Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #744… It was Monday, March 18, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy was scheduled to give a speech in Manhattan, Kansas in the Field House at Kansas State University… “…a crowd estimated by police to number 14,500 students and faculty jammed every available corner, with more college kids literally hanging from the steel rafters, their feet dangling over the side. At the outset, it was far from an all-Kennedy gathering. One sign asked: RFK LEADER OF YOUTH OR REBELLIOUS OPPORTUNIST? Another Proclaimed: GENE FOR INTEGRITY. And still others declared: RFK PROLONGS THE WAR and FATHER HO LOVES BOBBY. But there were pro-Kennedy signs as well, if not of the serious ilk that he hoped his candidacy would inspire: BOBBY IS GROOVY; BOBBY IS SEXY; SOCK IT TO ‘EM, BOBBY.”…. but first…
Good Morning: Day SEVEN HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR of an old sailor’s odyssey through a bygone era that included “1968: The Year the Dream Died.” (Jules Witcover)…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a cool Tuesday, 19 March 1968…
Page 1: “FIGHTING IS HEAVY NEAR BUFFER ZONE–67 ENEMY SOLDIERS AND 12 MARINES KILLED IN 5-HOUR CLASH NORTH OF DONG-HA”...”Heavy fighting broke out yesterday in the tense northernmost province of South Vietnam, Quangtri. Twelve Marines were killed and 24 wounded in a five-hour battle…the marines, supported by artillery, helicopter gun ships and tactical aircraft, killed 67 enemy soldiers in the clash, which took place four miles north of Dongha and about eight miles south of the demilitarized zone. The Third marine Division made contact with an enemy force huddled in what was described as ‘well prepared defensive positions.’ The enemy fired 40 rounds of 140mm rockets. This apparently caused most of the American casualties…. IN HAUNGHIA PROVINCE near SAIGON, 50 Vietcong were reported killed on Sunday by the South Vietnamese 25th Division and elements of the United States 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. The action took place 17 miles northwest of Saigon...Page 2: “VIETCONG FORCE ROUTED”… “Allied soldiers aided by tanks, armored cars, helicopters and aircraft routed a Vietcong force dug in on the edge of hamlet 17 miles northwest of Saigon yesterday (Monday). Eighty-four enemy soldiers were killed as Operation QUYET THANG–Determined to Win–continued to rout Vietcong and discover caches of enemy weapons and supplies…Elsewhere in South Vietnam an American paratrooper was killed and 13 wounded in a short fight with North Vietnamese regulars northwest of Kontum in the Central Highlands… 50 North Vietnamese were reported killed….There were no further reports of fighting around the outpost of Khe Sanh, where South Vietnamese beat off an assault of 600 North Vietnamese…”
HUMBLE HOST notes: The New York Times and RTR for Sunday 17 March 1968 carried a report headlined: “G.I.s IN PINCHER MOVE KILL 128 IN DAY LONG BATTLE”... Here is a brief summary of the rest of the story: this was to become known much later as the “MY LAI MASSACRE, the work of first Lieutenant William I. Calley… “After a one-hour artillery barrage on the area, a suspected Vietcong stronghold, the American troops entered the village of My Lai. They dynamited of burned down all the houses, lined up the villagers in three groups about 200 yards apart and about 20 American soldiers executed them with M-16 rifles and other weapons. South Vietnamese and American officials at first insisted that those killed were Vietcong or Vietcong ammunition carriers. But some American soldiers present eventually came forward and denied seeing any men of military age in the village…Eventually Calley, commander of the platoon of the 11th Infantry Brigade, Americal Division, was indicted in the incident.”…Humble Host found this footnote of interest: “The division’ deputy operation’s officer, Major Colin Powell, who had arrived in Vietnam three months after the episode, drafted the Army’s official response. Without having interviewed the (witness) soldier, he dismissed the report as rumor.” Calley was court martialed and given life. Colin Powell went on to four stars and Secretary of State… History is fun…
A FEW MORE HEAD LINES from the 19 Mar NYT: Page 1: “PRESIDENT ASKS FOR ‘AUSTERITY’ TO WIN THE WAR--Tells Farm Union Delegates In Minnesota It’s Time For ‘Total National Effort’–A Gibe At Cowardice–Johnson Denounces Critics and Praises Advisors–Affirms Commitment”... President Johnson said today that the time had come for ‘austerity’ and a ‘total national effort’ to win the war and peace in Vietnam and solve the domestic problems. In a fiery speech… Mr. Johnson also made it clear that he was not going to alter his Vietnam war policy despite Communist military successes and opposition to his renomination within the Democratic Party.”... Page 1: “U.S. UNDER VALUED ENEMY STRENGTH BEFORE OFFENSIVE–C.I.A. Reports Forces Were Significantly Larger Than Intelligence Estimates–Gap Is 50,000-100,000– New Assessment Of Manpower Is Awaited–Enemy Losses Are in Dispute”… Page 5: “U.S. Troops In Big Allied Drive Find Heat Is The Enemy”… Page 4: “General Ben Davis At Clark Air Base–Reflects On Change In Military Life”… Page 1: “FREE GOLD PRICE DECLINES–POUND AND DOLLAR CLIMB–Bullion Fails To Show The 50-Per Cent Jump Expected–Members of Pool Said to Agree Not to Draw From U.S. Stocks”… Page 1: “Republican Support For Tax Rise Raises”… Page 1: “New Guidelines Set To Foster Equality In Northern Schools”… Page 21: “Negroes Say U.S. History Slights Their Heritage”… Page 32: “139 In House Support Drive For A Review of Policy In Vietnam”…
Page 1: “STUDENTS CHEER KENNEDY IN ATTACK ON WAR POLICY”... Manhattan, Kansas, March 18: “Senator Robert F. Kennedy delivered a harsh attack on President Johnson’s ‘bankrupt’ Vietnam policy before a wildly cheering audience of 14,500. At the end of his address in the dirt floored field house of Kansas State University, the New York Democrat invoked the memory of President John F. Kennedy, asserted that the country was n danger at home and abroad, and with a rising voice said: ‘I ask for your help. If you will give me help, if you will give me hour hand, I will work for you and we will have a new America.'”… Page 1: “McCarthy Is Cool To Kennedy Move–Calls RFK Offer to Johnson Offensive to the Senate Foreign Relations Group”... “Senator Eugene McCarthy brushed aside almost contemptuously today the aborted offer of Senator Robert F. Kennedy to withhold his declaration of candidacy if President Johnson would create a committee to seek ‘a wired path’ to peace in Vietnam.”… Page 1: “Governor Rockefeller To Run For President–He Will Disclose Plans Thursday–Advisors Are Deeply Divided Over What; Governor Should Say About The War”…
19 March 1968…The President’s Daily Brief… NORTH VIETNAM: Initial Hanoi Commentary on New Hampshire Primary: Hanoi’s first reference to the 12 March primary election in New Hampshire–a commentary in the Hanoi daily–Nhan Dan– which the Hanoi domestic service broadcast on 15 March–noted that President Johnson led Senator McCarthy in the voting by a margin of less than five percent. It claimed this was a ‘heavy blow’ to the President’s political prestige and influence, and that McCarthy’s ‘victory’ reflected the disappointment of the American ‘people with Johnson’s conduct of the Vietnam War.’ The commentary quoted Senator Robert Kennedy to the effect that the vote reflected ‘a very strong antiwar feeling’ in the US. It noted that both Kennedy and Governor Rockefeller were considering entering the presidential race. The broadcast concluded that ‘the heavy losses suffered by the US aggressive troops in Vietnam will certainly be advantages cards in the hands of Johnson’s opponents.’ …
STATE DEPARTMENT, Office of the Historian, Historical Document, Foreign Relations, 1964-68, Vietnam: Document 142. “Notes of Meeting” of the Tuesday Lunch Bunch, as I call them. The weekly Rolling Thunder targeting meeting — “The Tuesday Cabinet”… was expanded to a full agenda of items, including targeting. The group had also grown over the months. Document 142 IS a historical document. Read at (if you have a few minutes):
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d142
19 MARCH 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (20 Mar reporting 19 Mar ops)… Page 1: “In the air war over the North, which has been limited because of poor weather. and an Air Force F-100 was downed by ground fire 30 miles west-northwest of Donghoi (at Ban Karai Pass). One crew member was rescued (CAPTAIN R.B. WILLIAMS) and the other was missing (CAPTAIN HOWARD WILLIAMS)…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 19 March 1968…
(1) MAJOR CHARLES EDWARD BLAIR and A1C VICTOR ROMERO were flying an O-1E Bird Dog or the 21st TASS and 504th TASG out of Nha Trang on a visual reconnaissance sortie and failed to return from the mission. The following is from the Task Force Omega internet site... “The aircraft departed Nha Trang at 1255 and the last radio transmission with Major Blair and Sgt. (sic) Victor Romero came at 1340 hours. During that contact there was no indication of trouble with their Bird Dog or from enemy activity. Their last known location placed them over rugged jungle-covered mountains just east of the junction where two rivers join together before flowing east to the coastline approximately 17 miles south-southwest of Duc My, the same distance west of Nha Trang Airbase Tac An, 19 miles west of the city of Nha Trang and 28 miles northwest of Cam Ranh Bay…When Walt 33 could not be raised on the radio for additional reconnaissance information, an intense visual and electronic search and rescue (SAR) effort was initiated. These efforts were terminated at 1900 hours on 23 March when no trace of the aircraft or its crew could be found. At that time both Charles Blair and Victor Romero were listed Missing in Action.“… Hobson reports: “the aircraft…wreckage was later found on the slopes of Youk Nam Rmay, a 4,731-foot mountain near Duc Xuyen.”…
Both warriors were listed as missing in action and later presumed dead (Blair in 1973 and Romero 1979). The remains of COLONEL BLAIR were found and returned in April 1988 and positively identified for burial on 28 June 1988, with no further explanations from the North Vietnamese. VICTOR ROMERO remains where he fell 50 years ago this day and continues to rest in peace… glory gained, duty done… .
RIPPLE SALVO… #744… New York Times, Page 38 on 15 March 1968…OpEd… I quote…
ENTER ROBERT KENNEDY…
“The apparent resolve of Senator Robert F. Kennedy to seek the Democratic Presidential nomination remakes the national political scene. Until now, Presidential Johnson’s renomination had seemed assured. He faced in Senator Eugene McCarthy’s candidacy a moral challenge and a political embarrassment but not a moral threat. Now, although the political realities continue strongly to favor Mr. Johnson, his renomination can no longer be taken for granted.
“Senator Kennedy’s decision significantly widens the range of choice for Democratic party members and, indirectly, for all voters. He is his party’s most exciting and most controversial figure. Since he has long had serious differences with President Johnson over the course of the war in Vietnam and the priorities to be assigned to the nation’s urban and racial problems, it is healthy for democracy that he present his beliefs to the voters in such a way that they can make a clear and deliberate choice.
“The timing of Senator Kennedy’s entry into the lists reflects a political calculation directly arising from Mr. McCarthy’s impressive showing in the New Hampshire primary. Mr. Kennedy now looks something like a hitchhiker on another man’s work and courage, would have been in a much stronger moral and political position today if he had acted affirmatively three months ago. As it is, if both he and Senator McCarthy remain in the race, they will divide the anti-Johnson vote in the Oregon and California primaries, thereby strengthening not only Mr. Johnson but also, indirectly, the Republican candidacy of Richard M. Nixon. But in the many states where delegates are chosen by convention, Mr. Kennedy’s candidacy is a welcome gain for the ‘peace Democrats,’ as he has appeal to some voters and support from state party organizations that Senator McCarthy probably could not reach.
“On balance, and under the changed circumstances, President Johnson has to decide whether he can maintain his aloof ‘above politics’ position until the Democratic convention meets in August. It is arithmetically possible for him to achieve renomination if he holds together the southern delegates and those from such machine-controlled states as Illinois and Pennsylvania. But to start off a re-election campaign having been repudiated in most of the states which have primaries would be a severe psychological handicap. Mr. Johnson may have to carry his case to the Democratic voters whose acquiescence he has been taking for granted.”…End quote…
Humble Host reminds: President Johnson was composing “The Speech” to the nation and world reflecting tough decisions he hoped would help bind wounds and bring the country together to: first, win or settle the war, then move on together to solve the mounting domestic problems awaiting a higher priority and increased commitment of the nation’s scarce resources. The Kennedy challenge on the heels of the surprise showing of McCarthy in the first primary were tough pills for the President to swallow as he mapped out a future course for the country, and his own destiny… As the nation’s historical documents show, the bombing of North Vietnam–Rolling Thunder–was a consideration in this historic decision process….
RTR Quote for 19 March: GEORGE WASHINGTON, General Order to the Continental Army, 2 July 1776: “Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world, that a Freeman contending for Liberty on his own ground is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
