CAPITOL STUFF

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000100250031-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 16, 1999
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: July 23, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

Sanitized - Approved Jff DIM
INWv
t) \rl.y Nays
"My^t y of Johnson s Exclusion From War Councils
his fact. too. is neculiaii' The failure, if indeed there was
tnccounts of government indecision and ineptitude during
the disastrous Bay of Pigs affair in April, 1961, must
inevitably cast a foreboding shadow over the grim ' pro-; :;!
ceedings' now under way at the White House.
Some of the characters involved now were 'involved then. The
citizens can only hope that lessons have been learned and that -the.;:
I After an extended, Madison
i. Aveiquc )find of publicity buildup
stretching' the public nerves for
the last" 10 days, President John-
son is huddling with the beat
advisers the government can
offer to make the new and serious
!decisions which must certainly
commit tens of thousands more
American troops ~tg'the war in
Viet Nam. - - '
{ The deliberations began yes-
fterday after' Defense Secretary
Robert I IcNamara returned from
tSaigon. They probably will, go
into tomorrow. It is believed
likely that when the fateful deci-
'sions have been reached, Johnson
will call Congressional leaders to
the White House or a "briefing,"
then immediately release. . the
Itough news to the public-the
figures on how many men are
needed, and when.
This could come tomorrow, or
in South Viet Nam, believing a. force this size is required to l7
"stabilize" the situation.
Best betting among knowledegeable members of Congress .te .
that the Administration will find that the deployment of 2G0,000..
men through next January should be sufficient to stave off the
.
Communist Viet Cong and allow the South Viet Namese army to.1'?
~- get on with a bit more pacification.
'Advisers Remember Last Reserves Snafu
Gen. William Westmoreland, the .U.S. commander in Saigon,
asked for an additional seven or eight squadrons of USAF fighter-;
bombers, : and he mhy got five or six.
Word seeping around Congress is that the President would like
to restrict the mobilizations of reserves to the call-up of one National
Guard division plus assorted smaller reserve units which would equal
a second division in total strength. '
Final decisions were still in the offing. The mobilization would
''not be done lightly or too hastily and without sufficient-preparation.
Among the'White House delibcrators, McNamara, Secretary of State
Dean Rusk and Presidential adviser AcGeoi'ge Bundy could claim at
least psychic wound stripes front the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the
'messy reserves' uproar over the partial mobilization after the Berlin
i Wall was built. I '
I They don't want-to avoid local turmoil nearly as much 'as does
f Lyndon Johnson; a. close observer of the - previous affairs who,
surprisingly, has not yet been mentioned as a confidant or adviser
of_the harried contereea_irl the, dark; spring
esilient Kennedy to bring Johnson' into the Cuban war councils.
The President's loud and hearty attention to his Great Society
1 wing the last year has caused many to overlook a touch of history.
*ngresg, and he knows where more bodies are buried .at the Penta-
rlVinson (D-Ga.), and later was a member of the Senate Armed
> .M'ees Committee.
Back in 1950, Johnson's blast at the condition of the nation's
tenses brought an investigation, which he headed, And creation
,"the.-Senate Armed Services Preparedness subcommittee, which
ran like a drill sergeant. One'might mention that as preparedness
1 airmany he hired a young lawyer named Cyrus Vance as an
,i;,c,m-s_counsel. Vance is now,deputy defense secretary and has
t exact;?v been out of touch with LBJ since. he went to the
Action May Add to'Pressure on North Viet Nam
'It is impossible to overestimate the seriousness of the White'
use talks and the decisions forthcoming shortly. and it is perhaps
otlight. -
This has the disadvantage of tipping the Communists, to'some.
tent. But the advertisement of intentions might add to the pres.
re on North Viet Nain to call -off the dogs before it is too late
d, perhaps, a world is aflame. '
Certainly anything, almost, would be an Improvement over the
The new reviews of failure don't add :much in terms of `fact.
ere still remains some loose handling of participation by the
int Chiefs of Staff. Two members appear to' have, proffered
itten approval of one Invasion plan or anothtr. .
But nowhere so far a
can be detdrmined, has there been evi-
s
nce that' the ICS ever 'sat down and worked over a war plan
ich involved the, nation's honor,. That, would have stopped the
y of Pig>a.
' Thia lesson, 'at"ledet, hras been learned. "he JCS was at the
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Sanitized - Approved .For. Release : CIA R'DR75=0`0.001 R000100250031-6