McNamara claims that war is progressing satisfactorily - Oct 13, 1966 - HISTORY.com

Thanks for reminding us SP5 Mark Kuzinski that on October 13, 1966 Secretary of the Defense Department Robert S. McNamara declared at a news conference in Saigon that he found that military operations have “progressed very satisfactorily since 1965.”
Not surprisingly he confided "to President Lyndon Johnson in private that he thought progress was “very slow indeed” in the pacification program."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen C. Capt Seid Waddell Capt Tom Brown SFC William Farrell SSgt Robert Marx Maj Marty Hogan PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Margaret Higgins MSgt Jason McClish AN Christopher Crayne LTC Bill Koski SPC Tom DeSmet SGT Charles H. Hawes LTC Wayne Brandon SGT (Join to see) SGT Michael Thorin

Interesting. He had been there 8 times by 65...knew it was a cluster. Reported going good. Speaks volumes about the entire war. Good read and good morning brother.

This is a great post, Mark!
As time has moved on with more and more of the details of this political fiasco surrounding a war that was never declared finding the light of day, we find that Johnson had his mind made up in '64 that the war would progress due to pressure from lobbyists for the businesses involved in supporting our efforts there, who would refuse to support him in the general election against Goldwater if he backed out of Viet Nam.
Giving credit to SPC Ron Creech in his statement regarding 'business influence'; there most certainly was and a great deal of eyewash that followed as the conflict escalated.
Then, Governor of Michigan, George Romney was one to point that out in a 1967 interview with Lou Gordon as he prepared for his presidential campaign for the '68 election. Saying of his 1965 visit to Viet Nam "When I came back from Viet Nam [in November 1965], I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get." He then shifted to opposing the war: "I no longer believe that it was necessary for us to get involved in South Vietnam to stop Communist aggression in Southeast Asia," he declared. Decrying the "tragic" conflict, he urged "a sound peace in South Vietnam at an early time." Thus Romney disavowed the war and reversed himself from his earlier stated belief that the war was "morally right and necessary."
This statement caused him great trouble with the press who vilified him for the remark when he was only 11 pp behind Nixon in the polls at the time. Their efforts led to a 26 pp spread between Nixon and Romney which was the desired effect. The press wanted Nixon because they thought he was 'beatable' which would have assured a Democrat victory. The point of this is that Romney saw through the attempt to have him believe that all was well in 'Mudville' when it was anything but.
Romney saw it, the soldiers knew it and had Romney been elected in '68 there would have been little to no chance of our involvement continuing for another 6 years as it did although communism would have prevailed in the region which it did anyway.
The brunt of our failure to secure victory in Viet Nam falls squarely on the shoulders of Johnson, the press, the SDS and to a lesser degree, McNamara who should have resigned rather than carry out this charade.
In an interview conducted by David Frost (If remembering correctly, I do not clearly recall) NVA General Giap agreed with the interviewer that the bombing of North Viet Nam in 1972 was devastating to his country and had it continued for another two weeks, they would have had to sue for peace for they would not have had the means to continue to wage war but absent that, they were prepared to fight another 100 years if necessary. He also opined that they watched and read about our political wrangling, read what he called "news reports filled with erroneous information about the war" and the violence of the anti-war protests convincing the government of NV that just by protracting the war, they would prevail and we would defeat ourselves.
Instead, Nixon caved to political and social pressure to stop the bombing which emboldened our enemy yet again and the war continued. (Note: Snopes would have you believe Giap's statement if false. Had I not been watching the interview with my wife I might doubt it myself.)

Our troopers did a magnificent job while our politicians failed most miserably and the blood of every casualty in that experience falls on them and those who sought to undermine our efforts there.

For more on this subject, go to americong.com/the-true-story-of-christmas-bombing-n-vietnam-1972

Again Mark, thanks for this Saturday morning review of American military history.