Word: mccone
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...McCone kept badgering the President. On a flight to New York with Johnson in late 1964, he argued that limited bombing of North Viet Nam would be ineffective. "They'll turn their collars...
...Government agency that emerged from the Viet Nam debacle with its honor largely intact was the CIA. Its director in the years of escalation was John McCone, a conservative Republican who believed the U.S. had to try for a knockout blow in Viet Nam or get out. He argued constantly against the consensus policy of gradual escalation...
Shaken by McCone's vigorous dissent, Johnson submitted a searching question to the CIA: Would the rest of Southeast Asia fall into Communist hands...
...around their ears, pull in their necks and ride it out." Finally, in April 1965, he put his thoughts on a paper circulated among top-level Government officials. The memo predicted events with uncanny accuracy. The bombing strikes had not demoralized the North Vietnamese, McCone argued. "If anything, the strikes to date have hardened their attitude. With the passage of each day and each week, we can expect increasing pressure to stop the bombing. Therefore time will run against us in this operation and I think the North Vietnamese are counting on this. We can expect requirements for an ever...
...sense, McCone and the CIA were only doing what they were paid $600 million a year to do: provide accurate information to guide American policymakers. Allowed to go its own way, largely immune to the pressures that cause other agencies to oversell policies, the CIA takes pride in its detachment. When he once briefed McNamara, the late respected operations chief, Desmond FitzGerald, expressed doubt that the data reflected the actual situation. "Why?" demanded McNamara. "It's just a feeling," replied FitzGerald. McNamara gave him a stony stare and later ordered: ''Don't ever let that man in here again...