Word: mcnamara
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Those were President Johnson's first, last and only public words on the subject of Viet Nam last week. Indeed, he ordered an Administration-wide news blackout that was broken only by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in an appearance before the House Armed Services Committee to testify on U.S. defenses...
...McNamara placed the meaning of the U.S. effort in Viet Nam in a rather larger context than Johnson had. Speaking of the consequences of possible U.S. withdrawal from Viet Nam, he said: "We may be certain that we would have to face this problem all over again in another place, or permit the Communists to have all of Southeast Asia by default. Thus, the choice is not simply whether to continue our efforts to keep South Viet Nam free and independent, but rather whether to continue our struggle to halt Communist expansion in Asia. If the choice is the latter...
...undeniably aimed exclusively at Americans; there was not a single casualty among the 4,300 Vietnamese there. It was early afternoon when details about the Pleiku disaster arrived in Washington. Until nearly nightfall, President Johnson stayed on the phone with his security advisers, among them Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, home in bed with viral pneumonia...
...aircraft carriers Ranger, Hancock and Coral Sea, all steaming about 100 miles off South Viet Nam in the South China Sea. The jets headed for Donghoi, 160 miles above the 17th parallel, a major staging point for Red guerrillas en route south. The bombers inflicted "considerable" damage, said McNamara, up from his sickbed. One plane was shot down, but its pilot was plucked from...
...counterthrust was that of security against future Viet Cong attacks. But it is doubtful whether anything approaching real security can be achieved in a guerrilla war. "I don't believe it will ever be possible to protect our forces against sneak attacks of that kind," said Defense Secretary McNamara after Pleiku. Quinhon occurred despite stringently tightened security, including U.S. sentries patrolling the hotel's roof...