McAdams, JFK Facts, and "Moderation"

[David Healy]

McAdams has a soul brother, Bill Clarke, at JFK Facts who insists that Kennedy was not really going to withdraw from Vietnam. And he also despises any mention of John Newman's groundbreaking book JFK and Vietnam....."

In 1963, there were 16,300 US soldiers in Vietnam. The purported Tonkin Gulf incident came on 2 August, 1964. At that time, there were 23,300 US soldiers in Vietnam. By the end of 1965, LBJ had sent 184,300 US military personnel. By the time LBJ left office in early 1969, there were approximately 536,100 US military personnel there.

Notwithstanding NSAM 273, it's reasonable to conclude there would have been no Tonkin Gulf catalyst if JFK were President. Or if there were, the presidential response would have been much different.

And whether JFK intended to withdraw everyone or not, it's clear he would have never have sent a half-million American military personnel there. That's how I see it. The assassination led to the US going to war in Vietnam. That's clear. I don't know what JFK's intentions were. But it's a reasonable conclusion there would have been no Vietnam War had JFK remained in office.

Vietnam was LBJ's war. It was not Ike's, JFK's or Nixon's war. The numbers and dates speak for themselves.
It could not have happened unless LBJ was President.


http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-...statistics

http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/vietnam/vwatl.htm

Over 5,000 helicopters - built by Bell Helicopter of Fort Worth, Texas - were downed during the war. Almost 5,000 crew members
were killed (pilots and non-pilots). The cost of a Huey was between 1 and 2 million USD. Bell actually had a financial interest in
losing helicopters. The more that got shot down - the more money Bell made.

http://www.vhpa.org/heliloss.pdf

I went round and round and round with Bill Clarke and Ted Gittinger about those 1963 troop numbers, and more specifically, just how many advisors were in-country in Vietnam when JFK was murdered. The military advisor total (including SF) was less than 1000. My unit based in Saigon at the time supported US Element MAAG-Vietnam (Military Assistance Advisory Group [for-runner of MAC-V, Military Assistance Command-Vietnam]

The total number of Americans in country when I left Vietnam (Feb 1964) was near 17,000. In fact, because I was DEROSing 2/64, I was included in that 1000 reduction of troops that was proposed in mid-late 1963. That17,000 number included, military support units (aviation, aviation maint, military police, signal units, etc. AID employees, CIA, naval admin suppport services, embassy personnel, civilian contractors (Brown & Root for one) and surprise of all, dependents... the 17,000 number re "advisors" in country at the time of JFK's murder is incorrect...