Word: mcnamara
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There were no "doves" or "hawks" at this meeting. The possibility of shelling the northern seaport of Haiphong was discussed briefly, but it was discarded since it would involve civilian casualties and would require moving warships into territorial waters. McNamara suggested instead an air strike against five specific targets-four torpedo-boat bases and an oil storage facility. Rusk thought it might be wiser to hit two of the southernmost bases first and save the others for a possible second-stage attack. McCone argued for clobbering all five places, in view of the gravity of the North Vietnamese...
...Going." McNamara hurried back to his office and set the plans in motion. The Pentagon phoned Sharp. In turn, Sharp called the Navy's Pacific Fleet commander, Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, stationed at nearby Makalapa Naval Base, told him: "We're going to clo it." Orders crackled through the Pacific as units of the Seventh Fleet were alerted. The carrier Constellation moved out of Hong Kong-about 500 miles from the Tonkin bases-with instructions to join the Ticonderoga as quickly as possible...
...massive military machinery gathered its strength, Lyndon Johnson and McNamara briefed the National Security Council and summoned congressional leaders to the White House. McNamara, Rusk, McCone and Wheeler explained the events and the plans. The President was grim, decisive. He made it clear he was informing his old Capitol Hill colleagues, not asking their advice. "These are our plans," he snapped...
Unmasked Aggression. As the U.S. raised its shield, it took pains to assure the world that its actions and responses had all been necessary. McNamara told a press conference that all of the military movements were "appropriate to the provocation." He summed up the air strike simply: "Our objective was to deter the PT-boat fleet from further attacks on our vessels. I believe we have accomplished that." President Johnson pointed out that "the Gulf of Tonkin may be distant, but none can be detached about what has happened there. Aggression-deliberate, willful and systematic aggression-has unmasked its face...
Sharp put in driving, twelve-hour days, and mastered the Pentagon's most prized art-the ability to absorb enormous amounts of information, then ladle it out in concise, organized form during high-level briefings. Both Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Maxwell Taylor and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara quickly became Sharp admirers, and last September he took over command of the Pacific Fleet. When the critical CINCPAC appointment came up earlier this year, Oley Sharp...