reflect the political mood of the time…
(1) NYT Wednesday 26 October page 12… “Democrats Found Aided By War View”…”A new trend of public opinion toward further peace efforts in Vietnam favors Democrats rather than Republican Congressional candidates a Louis Harris poll reported yesterday. The poll shows: Generally dominant support of Administration policies in Vietnam prompts people to back a continuation of the incumbent regime. The only faction emphatically opposed to voting democratic are ‘those Hawks’ who oppose United States policy because they think the Administration has not gone far enough in Vietnam. Despite criticism of President Johnson himself doves who oppose United States policy in Vietnam nevertheless vote for his party. Those who support the Administration policy, but favor either an increase or decrease in military activity will vote for his party. Since last January 1 those favoring stronger peace efforts have risen from 52 to 54 per cent. Of those who favor greater peace efforts 58 percent tend to vote Democrat. Of those who want escalation 51 per cent are Republicans.”…
(2) NYT Sunday 30 October sect E page 10… James Reston: “Washington: The Elections and Vietnam”… I quote…
The great surprise in this year’s election is that Vietnam is a minor issue in most places and the great danger is that Hanoi, Peking, and Moscow will interpret the results of the election as a protest against the war. There is little doubt that the Vietnam War is the essential political question in the world today. It is dividing the American people. It is dividing the alliance. The cost in human suffering is unspeakable. The cost in money is nearly $2 billion a month. Yet the moral, political, and economic consequences of this struggle are not the central issue in the election. Outside of a few state and district elections, notably the Hatfield-Duncan Senate race in Oregon, these questions are not even being debated by the candidates. In a long trip back and forth across the country, this reporter did not hear a single politician discuss the rights or wrongs of the war.
Nevertheless, there is a great deal of evidence that the Communist nations will interpret the November vote as an expression of American opinion on Vietnam, and this is precisely when the danger lies.
For it is remarkable in a period of inflation, high interest rates, and racial tensions if the Democrats, whose majorities were swollen in the Gold2water election, of 1964, do not lose seats in the balloting on November 8. Their margins are now 294-139 in the House, 67-33 in the Senate, and 33-17 in the governorships, and the average loss of the party in mid-term elections since the first Roosevelt Administration has been forty. Yet the danger is that even this normal rate of loss will be regarded by Hanoi as a vote against the war and therefore a hopeful signal for prolonging the war.
Hanoi still clings however to the hope that the United States, like France in the Indochina war in 1954, will be forced by public opinion to sue for peace, and it will be watching the American elections for a sign. It is an odd situation for it puts even the President’s critics in a position of going along with him, however grudgingly, in order to give his peace efforts another chance. Unquote…
LEST WE FORGET…. BEAR ………. –30– ……….