06-08-2014, 02:36 AM
Jim DiEugenio Wrote: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