Posted on Sep 19, 2017
Pressure mounts against continued U.S. involvement in Vietnam - Sep 19, 1966 - HISTORY.com
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The Johnson administration and its handling of the war in Vietnam comes under attack from several quarters. A group of 22 eminent U.S. scientists, including seven Nobel laureates, urged the President to halt the use of antipersonnel and anti-crop chemical weapons in Vietnam. In Congress, House Republicans issued a “White Paper” that warned that the United States was becoming “a full-fledged combatant” in a war that was becoming “bigger than the Korean War.” The paper urged the President to end the war “more speedily and at a smaller cost, while safeguarding the independence and freedom of South Vietnam.”
Johnson’s handling of the war was also questioned in the United Nations, where Secretary General U Thant proposed a three-point plan for peace in Vietnam, which included cessation of U.S. bombing of the North; de-escalation of the ground war in South Vietnam; and inclusion of the National Liberation Front in the Paris peace talks. In Rome, Pope Paul VI appealed to world leaders in a papal encyclical to end the Vietnam War. Despite such calls, the United States launched extensive bombing raids by B-52s that lasted for four days against a mixture of targets in the DMZ, including infiltration trails, troop concentrations, supply areas, and base camps.
@ SMSgt Minister Gerald A. Thomas Capt Christopher MuellerCOL Mikel J. Burroughs Cynthia Croft SSgt (Join to see)Capt Seid WaddellSrA Christopher Wright LTC Stephen F. PO2 Richard C. MSG Tom EarleyPVT James Strait Alan K. PO1 William "Chip" NagelSGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC William Farrell LTC (Join to see) SSgt Robert Marx PO1 Tony Holland Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey
Johnson’s handling of the war was also questioned in the United Nations, where Secretary General U Thant proposed a three-point plan for peace in Vietnam, which included cessation of U.S. bombing of the North; de-escalation of the ground war in South Vietnam; and inclusion of the National Liberation Front in the Paris peace talks. In Rome, Pope Paul VI appealed to world leaders in a papal encyclical to end the Vietnam War. Despite such calls, the United States launched extensive bombing raids by B-52s that lasted for four days against a mixture of targets in the DMZ, including infiltration trails, troop concentrations, supply areas, and base camps.
@ SMSgt Minister Gerald A. Thomas Capt Christopher MuellerCOL Mikel J. Burroughs Cynthia Croft SSgt (Join to see)Capt Seid WaddellSrA Christopher Wright LTC Stephen F. PO2 Richard C. MSG Tom EarleyPVT James Strait Alan K. PO1 William "Chip" NagelSGT John " Mac " McConnell SFC William Farrell LTC (Join to see) SSgt Robert Marx PO1 Tony Holland Maj Marty Hogan SCPO Morris Ramsey
Pressure mounts against continued U.S. involvement in Vietnam - Sep 19, 1966 - HISTORY.com
Posted from history.com
Vietnam War
American History
Military History
Posted >1 y ago
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Johnson was pretty much doomed from the start when it came to Vietnam. Previous actions and inaction by Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy created a situation where Johnson was getting conflicting advice from everyone. Action was required when President Ngo Dinh Diem started showing his true colors and intent and Eisenhower did not respond, not after Diem had been assassinated with tacit support from Kennedy. The loss of popular support left little chance the U.S. could be effective. Ngo Dinh Diem created more Viet Cong/Viet Minh than North Vietnam did. Eisenhower is one of my top 5 most respected leaders - military and political - but he did not seem to understand that the turmoil in Vietnam needed to be resolved non-militarily or it would end up being resolved in a military conflict unlike WWII and Korea. His continued support of the French was probably out of a sense of loyalty to a previous military ally. It was a conflict defining mistake.
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PO2 Richard C.
PO3 Bob McCord - It was really the first time we engaged in a conflict where a large portion of the enemy combatants were not in some uniform. In most previous wars, we expected and did primarily engage uniformed enemies. In 'Nam, the enemy could be in black pajamas (uniform, I guess), peasant clothes or an ao dai. How the hell can you distinguish the good guy from the bad except when someone was shooting at you?
So far, I haven't seen anything I find particularly offensive in the program.
So far, I haven't seen anything I find particularly offensive in the program.
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PO2 Richard C.
PO3 Bob McCord - I do a lot of the what I call people watching myself. Working command level nuclear security, I did a lot of investigations, especially during refueling outages, and went to some Homeland Security and NH State Police observation and interview courses/seminars. My wife goes bug-shit when I do that sort of thing, too. In your case, that's the thing you had to get good at to in a bad set of conditions. The bad guys usually "out" themselves, but it's usually something subtle.
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PO2 Richard C.
PO3 Bob McCord - Do the same thing myself. That was one of the things covered in, I think, a Homeland Security session. Watch the people coming in before they know you're there and judge what and how they do things. Cops do it so they know what's going on, especially in these days of people shooting cops just because they are cops.
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