U.S. General Considered Nuclear Response in Vietnam War, Cables Show

[JonLP24]

By David E. Sanger
Oct. 6, 2018

WASHINGTON — In one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War, the top American military commander in Saigon activated a plan in 1968 to move nuclear weapons to South Vietnam until he was overruled by President Lyndon B. Johnson, according to recently declassified documents cited in a new history of wartime presidential decisions.

The documents reveal a long-secret set of preparations by the commander, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, to have nuclear weapons at hand should American forces find themselves on the brink of defeat at Khe Sanh, one of the fiercest battles of the war.

With the approval of the American commander in the Pacific, General Westmoreland had put together a secret operation, code-named Fracture Jaw, that included moving nuclear weapons into South Vietnam so that they could be used on short notice against North Vietnamese troops.

Johnson’s national security adviser, Walt W. Rostow, alerted the president in a memorandum on White House stationery.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/world/asia/vietnam-war-nuclear-weapons.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

[rampartc]

1. that would have won their "hearts and minds"

i did not doubt that many generals thought like curtiss lemay (later wallace's runnung mate) . i am glad that cooler heads prevail.

this thinking translates into the conservative myth that "the libruls made us fight with our hands tied or we would have won fer sure. hell tea."

i was there. no one tied my hands. we certainly could have destroyed viet nam, but "winning" (whatever that means) was never gonna happen.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Not surprised. We've always have had nuts that wanted to use these weapons too easily...

General in the Korean War wanted to use, Pres. Truman forced him out. Good thing we didn't use in Vietnam either. Only in most dire, most life threatening situations, e.g., aliens just about to wipe out life on earth, etc. situation should these massive weapons be ever used. Even rump had to be told of the rationale why we don't use these weapons (and I hope it sticks in his mind).

Maybe one day all of these weapons will be totally gone, but not yet...don't trust the Russians or Chinese, or the North Koreans either.

[pretzel4gore]

3. Why isn't 'Nam suing US today?..

The US is the biggie regards World Court and international law etc, so why doesn't. Viet Nam sue us for illegal war- and using Agent Orange etc in mad rush to profit from the chaos that Ho Chi Minh etc were afflicted with going back to 'Indo China' era?

[bobbieinok]

4. Many of us in the 60s became convinced some high ups wanted to use nukes in VN

It was esp maddening because of the mushroom cloud ad LBJ used against Goldwater in 64.

[Cirque du So-What]

5. I recall rumors of such a plan back in the day

Good to see documentation of horrific fantasies. Glad LBJ averted crimes against humanity.

[dalton99a]

6. "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner."

A scene described as one of the film's "most shocking and controversial sequences" shows the funeral of an South Vietnamese soldier and his grieving family, as a sobbing woman is restrained from climbing into the grave after the coffin.[4] The funeral scene is juxtaposed with an interview with General William Westmoreland — commander of American military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak from 1964 to 1968 and United States Army Chief of Staff from 1968 to 1972 — telling a stunned Davis that "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner. Life is plentiful. Life is cheap in the Orient."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_and_Minds_(film)