Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #97… JOE LOUIS…. but first…
Good Morning: Day NINETY-SEVEN of a day-by-day review of American History 50-years ago… June 1966…
4 JUNE 1966…ON THE HOME FRONT…(NYT)… A mostly fair Saturday in New York City…
Page 1: “Buddhist Warns Of Vote To Boycott Unless Ky Quits”…Thich Tri Quang the militant leader of the United Buddhist Church tells world that “the attacks by Government troops on pagodas in which several monks were killed convinced him he never could let the Americans and their servants establish a militaristic national assembly'”…He promised to order militant Buddhist followers to boycott the national election schedule for this fall if they were conducted by the present government… Page 1: “20 Amherst Seniors Walk Out To Protest McNamara Degree”…Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara was about to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws when a group of students walked out of the commencement ceremony for 270 graduates…the protesters declared that the recognition of McNamara was in extremely poor taste given his position as the leader of a war like that in Vietnam. The university honored McNamara on the basis of his public service in “a position of incredible responsibility in a situation of unimaginable dimensions you have brought a dedicated direction which inspires admiration for your efforts and for your courage.”… Page 2: “War Critics Plan Stepped Up Drive”… “A group that visited Hanoi last December called yesterday for a stepped up summer drive throughout the country to press for an end of the war in Vietnam. They also predicted stiffened campus resistance against the draft next fall. Included in the group was Tom Hayden, a 26-year old community organizer.
Page 8: “Senator Clark Says U.S. Can Now Leave Vietnam”...”Senator Joseph Clark (D-PA), a frequent critic of American policy in Asia said today “that unrest in South Vietnam gives this country an opportunity to get out with dignity.”… “We should never have gone into this land mass of Asia with a huge land army. Neither national security or national honor required us to do so. The cost in American lives, mounting every day, is too high a price to pay for the dubious check on Chinese and Communism expansion said to be required. Yet it is important now that we are there to make clear to Hanoi and Peking that force is no longer an acceptable method of solving problems. Under no circumstances should this country provoke the Soviet Union or China into coming into the war thus healing the split between them. The United States should get out of Vietnam as soon as it can with decency and the current unrest…may soon give us a legitimate excuse.”
Page 11: “Photos Convince Some Scientists Man Can Walk On The Moon”… The Surveyor photos have enabled many scientists to conclude that “if you were an astronaut you would not have too much hesitancy about walking on the moon, and I am not even an astronaut.”
Page 25: OpEd “Political Chaos In Vietnam”…”Hope that a truce might be near in the political war between South Vietnam military junta and its Buddhist critics has once again collapsed amid charges against the Ky government of bad faith and broken promises. Tri Quang, however little he may like the United States, is a powerful factor in the Buddhist movement. He may not be strong enough to control it himself, but it seems clear that no one else has the strength to control it without him. The junta will have to face that fact of life if it is to form a coalition that, by uniting the non-communist forces, could end this internal strife and release South Vietnams energies for survival.
4 JUNE 1966… PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEFING… CIA (TS sanitized)…South Vietnam: Tam Chau’s resignation as chairman was rejected today by the Buddhist Institute, according to a leading monk in the organization. It is not clear, for the voices of moderation among the Saigon Buddhists. The Institute is issuing a communique threatening an appropriate protest if Ky and Thieu do not carry out their promise to step down on Monday. A clandestine radio is reported to have been broadcasting today from the Hue area, however, calling itself the “voice of Buddhist salvation,” it is repeating the antigovernment themes formerly carried on the station.
(Much of the PDB remains redacted, including every word the CIA had on North Vietnam for the President on 4 June 1966— imagine that?…fifty years later and whatever was hot intelligence out of North Vietnam is still classified in 2016… Folks, I read all these PDBs, as made available in sanitized form, and remain astounded that after 50 years, the chatter between CIA and the President remains more classified than not…) Incredulous…
4 JUNE 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT on 5 June for 4 June…The “air war”… “B-52 jet bombers struck for the 13th time in 13 days at what was believed to be an enemy troop concentration 335 miles northwest of Saigon six miles from a U.S. special forces camp. Yesterday two American fighter-bomber jets were shot down while strafing in South Vietnam– a Marine A-4 (pilot KIA) and an Air Force F-4 (pilot KIA/ 2nd pilot rescued)…”Vietnam Air Losses” reported no losses in SE Asia on 4 June 1966.”
RIPPLE SALVO…#97… The Great Joe Louis….
Tonight the world is lamenting the loss of “The Greatest.” Count me out. I went to war when it was my turn, and so have millions of others. Cassius Clay did not. More than 58,000 American warriors didn’t come home from that war in Vietnam. In my mind every one of those who went to war and whose name is on the Vietnam Wall on the National Mall is more entitled to the claim of “the greatest” than Muhammad Ali. No man did more to divide the nation at a time when unity mattered most, than did Cassius Clay. It is sad that Clay didn’t follow the example of the Brown Bomber, Joe Louis, who had his priorities straight. History will show that the great split in our nation that cannot be healed in 2016 began in 1966, 50 years ago. That is when Cassius Clay passed on his opportunity to join Martin Luther King and the President in building support for LBJs Civil Rights Bill via non-violent means. Unlike Joe Louis, who accepted his civil responsibility and answered the call, Clay chose instead to take a leading role in the clan of “hell no, I won’t go” draft dodgers by declaring himself a conscientious objector. He gave a little speech at that time declaring that he would not go 10,000 miles to commit murder for “the white slave masters” who seek to dominate the non-white people of the world. His words. Sorry folks, as a Yankee Air Pirate dropping bridges and dodging SAMs I found nothing admirable about his choices then, and I don’t now. Celebrate his life if you will. As for me, I will honor and remember instead those who gave their lives for our country, even in a war that they may or may not have believed in or understood. The Vietnam War was lost by the United States because our national resolve failed. Muhammad Ali contributed sigificantly to the divisions that brought failure. Those divisive forces born in 1966 remain hyper-active in our country today, to our detriment. Joe Louis was my kind of American. Cassius Clay was not. That’s my opinion, what is your?
Lest we forget…. Bear ………. –30– ………..
There is still far too much that remains classified from the 1960s, mainly to protect the reputations of those in the JFK & LBJ Administrations. The technical intelligence has largely been declassified. The human sources are for the most part dead or retired and this can be ascertained well enough.
As for Cassius Clay/Mohammed Ali, I never saw anything that made him a hero of any sort — and I never understood how a pugilist could be a conscientious objector. I don’t think any boxers warrant much adulation. I think baseball, the great American pastime, has contributed some worthy men like Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, and the incredibly talented Ted Williams [a Korean War air vet].
Absolutly right on about Clay – draft dodger & racist. Agree Joe Louis was “the Great One’