One year after the overthrow and assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem, the situation in South Vietnam is deteriorating in both the military and political spheres.Yes, I understand that 2014 is a midterm and 1964 a presidential election.
Following two months of extreme political turmoil, the High National Council confirmed the appointment of Tran Van Huong as South Vietnam's premier. Though he promised to wage total war against the communists while separating religion and politics, he proved to be only the latest in a line of ineffectual leaders that attempted to fill the void left by Diem's death.
The military situation was no better. On this date, Viet Cong raiders infiltrated the U.S. air base at Bien Hoa, 12 miles north of Saigon, and launched a heavy mortar attack that caught the U.S. and South Vietnamese off guard. Before the Viet Cong withdrew, they killed five U.S. servicemen and two South Vietnamese soldiers, wounded 76, destroyed two B-57 bombers, and damaged another 20 U.S. and South Vietnamese aircraft. A lengthy search of the area around Bien Hoa failed to locate any of the Viet Cong. Word of the attack reached Washington early in the morning, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for "a prompt and strong response" against North Vietnam. Ambassador Maxwell Taylor called for a more limited response, but also advocated bombing in retaliation. President Lyndon Johnson, concerned with the presidential election that was only 48 hours away, decided to do nothing except order the immediate replacement of destroyed and damaged planes.
Nevertheless, the similarity is scary.
First, President LBJ downplayed Vietnam, hoping that it would go away. It didn't, and his presidency was consumed by it.
Second, President LBJ never addressed the issue with the U.S. public and used the Gulf of Tonkin war resolution to escalate a war. I don't think that the aforementioned resolution was about sending 500,000 to a land war!
Let's hope that it turns out different this time.
President Obama downplayed the threat and the use of ground troops, or much the same thing that President LBJ said during the 1964 campaign.
Don't be surprised if President Obama is consumed in a war that he never saw coming and blows up the Democratic Party.
I'd like to be wrong, but it is scary.
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