Word: tonkin
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...than the hundreds of similar raids executed by the Viet Cong in the past several years. Saturday's raiders employed traditional guerilla tactics and, as has become usual, mounted their short, lethal offensive with stolen or captured American arms. In no way did the incident resemble last summer's Tonkin affair, where American bombing answered clearly defined aggression by the North Vietnamese government...
Since the Tonkin affair, the Soviets have gained favor with many highly placed Hanoi politicians and strategists. For the Tonkin bombings substantiated the Russian contention that America is not a "paper tiger" and that Chinese promises of support are hollow. Sunday's bombings re-emphasized the validity of this position and, we may assume, served to increase Russian influence in Hanoi...
...matter what the Joint Chiefs of Staff may propose, it remains up to their civilian superiors to dispose. More often than not, the J.C.S. recommendations are accepted. Thus, when Communist PT boats attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin last summer, McNamara called the Chiefs into his office, asked them how the U.S. should reply. The opinion was unanimous: to launch air attacks against North Vietnamese bases. McNamara relayed that word to the President, who summoned the Chiefs to a White House session, carefully questioned each about his views-and followed the prescription to the letter...
Prosecuting Attorney. Trouble seasoned him. When North Vietnamese PT boats twice attacked Seventh Fleet destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin last summer, there was nothing impetuous about Johnson's response. Like a prosecuting attorney, he kept asking his aides: "Are you sure we were attacked? How come they were such bad shots...
...Gulf of Tonkin was a triumph, it was one of the few for the U.S. in Viet Nam. Unwilling to withdraw and fearful of escalating the war, Johnson has maintained a "more of the same" policy that pleases almost nobody and makes less sense with the passing of each day. All the while, the Saigon government has been stumbling from coup to coup. In the latest unhappy episode, the U.S. and the Vietnamese approached a parting of the ways. The U.S. was insistent about trying to sustain a group of civilian politicians against overthrow by a junta of disgusted young...