RIPPLE SALVO… #98… AN OPEN LETTER…. but first……..
Good Morning: Day NINETY-EIGHT of a recalling of a war many Americans want forgotten… The “air war” with North Vietnam called Operation Rolling Thunder…
5 JUNE 1966… ON THE HOME FRONT….(NYT)…. A very warm Sunday in NYC…90 and fair…
Page 1: “Gemini Postpones A Walk In Space Docking Canceled”… due to fatigue of the astronauts. Cernan’s trip into space outside the craft has been slipped to tomorrow. Other problem: fuel usage ahead of schedule but vehicle is expected to last the full three days in space. Cernan walk of 90-minutes goes tomorrow… “Surveyor Fails To Stir Moon Dust”… on seven gas jet firings to determine the composition of the surface of the moon. Scientists are puzzled, had expected to see clouds of dust… Page 1: “Politics Thwarts War On Vietcong In Northern Area”… “South Vietnam division operations in Hue have been halted since 15 May. The American troops and leadership are frustrated with the lack of interest of the SVN First Division in returning to the battlefield… Page 3: “Vietcong Mauled By South Koreans”… “For the last ten days the South Koreans have been fighting alongside South Vietnamese soldiers and troops of the United States First Cavalry in thick jungles 275 miles northeast of Saigon. The Koreans employed an encircling maneuver to win the fierce battle in the jungle. “It was as good a maneuver–concocted strictly on foot– as I have ever seen,” said a U.S. Major with 17 years of Infantry duty. The fighting was hand-to-hand right down to bare knuckles. 94 enemy dead were counted after the 24-hour battle…. Page 3: A one paragraph story announcing an open letter to the Government of the United States signed by 64oo educators and other signatories requesting the President withdraw our troops from Vietnam. (see Ripple Salvo)
Page 50:”Guaranteed Income Backers Hope To Provoke A Welfare Crisis”… “Activists who are impatient with the Johnson anti-poverty campaign are firing up a campaign of their own. It will be a militant direct action program in big cities. The objective simply is a guaranteed federally financed annual income. The strategy of the activists is to demand welfare payments for all who qualify. That according to their calculations would double the welfare roles, precipitate a welfare crisis, and impel the politicians to accept guaranteed income as a solution. The proponents plan to use the demonstration tactics of the civil rights movement. The leaders will concern themselves with civil rights and other social issues, but welfare rights is the focal point of the campaign in the making.”
Page 50: “James Meredith Begins Vote March Today”… leaves Memphis on a 220-mile walk through Mississippi to tell Negroes they have a responsibility to register to vote….Page 84: “Reagan Favored To Win Coast G.O.P. Nomination For Gov Tuesday”… “Campaign associates of the movie and television actor predicted he would win by at least 350,000 votes over George Christopher, dairyman and two term former Mayor of San Francisco, to become the Republican nominee for Governor…
5 JUNE 1966… ROLLING THUNDER OPERATIONS… NYT (6 June reporting 5 June Ops)…”U.S. Planes Lost in North Vietnam Now 256″ total listed since bombing started 16 months ago on February 7, 1965. an additional 107 fixed wing aircraft have been shot down in South Vietnam. Hanoi says they have downed 1,076 U.S. planes over NVN as of 1 June 1966. “The latest crashes were reported Friday when an F-105D Thunderchief was hit by ground fire and subsequently plunged into the sea east of Dong Hoi.” In addition, a Marine Skyhawk and an Air Force F-4 were lost in South Vietnam. No numbers have been provided for American helicopter losses. “Bad weather reduced United States Navy multi-plane attack missions over North Vietnam to 8 yesterday. The pilots reported destroying 3 warehouses,22 buildings and a wharf. Air Force pilots flew 30 missions in the panhandle region hitting bridges, ferries and trucks. fo0r the 14th time in 14 days the B-52s hit VC in Quangngai 330 northeast of Saigon. “Vietnam Air Losses” reported one aircraft loss for 5 June 1966, an O-1E Bird Dog from the 14th ACW at Nha Trang piloted by MAJOR FREDERICK EARL BAILEY was shot down in Dinh Binh province and the pilot, MAJOR BAILEY was Killed In Action….
RIPPLE SALVO…. #98… On 5 June 1966 the “Members of the Academic Community joined with Members of the Professional Community to form an Ad Hoc Universities Committee for the Statement on Vietnam” to publish an open letter to the Government entitled “On Vietnam” and signed by 6400 educators and professionals. The letter was published on three full pages of the NYT… It is included here as representative of the “doves” argument for withdrawal of our troops from Vietnam… “On Vietnam”
“Events of the past few months have further undermined the Administrations stated rationale for involvement in Vietnam–the American armed forces is there to defend the Vietnamese. The continuing demonstrations in Hue, Saigon and Danang, with their anti-Ky and antj-American slogans, have made it clearer than ever that the Saigon regime has virtually no popular support. Military activities have been steadily escalated, and the American military power has been forced to assume the brunt of the fighting from the South Vietnamese army. An estimated 100,00 soldiers deserted this army in 1965 alone. (NYT 2/24/66).
“The successive regimes in Saigon which our government has been supporting were never popularly elected, and since shortly after the inception of the civil war have not governed more than a portion of South Vietnam. Nonetheless the administration has attempted justification for American military intervention by claiming that these regimes have had popular support and could therefore be considered legitimate governments for all of South Vietnam.
“The Dramatic exposure of these false premises and of the fragile basis for our policies has led many prominent Americans, including some former supporters of the war, to declare that our forcs must be prepared to leave Vietnam if a new government there asks us to leave.
“But our administration’s previous response to reverses in Vietnam has been escalation, bringing with it increasing death and destruction, and we are particularly alarmed at the extension of B-52 bombings to the North and new air raids in the Hanoi-Haiphong area. To escalate militarily while our position disintegrates politically is immoral, futile and perilous.
“Furthermore, while increasing numbers of political leaders and commentators question the entire policy of the United States in Vietnam, the American force, approximately a quarter a million men, in conducting “search and kill” operations and continues massive daily bombings in the course of which thousands of Vietnamese and Americans are being killed and wounded.
“In the interests of our country and the strength of our belief in the right of self-determination demand that way be immediately found to disengage ourselves from this intolerable situation. We are convinced that such a course is in accordance with the mood of an increasing number of Americans.”
WE CALL UPON OUR GOVERNMENT…
To cease all bombing North and South, and all other offensive military operations immediately.
To indicate that it will negotiate with the National Liberation Front and other interested parties for a peaceful settlements.
To encourage in every way, and in no way to interfere with, the free exercise of popular sovereignty in Vietnam.
To evaluate seriously whether self-determination for the Vietnamese as well as our own national interest would not be best served by termination of our military presence in Vietnam…. (and three pages identifying 6,400 signers from both the Academic and Professional Communities)…
Lest we forget…. Bear ………. –30– ……….