Vice President Hubert Horatio Humphrey
As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
As of late, the John the hero McCain group of history rewriters laid all their fiction on Herbert McMaster, most recently, Donald Trump's NSA pariah who seemed to not have enough nuclear world wars on the burner, that he kept trying to start another one. McMaster in his asstard history of Vietnam, was so boring and so off the mark in blaming the politicians meddling in miltary affairs, that this is the current fiction of Vietnam, along with Ken Burns, which is not the reality at all.
In this, I came across thee most concise framing of Vietnam ever, in the 1979 work of Edgar Berman MD, who was Vice President Johnson's personal physician and friend, who accompanied him to Vietnam, when President Johnson had bit on the Vietnamization of the war, meaning making the Vietnamese fight, which was the same failed idea that McMaster was advocating in the Muslim wars, which is failing miserably.
Berman gives a historical fingerprint in this, which the Lame Cherry will expand upon, as it is necessary to expand upon this as one has to understand the dynamics at play in World War II, John Wayne America.
Vice President Humphrey as Senator spoke out against the United States bailing out France when the communists destroyed them in Vietnam. There was though the Military Industrial Complex which saw profit in Vietnam and this produced the Domino Effect, which meant that if Vietnam fell all of Asia would fall communist. That proved wrong, but this mindset brought Dwight Eisenhower to draw the Korea line in the sand in Vietnam with John Kennedy expanding that line, and when Kennedy was assassinated, Lyndon Johnson of Texas had the Alamo mindset in he was not going to lose a damn war, the first in American history.
Robert Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
It was this arena in 1965, as the Republicans had advocated expanding the war, and Johnson Humphrey had not, entered the White House, where at first luncheon, Humphrey had felt out the other cabinet members from McNamara to Rusk in the Kennedy people, and all agreed, that America should not expand into this war. Humphrey soon discovered though in the meeting, that what these liberals agreed to, was not what they told LBJ, and instead they were all war hawks. Remember that, as people forget that all of these Kennedy and Johnson advisers were hell bent for fighting and expanding this war, and only later became doves of peace, when they figured out they could not win and gave up. It was only Hubert Humphrey who stood up to Johnson, respectfully and stated that America needed to find a way out of this war as soon as possible.
In response, Johnson was furious at the betrayal by Humphrey which was not any betrayal at all. What followed was an absolute freeze out of Humphrey for over a year, where Johnson would not even invite Humphrey to sit in on meetings.
To this HHH, wrote a note to President Johnson trying to further explain his position in trying to protect the President.
The note sympathized with the hard position the President was in. That Humphrey would support him 100% no matter what. He reminded Johnson that Goldwater and Nixon advocated escalating the war while they ran on deescalation campaign and why Americans were worried about why Johnson was risking World War III over Vietnam. Then there was the absolute corruption of the Vietnamese regime.
Lastly Humphrey warned Johnson of something which did shatter his presidency and force him from office, and that was the opposition to the war was inside the democratic party and not Republican. Humphrey warned that soon liberals, independents and labor would soon abandon Johnson in this war.
What Humphrey concluded was that the best possible solution was a Vietnam Settlement a year from now, or opposition will mount against you.
That is exactly what took place, and it was the war starter in Bobby Kennedy who began the intrigue to unseat Lyndon Johnson from the US Senate. It was Senator Kennedy in meddling in a war, began floating an idea while Hubert Humphrey was on a second fact finding mission to Vietnam, and implementing a Johnson policy of making the Vietnamese fight their own war, and getting American allies in Australia, Korea, Thailand and New Zealand who were all one step above in the absolute non support of the war by South Vietnam.
Things thawed between Johnson and Humphrey and that is what brought about the fact finding mission where Johnson dispatched Humphrey to implement the new American policy.
In hindsight, it all failed, but it was worth a try, and Hubert Humphrey can not be blamed for being brought back in from the cold and having promised to support the President. As information later was learned the following year for a second trip, Humphrey and Berman knew they had been flat ass lied to by the South Vietnamese and the US Military on ground about the war.
The first real sign of trouble was the Vietnamese in public were all for fighting the war, but began lobbying Humphrey in private immediately for 100,000 more US troops, which Humphrey was assured that in 90 days the war would be won. The US later poured in 500,000 troops and in this war of attrition were worn down, as the United States never attacked the real problem in Hanoi, North Vietnam.
South Vietnamese Vice President Ky and President Thieu
In Hawaii, the Humphrey entourage which included McGeorge Bundy NSC, Jack Valenti, Averell Harriman, met South Vietnamese President Thieu and Vice President Ky.
Ky was the character in the group as he was sporting dual, Patton pearl handled pistols on Air Force II, and he kept pulling them out in flight and twirling them like a gun slinger.
It was quite commical really as Humphrey knew they were not loaded, but everyone else was ducking for cover each time the Wild West Show appeared in flight.
During the flight, Dr. Berman sat down by the beautiful wife of President Thieu, once she learned Berman was a doctor, all she wanted to do was ask about having her oriental eyes, Americanized as was the fad with the wealthy in Japan and in Asia as they all wanted to look like the models on Vogue.
Both of the wives, and their husbands shocked Humphrey in they had absolutely no concern for their countrymen or for the suffering in the country. War to them was something "out there" and did not affect them, and was something to make a profit off of.
Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge jr with assassinated South Korean President Diem
The American presence in Saigon was not any better. The Republican Henry Cabot Lodge was appointed Ambassador as a scapegoat if things went wrong, and in that Lodge was a prime example of the patrician elite, as at the Embassy gathering he kept disappearing, would only be around for a few moments for Humphrey and senior staff, and retired early before the gathering was finished.
The next day they visited the American installations, the DMZ and the Vietnamese training camps. They returned in time for lunch in Saigon at the embassy. Berman was personally invited having ridden in the hot second security helicopter and was covered in sweat and dust, to have lunch at the embassy. He tried begging off, but Humphrey would not hear of it and told him to wash up best he could while Humphrey took a shower.
All six Americans appeared before Cabot Lodge, who only set 5 places, leaving Dr. Berman out. While he had met Berman, Lodge appeared not in the least interested on their second meeting, and as drinks wore on, Berman got up and told Humphrey, "Look I am getting out of here, there is not a place set for me, and I need a shower".
Humphrey jutted his jaw out in displeaure, then his eyes twinkled and he said loudly, "Of course you are invited here for lunch as my guest". With that Cabot Lodge glanced at the house boy who set another place promptly.
As Berman put it though, he was sat between Lodge and McGeorge Bundy. The account by Berman was that he was seated between an iceberg and a glacier. Bundy was a Boston Brahman of zero warmth, and all intellect. He was described as a frozen kettle of fish.
It all ended with Cabot Lodge being even more cold to Berman on his leaving.
President Lyndon Johnson, General William Westmoreland, President Theiu, Vice President Ky
I post this here as Berman recounted these events in the absolute circus, ineptness and the literal lies which General Westmoreland and the entire Vietnamese regime had presented Humphrey on the war effort. It was early 1966 and how the war of attrition was being mismananged was not the politician's fault. The Pentagon was flat ass lying as were the corrupt Vietnamese. War meant profit, power, promotion and it made not one bit of difference for the suffering of the Vietnamese of the counting 65,000 dead Americans.
Governor George Romney
By the next year, Humphrey and Berman both knew they had been had. Interestingly, it was Mitt Romney's father, in George, who in running for President in after being briefed on Vietnam by the experts, stated he had been brainwashed by the propaganda. This statement did not go over well in the press and ruined him, but the reporters in the left who would become the peaceniks in Mary McGrory, James Reston and James Kraft in the anti war movement, crucified Romney in their coverage and were then all Kennedy gung how war to the end.
No one in America's trusting nation in the 1960's could fathom they had been lied to by the military and this was one of the major factors in the problems of Vietnam. The politicians did not want to lose a first war, the Kennedy people were going to win this one for JFK and the American People believed the military and were not going to back down. This is what led to the epic step over the cliff in Vietnam. It was not the politicians as Herbert McMaster attempted to rewrite history, it was a prejudice and naive nature which was working against Americans in they did not comprehend the situation, as they would never have lied.
By the second trip to Vietnam, Humphrey was ready to inform Lyndon Johnson of the realities of that war and he did. Into this as stated Bobby Kennedy was exploiting the situation and going in for the political kill against Johnson by inviting the communist into the peace negotiations.
Humphrey countered in Australia that the RFK policy would be like letting the fox into the hen house. Humphrey was treated most unfairly in this by liberals, as behind the scenes he was the first political voice advocating for a Vietnam Settlement and was framed as Vice President to support his President as was his duty which he did. In response, he was crucified for LBJ being Texan and desiring to win the war. LBJ took over micromanagement of the war, because the US military was losing that war and South Vietnam was absolute no help, nor were the allies in support.
Humphrey was even attacked in the fact finding group, for his clear apprisal of Bobby Kennedy's meddling in the war by inviting in the communists. Yes these new doves in Carol Laise of the State Department, Jim Thompson and Ellsworth Bunker of Bundy's group ganged up on Humphrey and Humphrey took great offense.
Humphrey admitted later he was wrong, but in the real assessment of this, destabilizing President Johnson's leadership for Bobby Kennedy, as they all still had a wet spot for Jack Kennedy, was thee most incorrect policy. Lyndon Johnson was moving to the Humphrey conclusions, and would have arrived there sooner if Bobby Kennedy had not been harping at him and his group were not trying to run LBJ out of the White House.
This is the substantive history of Vietnam in the turning points and causes. It was correctly assessed by Hubert Humphrey in 1966 and recorded by Edgar Berman in 1979 after Humphrey's death.
The Lame Cherry has noted the absolute failure in the Pentagon in their whiz bang technology did not work, their attrition fighting was ineffective, and their rotational war policy did not support a key fighting corp of veterans, but 18 months in a tour of duty had Soldiers counting the days once they hit the LZ. Vietnam was a corporate war style and it simply did not work as it failed to implement the reality of what war is, in ethnic tensions, not of Caucasian vs Mongoloid, but the enthnic tensions of the communists who were against the western colonialism and the capitalists of the South who were benefiting in having the westerners fight for their profits.
All of these problems were compounded to a dismal war effort, as dismal as Korea under Truman was, but even Hubert Humphrey warned President Johnson that Vietnam was nothing like Korea.
Herb McMaster
The lessons of Vietnam have been covered up by Herbert McMaster deep state propaganda. The reality is that the same losses against the Muslim wars of Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama, are the same failures of Korea and Vietnam reinvented for Islamic warfare. Donald Trump is immersed in these same wars and while not expanding US presence as McMaster advocated, he still is rolling the dominoes in moving from a "let's steal Syria's oil for Jews instead of ISIS kickbacks" to American policy is now disrupting the bad terrorists of Iran, for good terrorists to replace them, is this same expense of US assets for conglomerate globalism while Americans are bankrupted and face replacement in their own genocide by the foreign slave trade.
There are never neat packages in any of this. Vietnam gained peace not through human rights, but by communists obliterating all opposition. That is the only peace in the Mideast which will last is one where there is such a disruption of life and technology, that those who advocate striking out will be so isolated that they can not do any harm. This has been amplified by the deliberate importation of terrorists which Donald Trump continued with his Syrian White Helmets. This by design keeps terror on the home front so the profit and power flow keeps Americans stationed in places there is absolutely no American interests.
Would a Humphrey Settlement have made a difference in Vietnam? Not any more than Henry Kissinger's did, for in the end, the same predators would have taken control and obliterated the opposition. There simply are some peoples who are incapable of just rule and in the eradication of Christian ethic in America, Americans are becoming as corrupt and vile as the nations they claim to abhor.
That is the reality in all of this and where future war is heading, for there will not be major wars in this world, and all minor conflicts ended, until the art of warfare crops billions from the planet and reduces those who profit from war, to the same ashes.
The history of Vietnam though is vital to place all of this in perspective. The memoirs of Edgar Berman of Hubert Humphrey are vital in all of this.
Nuff Said
agtG
