When a superpower, one as big as the United States, has been bombing a tiny country for years in hopes of winning a war that never had any structured goals or end in sight- when thousands of men a week are dying (to put it in perspective, In Iraq in eight years we have not lost the same amount as we did in weeks in Vietnam) when the American people turn on their president, on a war, when million man marches and unmitigated chaos erupt at home as a result of the escalating devastation abroad-when, WHEN, does our leadership step in and say, “Sorry guys, we fucked up!”
The answer is: They don’t. In our country, the president has the power to say no.
But Lyndon B. Johnson felt he couldn’t say no. Why in god’s name would he want to be the first president to lose a major war?
What the Vietnam War did was create a credibility gap between the American public and the government. Americans never had any reason to believe, before Johnson, that our president could be lying to us. Essentially, Johnson, his advisers, the FBI and other government programs (without the help of Congress thank you very much) conducted a war in secret- one that had started with Truman, escalated with Eisenhower, and blossomed with Kennedy- a war that, I’m paraphrasing here, “could not be lost by a great superpower to people running around in slippers.”
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, secret back room meetings conducted by Kennedy and his advisers turned out ok. A handful of white, privileged, educated men made decisions in secret that would affect the lives of thousands of people…and it didn’t end in disaster. Yet virtually these same men would do the same things in Vietnam- but what they couldn’t understand for the life of them and for all the education they had- Vietnam was different. To win, it was crucial to win the hearts and minds of the people. Land was irrelevant-something that had been insturmental in winning the two great wars- was not an issue. Guerrilla warfare was not something that could be fought with bombs and bombs and..well..more bombs, but what did Johnson do? Bomb the shit out of Vietnam. But it didn’t work, for a number of reasons.
At the same time, those in charge didn’t know what else to do. The Vietnamese people were ambivalent towards the American soldiers. Growing resentment towards the people we thought we were helping grew into chaos among military ranks. With the draft swelling, by 1966 every man sent into South Vietnam knew they were going into a war that could not be won. Their only hope was to serve the 365 days and get the fuck out of there alive.
What’s most fascinating about this whole thing is the role the media and the press began to play. The Pentagon Papers release years later illustrated the immense scale of secrecy and lying the administration went through in order to maintain some kind of belief in a consistent policy- that although the amount troops increased by thousands each month, our policy in Vietnam had not changed. ‘Search and Destroy’ missions were in vain- and the destruction of Vietnam’s ecology was a result. It was as if we were trying to build a house with a bulldozer. And Johnson knew if the public knew what the hell was going on- that we wouldn’t support it. He was totally right.
By the end of 1967, we were being told by our government that we were winning the war. But anyone with a pair of eyes could see otherwise- images broadcasted on television gave way to the anti-war movement that would change the direction of our country and create an entirely new atmosphere. Interestingly enough, every image we see of what’s happening in Iraq on TV or in any publication had to be approved by the Pentagon first. That didn’t happen during the Vietnam War. Nope. People would see coffins coming in by the hundreds each day in the comfort of their own homes- they’d see Buddhist monks lighting themselves on fire in opposition of the occupation of their home country- they’d see the riots around the United States, at colleges, in Washington, in NYC and LA- where students, women, young people get beaten with wooden bats by the ‘hardhats’- the opposition to the doves, the conservatives, the hawks- although I think, and I hope, they were the minority and that the anti-war sentiment at this time was much larger than those who felt nuclear power was the key to winning the war. So why the fuck would we believe the government when it was so painfully clear they were lying?
All of this would lead to Johnson’s destruction, and would create the atmosphere of what was to come in ‘68- the election, the assasinations of RFK and MLK, and the best part..is that the war lasted in 1975. Mind blowing.
I just wanted to write about what I’ve been learning in my foreign policy class for the past two weeks. I thank Peter Schwab from the bottom of my little heart for being the best professor I could ever ask for, for giving us the best reading materials to comprehend the extent and abuses of executive power since Truman and up to Bush. What I’ve learned in this class has truly blown my mind and I never had such an intelligent teacher- and I can say the two classes I’ve taken with him since I’ve been at this school I’ve learned the most (the other being about Cuba and the United States…that’s a whole ‘nother fucking dimension right there) and I continue to be amazed, excited, nervous (he is also the most intimidating man I’ve ever encountered but I am gradually getting over this) every Tuesday and Friday. I don’t really suspect anyone will read any of this but that’s fine by me. I am going to go make pizza bagels.
