RIPPLE SALVO… #882… WHEN LAST WE LEFT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CLIFFORD (7/68) … “After five months of fruitless (Peace talks in Paris)…President Johnson was ‘exceedingly hostile’ to any recommendations from Paris, caustically dismissing them as attempts to influence him as ‘part of an overall conspiracy,’ with the enemy using the president’s own people as ‘dupes.’ Clifford thought this last reference was to him, Harriman and Vance.”…. Clifford recognized the need to clear the air…so…”Clifford spent the weekend of 3-4 August at the Texas ranch where the president was entertaining guests; on Sunday afternoon he managed a private meeting with Johnson to discuss his plan. Arguing that the war could not be won militarily, Clifford proposed an end to the bombing in exchange for Hanoi’s agreement to mutually de-escalate, stop violations in the DMZ, and end attacks in Saigon. He suggested Kosygin as an intermediary to bring Hanoi to the table. Playing on the president’s vanity, he observed that a peace settlement would be the administration’s greatest accomplishment. Johnson disagreed with his defense secretary’s major points, claiming ‘he’d rather [leave] office with a ‘fine military solution’ than be craven.’ Still, the president left the door open to the initiative by asking Clifford to put his thoughts on paper and discuss them with Rusk. Johnson was still unwilling to give up completely on the bombing campaign; to do so would admit a major policy failure and further encourage his domestic opponents.” (Drea: McNamara, Clifford and the Burdens of the Vietnam War, page 230)… NYT, 4 Aug, Hedrick Smith: “Vietnam: CONFUSION OVER THE BOMBING ISSUE”… see below… but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day EIGHT HUNDRED EIGHTY-TWO of daily visits to the bloody pages of history from FIFTY YEARS AGO– the 1965-68 air campaign against North Vietnam called ROLLING THUNDER…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Sunday, 4 August 1968…
THE WAR: Page 7: “FIGHTING FLARES IN DANANG REGION–Tempo of the War Increases in Northern Provinces”… “Sporadic fighting flared in the northern provinces yesterday as the tempo of the war was increased in critical areas of Hue and Danang. Twenty-six enemy soldier were killed in a clash 18 miles southwest of Danang and two miles northwest of Anhoa. It was the second day that infantrymen of the first Air Cavalry Division fought enemy soldiers in this area. so far, two American soldiers have been wounded and 96 of the enemy killed…At the same time, an Air Force F-100 Super Sabre-a tactical fighter used for missions over the South–was downed by enemy ground fire 32 miles west of Hue. The pilot ejected and was rescued. The aircraft was destroyed. It was the 291st American aircraft downed over the South… Enemy gunners also downed an observation helicopter of the First Air Cavalry Division 25 miles southwest of Hue. The crew of the helicopter was rescued as tactical aircraft and helicopter gunships hovered overhead. One of the gunships providing covering fire for the rescue was struck by enemy ground fire and as it landed, exploded killing two crewmen and injuring two… The new fighting, coupled with stepped up B-52 support in the northern provinces, was marked by a new uneasiness that the North Vietnamese would strike Danang shortly, a move predicted by high-level South Vietnamese and American officers….. ASHAU VALLEY RAIDED AGAIN… United Sates B-52 bombers attacked the Ashau Valley again today, trying to disrupt an enemy build-up that threatens Danang and Hue… the bombers dropped 900 tons of explosives on target in the valley over the last two days…” Page 8: “VIETCONG AGENTS TARGET OF DRIVE– Joint Group Seeks Out Foe’s Shadow Government”… “For three weeks, acting on a tip from an informer, the South Vietnamese undercover agents developed a complete picture on the habit of a suspected leader of a local Vietcong demolition team.”… Page 1: “THE ZEST IS GONE, BUT JOHNSON’S EGO SURVIVES SETBACKS”…
PEACE TALKS: Page 10: “SOUNDINGS BY U.S. ON LULL INDICATED–Negotiators Said to Probe Hanoi Intentions Secretly”… “There are strong indications that United States negotiators here have probed secretly but without success for some word from North Vietnamese delegates that the current lull on the Vietnam battlefield has political significance.’The North Vietnamese have never indicated to us in any forum that they attack political significance to the current lull in fighting,’ sources on the American negotiating delegation said today. The reference to ‘any forums’ was taken as an allusion to secret as well as more public diplomatic talks, although United States officials refused to confirm this specifically. The delegation has a policy of not discussing its private talks with the North Vietnamese.”… STATE DEPARTMENT COMMENT… “..dismissed comments attributed to North Vietnamese officials in the Washington Post today, and reiterated that the Administration awaits ‘responsible, authoritative assurances of restraint from Hanoi. The newspaaper reported that North Vietnamese officials had assigned political significance to the recent lull in combat activity in South Vietnam.”…
Page 1: PRAGUE’S VICTORY APPEARS SECURE AS PARLEY ENDS–Bland Communique Issued After Talks in Bratislava by Six Nations of Bloc–Last Soviet Troops Go–Acute Phase of Opposition to Democratic Reforms Believes to be Over”…”The Soviet Union and its most faithful allies appeared to concede tonight their present inability to halt the liberalization of Czechoslovakia. A summit meeting of six Communist nations put the final seal tonight on Moscow’s failure earlier this week to turn Czechoslovakia back from her path toward combining Communism and democracy…. The meeting…ended with a bland statement that endorsed national sovereignty without mentioning Czechoslovakia.”… Page 1: “50 IN WAR PROTEST SEIZED BY POLICE–Times Square Peaceful, But Scuffles occur At Armory and Cathedral”… Page 32: “FORTAS IN REJOINDER TO THURMOND–Warns Against Some Professed Friends of Law and Order”…
POLITICS: Page 1: “SURVEY FINDS NIXON CLOSE TO A FIRST-ROUND BALLOT WIN”…” Nixon’s 2 rivals striving to block Nixon on first ballot–Rockefeller and Reagan are taking Charge of Drives at G.O.P. Convention–All 3 Men Confident–Californian Is Said To Plan Pro-War Speech–Session on Tomorrow”… Page 1: “MIAMI BEACH AND THE POLITICIANS: A Place And a People In Concert”… Page 45: “Gallup Poll: 52% In Poll Cite War As Top Issue–Crime Is Second–Race Relations Is 3rd”… Page 52: “G.O.P. RIFT WIDENS ON VIETNAM PLANK–Rockefeller-Nixon Forces Join t Oppose Reagan”… Page 54: “AVERAGE DELEGATE TOE G.O.P. CONVENTION–White, Protestant and College Educated”…
4 AUGUST 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (5 Aug reporting 4 Aug ops) Page 14: “United States Air Force, Navy and Marine pilots flew 109 multi-plane missions into North Vietnam, destroyed 22 trucks, 48 supply boats, 9 bridges and 7 gun positions. No aircraft were reported to have been shot down.”… VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 4 August 1968…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON THE FOUR 4 AUGUST DAYS OF OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… LTJG RALPH CHAMPION BISZ, USN… (KIA)…
1968… NONE…
RIPPLE SALVO… #882… NYT, 4 AUGUST 1968, 4E, Hedrick Smith:
VIETNAM: “CONFUSION OVER THE BOMBING ISSUE”… I quote…
“Paris–In months past Secretary of State Dean Rusk used to assure reporters that it would be evident on the ground when North Vietnam was exercising the kind of battlefield restraint that would persuade President Johnson to end all American bombing of North Vietnam. As recently as June 21, Rusk told a news conference that Hanoi’s move toward deescalation ‘could be done de facto, it could be done by some indication, either directly or indirectly, that such a step is being taken by the other side.’ Five days later, in virtually identical words, American negotiators at the peace talks here made the same appeal for an indirect sign or a ‘de facto’ move. By sparing Hanoi the need to confirm its restraint in so many words, U.S. negotiators hoped to find a way out of the deadlock on the bombing issue.
A QUESTION OF RESTRAINT
“In Vietnam, a lull fell over the war. The enemy rocketing of Saigon, which had so pained Washington, stopped. Casualties declined. There were intermittent interruptions in North Vietnamese artillery shelling across the demilitarized zone. Some enemy units withdrew from around Saigon, at least one pulled back into North Vietnam from below the DMZ, long an area of great sensitivity to American commanders. But in practice, the Americans found it more difficult than Rusk had suggested to decide whether this was the restraint Washington had been demanding. North Vietnam, rejecting the idea of reciprocity on principle, would not say.
“As early as late June, allied military leaders in Saigon insisted that the lull meant merely that the enemy was regrouping, rearming and reinforcing for a new offensive. Military men recalled that seasonal combat lulls in late June and July had occurred before. The diplomats were less sure. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman conceded under questioning that the lull ‘may have some significance’ for the Paris talks, but it would take more time to know.
“At Honolulu, President Johnson and President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam were unsatisfied. But even in that tough-talk atmosphere, Johnson left the door open. He said he had not found ‘any solid evidence’ of enemy restraint–the implication being that there was some evidence, but not yet ‘solid’ enough to satisfy him. The Administration felt caught in a squeeze. Military intelligence from Saigon warned anew of an enemy offensive–‘a great big typhoon,’ as one official put it. Some officials observed that Hanoi could cool down the war temporarily and yet retain the option of heating it up again once bombing was stopped. they contended that the Government could not afford to be mouse-trapped into a bombing cessation that would be difficult to reverse.
“Apparently to deflect the public pressures, Washington decided to demand a clear assurance of restraint and to drop the past ambiguity in its position. At a bristling news conference Tuesday, Rusk staked out a tighter stance. ‘We feel that we must know what would happen if we stopped the bombing from some responsibility authorization source, direct or indirect,’ he asserted. What was vital, he went on to explain, was not yesterday’s lull but ‘what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month,’
NO BOMBING HALT…
“Rusk thus drew back from the notion of ‘de facto’ restraint. The White House insisted this represented ‘no change,’ but many observers saw it as a deliberate hardening. It seemed to dispose finally of Johnson’s offer last September 29 at San Antonio to ‘assume’ the enemy would ‘not take advantage of a total bombing halt. Harriman, long more flexible than the hawkish Secretary of State, would say only that his negotiating instructions had not been changed. His sides said this meant the June 26 negotiating offer to accept ‘de facto’ restriction was ‘still on the table,’ though this seemed a moot point in Washington’s present mood.
“The President, apparently bent on warning Hanoi that he would not be swayed by popular pressures during an election campaign, said he would not stop bombing while ‘the enemy is preparing a massive attack…I cannot just step aside and leave our men in the lurch.’ He raised the threat of counter-escalation–‘additional military measures’–if the predicted assault game. The effect was to leave the deadlocked Paris talks at a low point. Although neither side moved to break them off, the North Vietnamese responded to Washington’s harshness with sharp accusations of their own.”… End Hedrick Smith report…
RTR Quote for 4 August: WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS, The Second Coming: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold, Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world… The best lack all conviction, while the worst- Are full of passionate intensity.”…
Lest we forget… Bear