WASHINGTON NERVOUS. OVER OPPOSITION TO WAR IN VIETNAM
“Ky is doing his best to reestablish his dictatorial rule along the lines suggested, it- appears, by Ambassador. Henry- Cabot Lodge 5; namely ; by bringing down: the mailed fist on the dissidents in Danang and Hué. It is doubtful that Ky could have succeeded even in March when this line was first proposed by his American "advisers." Ky had enough sense of the-realities at the time to feel that this would . surety signify his own early doom.
| Why” he decided to take the | aésperate. gamble at present is: not clear. Most likely his American -advisérs;or-a section of. then, decided to push him into it, the idea being that the situation was slowly disintegrating anyway. and it couldn!t getcany worse with a bit more’ killing, while if the operation suicceeded it- might open; up. the possibility of "postponing" the promised elections. This, together with a string of military victories, ought to boost sagging morale in both Saigon and the’ USA. a
Ky's “act: ‘of treachery," however, besides touching off a. chain reaction in' south’ Vietnam which. has further undermined his. regime and which could cause him to be offered up any time as a scapegoat, has had big repercussions in the United States. The opposition to the “slimy war" in Vietnam ‘has gained fresh. impetus.
~ And this growing mood, ‘coupled with the developing opposition in south Vietnam among those whom Ky is. supposed to represent, has begun to trouble the powers that be in Washington.
Johnson has’ insisted on keeping up the massive bombings in both north and south Vietnam. This is in accordance with the. line... of the Pentagon, which'has held from the beginning that the way to win is to kill. The ‘May 15 New York Times quoted a U.S. general as . saying in: 1962: "The French didn" t kill ‘enough. If you kill enough you win the war."
At the same time, Johnson, who is also head of the Democratic party, has begun to'worry about the elections this fall even though it is an off year. At a party fund-raising dinner in Chicago May 17, Johnson made his policy in Vietnam a key issue. He-indicated as plainly as possible that he wanted the Democratic candidates to get out and campaign for His line in Vietnam. Anything. less would amount to an. unpatriotic attitude toward. the. country. He struck out against the "nervous Nellies" and those "who will become frustrated" and. "opreak ranks under the strain and turn on their own leaders, ‘their own country, and their: own fighting men."-
_ The speech provoked an outery. Prominent critics. of Johnson's Vietnam policy, like the: New York Times ,iscored hin for | implying that: eriticism amounted to lack. of patriotism.
In the Democratic party itself there was anger. Many candidates, well aware of the mounting antiwar sentiment, had been counting on at least ducking the war issue if not wearing the mantle of a "peace" candidate -- claiming that much as they admired and supported the president, on this issue they had a "difference.
The liberal wing of the Democratic party in particular has begun to show restiveness.: Some of the labor leaders are whispering. |. about clearing their throats and saying something on Vietnam. The : New York Post, one of the leading newspapers of the liberal Demo- .crats, even came out in a front-page editorial May 18, calling for. the resignation of Dean Rusk as secretary of state.
In rather embarrassed tones, the Democratic editor explained: "It can be argued that the President bears ultimate responsibility _. and that attempts ‘to make Rusk a‘scapegoat are cowardly ‘substitutes for taking the President to task. Certainly Mr..Johnson cannot. be. granted immunity. But the truth is that Presidential decisions in foreign affairs ‘depend heavily upon the counsel and recommendations of the Secretary of the | State. : , re
The Post argued that so ‘long as Rusk remains the: head of the ;.
State Department, "the White House will lack the guidance it needs, the United States will fumble and falter in foreign affairs." .
‘As to what should be done in Vietnam, the Post had nothing to say. It wrung its hands over the "new debacle" in Vietnam, a. "disaster that climaxes a long history of futility and sterility in Mr. © Rusk's State Dept." But all it could suggest was a new secretary of state "who will dare to think ‘unthinkable thoughts. .
Much further to the right in the Democratic party, another figure spoke up May 20. This was L. Mendel Rivers, the head of the powerful House Armed Services Committee. The South Carolina Demo-—.. crat first expressed a thought that is considered highly thinkable in Washington. He said that the port of Haiphong should have been "knocked out yesterday." He said he was opposed to withdrawal, if . at all possible. Then he uttered a thought that is considered “highly unthinkable in official circles in Washington:
"TI don't think America is going to tolerate this fratricidal strife and attacks on our boys. This is something we didn't anticipate. I' m getting tired of it." :
He was then quotea as saying that "we may have to make a decision damned soon" about whether to pull out of south Vietnam altogether. :
Some nervous Nellies appeared to be showing up in the Pentagon itself. Hanson W. Baldwin, the military writer who is generally well informed about the thinking going on among the top brass, reported in the May 22 New York Times that officials in the Pentagon are "seriously worried about the effects of the Vietnamese political turbulence on public opinion in the United States. " He quoted an officer as saying:
"It's going to be- “aamned hard to sastity ite, american mothers
the sending of -their boys to: Vietnam unless: those. “People out. there get together." | i
The Pentagon is. "gloomy" about developments. in south Vietnan. "Indeed, " continues Baldwin, "the gloom in: the Pentagon was. perhaps even thicker than elsewhere, since -~+ as one officer expressed it -- 'it looked like we were doing all: right'.in-combat until South Vietnamese factionalism and dissidence interfered with military operations. 7
Certain statistics look particularly foreboding to the Pentagon. One is the increasing ratio of American casualties compared. to those in Ky's forces. Another is "the growth in Vietcong. and North Vietnamese strength despite. heavy casualties." .
“the Pentagon would not be too concerned about ‘the prospects," declares this expert, "if the political situation did not presage a marked deterioration in the military picture. That deterioration is ‘already occurring." : o
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