RIPPLE SALVO… #638… The former Secretary of State, and one of LBJ’s Wise Men, with wisdom for LBJ on 4 December 1967 that holds steady fifty-years later for our current President… but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-EIGHT of a look over-the-shoulder at THE “air war” years for old boys…
4 DECEMBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a windy and sunny Monday in New York…
Page 1: “Thousands Mourn Cardinal Spellman at St. Patrick’s”...”In a somber rite, the body of Cardinal Spellman was taken to St. Patrick’s Cathedral last night and placed on a catafalque in the center aisle for the first of a five-day series of requiem masses.”… Page 1: “3 Nations Reply To Thant Appeal in Cyprus Crisis–Greek Response is Clearly Affirmative–Makarios Will Give full Answer Today–Turks Raise U.N. Issue–U.S. and Britain Favor Plan to Increase Functions of International Force”… “Greece, Turkey and Cyprus sent replies to Secretary General Thant’s appeal for peace on Cyprus. all the replies could be considered as accepting his appeal for peace in the sense of not rejecting it.”… Page 1: “U.S. Treasury Fears Big Interest Rise–Lasting Harm to Economy Held Possible if Congress Delays on Tax Increase”… Page 1: “Group in Harlem Asks For More Police–Many Say Crime Has Risen Sharply–Fear Keeps Residents Off Streets”… Page 40: “Poll Finds Wallace Gains in South at Expense of G.O.P.”… Page 42: “McCarthy Wins Conference Backing, But His Debut in Race is Termed ‘Flat’ “… Page 42: “Western Leaders of Democratic Party Support Johnson–End Meeting With Call for Re-Election”… Page 42: “Vietnam Seen by New York State Political Party Leaders as Principal Election Issue”…
GROUND WAR(“a killing business”): 3 December 1967: Page 1: “Enemy Shells Allied Posts; Vietcong Attack Repelled”... “The Vietcong unleashed a series of mortar attacks against United States and South Vietnamese positions today. In one attack against the Binhson government subsector headquarters 12 miles north of Quangngai City and 330 miles northeast of Saigon, 33 enemy soldiers were reported killed. A South Vietnamese spokesman said that the attack started at 1:30 A.M. with a heavy mortar barrage, followed by a charge by some 600 enemy troops, who fought until allied reinforcements arrived at 5 A.M. The Vietcong also attacked the United States military headquarters at Longbinh with small arms and mortars Monday. The raid touched off a fire in a storage area on the base. A United States spokesman said that a cavalry troop from the American Division and South Korean marines near the Binhson post were rushed to help the headquarters compound. Army helicopters and AC-47 Dragonships fired at the enemy. The Government spokesman said that an American military advisor and a South Korean advisor in the headquarters were killed and that six United States advisors were wounded. Vietnamese casualties were described as moderate, which means that the defending force of some 200 troops was badly hurt.
“Elsewhere, the Vietcong fired mortar shells at a company of the United States First Infantry Division at Budop, which is near the Cambodian border 88 miles north of Saigon. Two American soldiers had been killed and 20 wounded. Also, last night eight American Special forces soldiers were wounded at Budop when the Vietcong struck their camp and a First Infantry Division with mortars and rockets. ..the barrage set off a fire in an ammunition depot in the camp and damaged buildings and a communications center in the compound. At the same time, the Vietcong fired 200 mortar shells at the airfield at Phuoclong…a few miles south of Budop. There were no American casualties, but the South Vietnamese troops suffered light casualties.
“This morning, a battalion of the First Infantry Division was attacked 52 miles north of Saigon. A United States spokesman said that 7 American soldiers were killed and 20 wounded by rifle fire, grenades and 95 mortar rounds. Army helicopters and Air Force Dragonships dropped flares and fired back at attackers, killing 30 Vietcong. Thirty five miles north of the Vietcong attack at Binhson, another enemy force attacked a First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) company of about 150 men with mortars and rifle fire killing two Americans and wounding 14, a United States military spokesman said. 12 enemy soldiers were killed in the 40-minute fight.”
3 DECEMBER 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (4 Dec reporting 3 Dec ops)… Page 16: “In the air war in North Vietnam, Air Force pilots bombed (Commando Nail) the Thainguyen railway yards 35 miles north of Hanoi and the Yenbai airfield and storage area 75 miles northwest of Hanoi. Damage was not determined due to heavy cloud cover. Other Air Force missions bombed four rail sidings on the northwest rail line linking Hanoi with the Chinese border…Marine pilots hit the Nam Dinh railroad yard 50 miles southeast of Hanoi and the Kienan air base five and a half miles southwest of Haiphong.”
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 3 December 1967…
RIPPLE SALVO… #638… On 2 December 1967 former Secretary of State Dean Acheson was grilled on Public Broadcasting by a group of college students for two hours. The New York times boiled it down to a short report worthy of the attention of both President Johnson then and President Trump now… there is no time limit on good thinking… From the 3 December 1967 NYT, page 3, I quote…
“ACHESON DUBIOUS OF TALKS ON WAR–SAYS U.S. MUST CONVINCE FOE OF FAILURE IN VIETNAM”… by John Sibley…
“Dean Acheson, the former Secretary of State asserted last night there was ‘no possibility of negotiating our way out of Vietnam.’ The only way to end the war, he said in a television discussion, is to convince the communists that there effort has failed. ‘Too many people have a completely wrong idea of negotiation as conceived by the communists and conceived by us–a different idea, Mr. Acheson asserted. ‘With us, negotiation is a David Harum business (see Humble Host footnote) in which both parties want to reach a result and each one wants to get a slight advantage in reaching a predetermined result–sale of a horse, end of a war–what ever it may be.’
“But the Communists have a Clausewitz idea of negotiations, he said, referring to the 18th century Prussian general and military writer. ‘Negotiation is war carried on by other means,’ he explained, ‘and what they hope to do in a negotiation is not to bring about peace, but to disadvantage somebody in the course of a war–separate you from your allies, cause you domestic trouble at home, and so forth.’
“The 74-year old former Secretary of State, who served under President Harry S. Truman, voiced his views in a two-hour interview with four college students on the Public Broadcasting laboratory on Channel 13.
“‘In all the experiences I have had with the Communists,’ he said, ‘negotiation never preceded a settlement or got anywhere.’ He said this experience included the Communist operations against Greece, the Berlin blockade and the Korean war. Turning to the war in Vietnam, he said:
‘When the Communists feel that this effort has not succeeded, they will stop the effort. But if they get to talking with us, then we get on this eternal flypaper, in which half the United States (the doves and dissenters) will be negotiating for them. One of the students then asked: ‘If negotiations isn’t a realistic possibility, how will we ever get out of Vietnam?’
” ‘Well,’ replied Mr. Acheson, ‘they just stop. This is what they did to us in Korea. They just stopped. After a while they got tired of it. After a while they just got tired of it in Berlin. After a while they got tired of the pressure in Turkey.’
” ‘They just stop. They don’t negotiate a stop. There is a lot of talk connected with it, but it’s not a negotiation.’
“The former Secretary of State appeared to enjoy the lively give-and-take with his collegiate interrogators. At times, he took a professorial stance, as when a questioner quoted him as having said that the United States ‘ought not to negotiate.’
” ‘I didn’t say that we ought not to at all,’ he replied. ‘I was just saying that my fervent prayer is that we wouldn’t have to.’
“Mr. Acheson proclaimed himself a supporter of President Johnson and of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, whom he had recommended to President Kennedy for the post. His only criticism of Mr. Johnson, he said, was that the President devotes too much energy placating opponents of his Vietnam policy. ‘There seems to have been a great worry grown up about getting along with Congress,’ Mr. Acheson commented. ‘This I always considered to be a waste of time. What you wanted to do is to get your way. And it didn’t make much difference whether the Congress liked it or liked you or liked me or not. The point was to accomplish something.
“Mr. Acheson acknowledged that Mr. Johnson was encountering formidable opposition not only in Congress but also across the nation. ‘This is why I’d like to see the President get out his high horse and go ride around the country and beat the drum,’ he said. ‘Let’s get this thing going.’ “…
“David Harem”…synonymous with “horsetrading.” from Edward Noyes Westcott best selling 1898 novel, “David Harum; A Story of American Life.” Harem, the title character, did some horse trading using the guiding principle: “Do unto the other feller the way he’d like to do unto you–and do it fust.” This is the American way, and probably a favorite modus operandi of our current billionaire President, who takes pride in his ability to “seal the deal.” Acheson’s point: horsetrading with Communists is a non-starter… What would Secretary Acheson, Harry Truman’s foreign policy guy in the early years of containment, say to President Trump on dealing with all the Communists on his scope?… Wait ’em out and keep the pressure on “until they are convinced they can’t win.”… is my guess…
RTR Quote for 3 December: DAVID HAREM: “A reasonable amount of fleas is good for a dog–they keep him from brooden on being a dog.”…
Lest we forget… Bear