RIPPLE SALVO… #787… “MAY: PASSIONS RISING” is the title hung on Chapter Six of Jules Witcover’s THE YEAR THE DREAM DIED… Homeland headlines for the month: MAY 1: Treasury sells two securities at 6 percent interest, lowest in 48 years; MAY 2 The Odd Couple starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau opens; Boston Celtics beat Los Angeles Lakers for NBA title; MAY 3: 85 killed in Braniff Electra crash in Texas storm; MAY 6: William Styron wins Pulitzer prize for The Confessions of Nate Turner; James Michener’s Iberia, Norman Mailer’s The Armies of the Night get published; MAY 7: former U.S. Open, Masters golf champion Craig Wood dies at 66: MAY 9: cartoonist Harold Gray (Little Orphan Annie), 74, dies; MAY 14: Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, 86, removed as commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet after attack on Pearl Harbor, dies; MAY 16: AFL-CIO throws out United Auto Workers in internal dispute; 22 killed in Mississippi Valley tornadoes; MAY 18: Forward Pass wins Preakness (was #2 in Kentucky Derby); MAY 19: Emmy Awards to Mission; Impossible, Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in, Bill Cosby, Don Adams, Lucille Ball; Wayne Zahn of Atlanta sets world bowling record of 4,043 pins in 18 games; MAY 20: Supreme Court upholds equal treatment under the law for illegitimate children; MAY 21: CBS News airs Hunger in America; MAY 22: plane crash kills 23 on flight from Disneyland to Los Angeles; 27 MAY: San Diego and Montreal awarded National League baseball franchises.”…
MEANWHILE, THE VIETNAM WAR RACKED UP ANOTHER 536 AMERICAN WARRIORS, KILLED IN ACTION IN THE MONTH OF MAY 1968… 12,543 ENEMY WERE KILLED… and the effort to bow out of the war with honor continued with a significant development in May 1968… (from Clark Clifford’s autobiography Counsel To The President)…
CLARK CLIFFORD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: “As we prepared for the negotiations with North Vietnam, we could not ignore the upheaval taking place outside and the growing sense of social and political crisis. On April 23, a student uprising at Columbia University began a new cycle of violence on the campuses of America which would spread overseas, to France and other parts of Europe.
“Meanwhile, for close to a month the dance went on over where the peace talks would take place. A grand total of fifteen cities–as well as an Indonesian ship, the most invective and, from the point of view of comfort, least attractive proposal–were eventually thrown into the discussion. But we deliberately kept one obvious choice, Paris, a city with which the Vietnamese were very familiar from their days as a French colony, off the list, hoping that if we did not suggest it, Hanoi eventually would. Our plan worked: after a month of sterile exchanges, on May 3 they offered to meet us in Paris a week later. The next morning, after middle-of-the-night telephone discussions between the President, Rusk, Rostow, and me, President Johnson went before the television cameras to announced the agreement.
“As soon as a date and site had been selected, I noticed an unmistakable hardening of Rusk and Rostow’s position on the negotiations themselves. On May 6, I remarked to my colleagues … that I feared those closest to the President were turning against any compromise with Hanoi”… the “Foreword to May 1968” continues below, but first… May 1 ….
GOOD MORNING…Day SEVEN HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN of an update to a journal of the 1,000 day air war called Rolling Thunder…
HEAD LINES from THE GRAY LADY… “All the news that’s fit to print”… THE NEW YORK TIMES on Wednesday, 1 May 1968… Fifty Years Ago…
Page 1: “PICKETS CIRCLE COLUMBIA–CLASS REOPENING DELAYED–720 Protesters arraigned–Faculty Is split–Some Endorse Strike Called by Students after Police Raid”… Page 1: New York Mayor Lindsay is Critical of Columbia Sit-in–But Backs Down”… Page 1: “Jerusalem Parade To Go On Israel Tells U.S.–Eban Rejects Complaints of a Threat to Efforts Of Peace In Mideast”… Page 1: U.S Representative to U.N. George Ball Says U.S.-North Vietnam Peace Talks Will Require U.S. to Show Patience”… Page 1: “U.S. Mission Says Enemy Slaughtered 1,000 Hue Residents”…
Page 1: “CHOICE OFFERED ROCKEFELLER AS HE JOINS RACE–GOVERNOR IS FIRM– He Promises To Fight ‘Up To The Last Vote’ at The Convention…Leads G.O.P. In Write-ins In Massachusetts”… Page 1: “LEADERS OF POOR MARCH CALL ON SENATE TO HELP CREATE 2-MILLION JOBS”… Page 1: “President’s Aides Agree To Silence On Democratic Party Contest–Most Senior Appointees Will Stay After Johnson’s Bid To Be Neutral Or Resign”… Page 3: “Ky Attacks Those Who Urge Pull-Out of Troops By U.S.”… Page 5: “Hanoi Says Viet Cong Backs Peace Alliance In South“… Page 4: “CLIFFORD APPEALS FOR LAST CHANCE FOR NAVY’S F-111″… Page 6: “Army Is Paying Premium Price For Rush Order On New M-16 Rifles”… Page 7: “Admiral Rickover Assails Defense Profits–Says Excess Charges Are Condoned By Pentagon”…
Page 1: “NEGRO IN VIETNAM UNEASY ABOUT U.S.–MANY SADDENED BY TURMOIL–Intent On Bringing Home Rights Earned Abroad–Uneasy About Slow Pace Of Racial Progress In The U.S.”… Page 9: “Bangkok Magnet For G.I.s–One Half a Million Have Visited Thai Capital”… Page 29: “McCARTHY DECRIES THE WARS IMPACT–Deplores Effect On Blight And On Faith In Dollar”… Page 31: “NIXON WELCOMES ROCKEFELLER ENTRY–Says Discussion Of Issues Will Now Be Broadcast”… Page 28: “EISENHOWER RESTS AFTER 4TH ATTACK–Intensive Care Is Given For Mild Coronary On Coast–patient at March AFB”…
THE WAR: Page 3: “FOUR SHARP BATTLES ERUPT NEAR DMZ–320 of Foe Killed in 2 Days–Allied Losses Are 31″… “Allied forces suffered 31 dead, at least 27 of them Americans, and 235 wounded in four engagements with North Vietnamese soldiers Monday and yesterday. Enemy dead in the fighting in northern South Vietnam totaled 320. In a delayed report, military spokesmen said the first action took place Monday afternoon when allied units operating near the northern city of Hue killed 217 of the enemy….the fighting started when the South Vietnamese First Infantry Division encountered small-arms fire and automatic weapons fire in a hamlet four miles northwest of Hue. The South Vietnamese were quickly reinforced by Americans from the Second Brigade, 1201st Airborne division. The battle raged throughout the afternoon until the enemy withdrew from the village under cover of darkness, leaving behind the bodies of 217 men. Allied casualties were four killed and 16 wounded. It was not clear how many of the casualties in the battle were Americans.
“Early yesterday an armored force from the First Cavalry Division (Airborne) repelled an attack by a force of about two North Vietnamese companies near Quangtri. The enemy opened the attack after having pounded the American positions with more than 200 rounds of 82-mm mortar fire. United States losses were 11 killed and 27 wounded. In addition, 30 Americans were wounded, treated and returned to duty. Eleven North Vietnamese soldiers were killed.
“Four United Stats Marines were killed and 70 wounded in an ambush by a battalion-size North Vietnamese force four miles northwest of Dongha. Enemy casualties were aided by tanks, artillery and helicopters. In another operation near Dongha, marines of the Third Division were reported to have killed 92 enemy soldiers when they came upon a well-fortified bunker complex. Twelve marines were killed and 92 wounded in the fight. Ground action continued in the provinces around Saigon as the South Vietnamese police and army units remained on alert for a possible hit-and-run attack on the capital. Units of the 25th Infantry Division reported having killed 44 enemy soldiers in two actions in Haunghia Province, northeast of the city.”…
STATE DEPARTMENT. OFFICE OF HISTORIAN. HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS. FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 1964-68 VIETNAM: On 1 May 1968 document of interest. The President’s Special Assistant Walt Rostow suggests a meeting of all the members of the upcoming peace negotiations with North Vietnam and provides a short list of thoughts to discuss with this group. Also of interest is a telephone conversation with Senator Fulbright in the footnote to the document. The President laments the rapid buildup of North Vietnamese troops coming south. Says since March 31 and his restriction of the bombing to 19-North, up to 40,000 troops have been moved into place for a “mini-Tet”… LBJ says, “We think they have brought between 75,000 to 100,000 since the Tet offensive, from North Vietnam.”… Four stars…Read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d217
1 MAY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… The New York Times… (2 May reporting 1 May ops) Page 1: “American pilots flew 88 multi-plane missions in North Vietnam, their northernmost target being a target wharf 11 miles north northeast of Vinh, or 156 miles north of the demilitarized zone.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 1 May 1968…
(1) CAPTAIN D.C. EVANS, USMC, and 1LT F. HUNSAKER, USMC, were flying an F-4B of the VMFA-314 Black Knights and MAG-13 our of Chu Lai conducting attacks on an enemy position 12 miles west of Danang and on their second napalm run were downed by ground fire. Both marines ejected and were rescued from a rice paddy by an Air Force helicopter to fly nd fight gain…
(2) CAPTAIN G.H. CHRISTENSEND, USMC and an unidentified B/N were flying an A-6A of the VMA(AW)-242 Batmen and MAG-11 out of Danang and crashed on a mission due to structural failure. The two marines ejected successfully and were rescued…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 1 MAY FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… WE REMEMBER…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… NONE
1968… NONE… OOHRAH!!!
RIPPLE SALVO:… #787… The last word in the Foreword for May 1968 (from The Year the Dream Died)…
“Although President Johnson had removed himself as a target for Robert Kennedy’s verbal attacks on American policy in Vietnam, Kennedy continued his criticism of that policy, albeit in less pointed terms. He turned to prodding Johnson to stop quibbling over such things as the site for negotiations with the North Vietnamese and get down to talking. Before an estimated 7,000 persons at Purdue University on May 1, Kennedy said the United States as ‘the strongest nation in the world’ should not worry that it might ‘lose face’ by agreeing to a site proposed by Hanoi. ‘The important thing–our responsibility to our own people–is to get the talks started,’ he said, ‘and try to reach an honorable settlement to this costly and divisive war.’
“That the war had by now demolished Johnson’s contention that the country could have both guns and butter was acknowledged in his call to Congress to raise taxes. When it became clear to Johnson that Chairman Wilbur Mills of the House Ways and Means Committee was holding the tax bill hostage for deeper spending cuts, the president in a news conference on May 3 demanded that members of Congress ‘stand up like men’ and stop ‘courting danger by this continued procrastination.’ Nearly two more months were to pass, however, before the bill–providing for more spending cuts as the price–finally would be passed and signed into law.”
May 1968: passions rising. Sort of like May 2018…
RTR Quote for 1 May: MUHAMMAD ALI, 27 April 1968 Union College speech: “We don’t hate white people–we know them too well. And the only solution to today’s racial problems is separation.”
Lest we forget… Bear