21-07-2018, 07:36 AM
(This post was last modified: 23-07-2018, 12:26 AM by Jim DiEugenio.)
I discuss this in my review of Tom Hanks' documentary 1968: The Year that Changed History.
There are two reasons. First, the Wise Man meeting with Acheson and Bradley among others. This is where Acheson got so fed up with Pentagon disinfo on Vietnam that he walked out. He later insisted on seeing raw reports and talking to on the ground commanders. So after this LBJ sent Clark Clifford over to the Pentagon to do just that. The new Sec Def had been a hawk on the war. After two weeks seeing the real record he became a dove and advised Johnson to find a way out, he was not going to win.
Then, after narrowly beating McCarthy, and then RFK announced he was running, LBJ's support collapsed in Wisconsin, the next primary state. His advisors on the ground told him he was going to actually lose straight up. That was it. Two days before the primary he got on TV and announced he would not run again but try to get a settlement in Vietnam.
He lost the Wisconsin primary by 30 points.
Exaggerating slightly, when you do not know something, go to Kennedysandking.com
There are two reasons. First, the Wise Man meeting with Acheson and Bradley among others. This is where Acheson got so fed up with Pentagon disinfo on Vietnam that he walked out. He later insisted on seeing raw reports and talking to on the ground commanders. So after this LBJ sent Clark Clifford over to the Pentagon to do just that. The new Sec Def had been a hawk on the war. After two weeks seeing the real record he became a dove and advised Johnson to find a way out, he was not going to win.
Then, after narrowly beating McCarthy, and then RFK announced he was running, LBJ's support collapsed in Wisconsin, the next primary state. His advisors on the ground told him he was going to actually lose straight up. That was it. Two days before the primary he got on TV and announced he would not run again but try to get a settlement in Vietnam.
He lost the Wisconsin primary by 30 points.
Exaggerating slightly, when you do not know something, go to Kennedysandking.com