Comparing Today’s World to 1968
I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago and as timing would have it, CNN is airing a four part documentary this weekend on the pivotal and chaotic year of 1968.
Think the world is a mess today? Facing existential threats- Iran and North Korean nuclear ambitions? Continuing wars in the Middle East? Radical Islamic Jihadists creating global havoc? Polarization of our political spectrum and deterioration of civil discourse leaving our nation seriously divided unable to function effectively as a cohesive democratic society?
Look back fifty years… Divisive issues over the Vietnam War verged on anarchy. Civil discourse was in tatters as a cultural revolution evolved and fueled an anti-war movement that gathered steam in 1968. Draft dodging and riots erupted. Drug use and rebellion became commonplace. For vets returning home it was a maddening experience to see how their world had changed during their tour of duty. Many faced disgrace, disrespect, and the abuse of being spit on.
I address these issues in my fictional historical narrative, RECALL. Memories fade with time, unless you were a veteran of that fourteen year war in SE Asia. Half our population was not born during that turbulent era, many who did, have died, and some others have little or no recall of the war or the cultural revolution and anti-war protests.
RECALL will refresh your memory or lend an educational background to that era. I’ve enclosed an excerpt from my novel that illustrates the turbulent events of 1968. I try to capture the mood of that time. I lived through Vietnam and the San Francisco aftermath up close and personal. This excerpt will give you a feeling of the period and its problems. Compare them to our present concerns. Are we worse off than then? Have we failed to learn the lessons of history? Did this era birth the political division we see in our country five decades later?
Excerpt from RECALL by R. Lawson
THE SCENE: Lake Tahoe ski chalet , Thanksgiving, 1968.
THE CHARACTERS: My protagonists and their wives recounting Vietnam events during the North Vietnamese TET offensive and discussing the other earth shattering global events that roiled the world, one after another in 1968.
- Biff Roberts- Former CIA deputy station manager, Saigon
- Captain Roe MacDonald- Former USAF flight surgeon (Air evacuations- Vietnam)
- Ann MacDonald- Former CINCPAC civilian consultant with expertise in Vietnamese affairs
- Beth Roberts – Religious woman reluctant to discuss politics
THE DISCUSSION :
After a full day of skiing, the glow of the huge river- rock fireplace offered a delightful après ski setting for the two couples. The dinner that Ann and Beth prepared along with Biff’s wines soothed their aches and pains. Everyone fell into a relaxed and reminiscent mood. Over Cognac, they started recounting the events of the past year. With America still caught up in the ongoing Vietnam struggle, the discussion of the war naturally came up. It was hard to get over.
“Not a banner year in American history,” Ann remarked for starters. She brought up the surprise January ’68 North Vietnamese Tet offensive that caught American and allied troops off guard, both in its magnitude and scope. There were huge attacks on Hue and Saigon, as well as smaller cities like Danang.”
“I’m glad Biff returned home two months before Tet started.” Beth exclaimed. “Thank God!”
“Timing’s everything.” Biff joked. His smile faded. “General Westmoreland incorrectly expected a major frontal assault across the DMZ in the northern Central Highlands. Khe Sahn had been under intense siege for months. Westmoreland had deployed more troops north to fortify the DMZ sector for the anticipated assault.
Ann asked Biff, “Was that a CIA intelligence failure?”
“Not entirely.” He cringed slightly.
“What happened?” Putting Biff on the spot with a teasing smile.
“I suspect the CIA totally underestimated both the large number of NVA assembled, and the coordination of extensive frontal attacks in multiple providences and cities in South Vietnam. Allied with the Viet Cong, they were a formidable force. The enemy digressed from their usual hit- and- run asymmetric warfare by conducting conventional war tactics. The frontal attacks packed a big element of surprise, catching everyone off guard on the Chinese New Year. Basically, they changed their game plan.”
“That’s true,” Ann added. “No one expected conventional warfare.”
“As you well know from our Hickam conferences, our CIA intelligence estimates were right on the mark for years in Vietnam, but our recommendations went unheeded by LBJ’s administration time after time. In late ’67, the Saigon CIA staff underwent a big turnover after the boss and I returned to the States and missed the ’68 Tet offensive. The new boys were just settling into their tasks and not quite up to snuff. But, I rather doubt the DC crowd and Westmoreland would have implemented our CIA advice anyway, even if they had gotten it right this time. That’s my take on the agency’s missed call on Tet, how it went down.”
“No doubt,” Ann conceded.
“I’m also concerned about the North Koreans capturing the Pueblo last January. We don’t need two simultaneous wars in Southeast Asia. We already have over half a million troops tied up in Vietnam. Word has it that Westmoreland recently requested 200,000 more. In my opinion, it is about time to turn the war back over to South Vietnam, and let the chips fall where they may.”
Ann found this candid admission by Biff astounding. Biff used to be more of a hawk, but had a cynical side to him.
Biff continued to render his opinion of the current situation in Vietnam as he stood and refilled everyone’s brandy snifter. He longed for a Cohiba, but would have to go outside to smoke it and it was damn cold. Besides, he actually enjoyed revisiting the contentious topic. Someone had to parry Ann’s remarks. He was getting into it.
“Tet’s major offensive took us a month to defeat. We suffered over a thousand casualties in that brief period. The fighting continued sporadically for a year. We established an impressive kill ratio of the enemy, almost fifteen to one early on, but four thousand casualties over a year is still is a lot of American lives to be lost. It shocked the home front, so our favorable ratio became irrelevant. The fact the enemy lost so many more over the year never registered with the public. They focused on the negative.”
“You bet it did. The newspapers couldn’t print enough of the bad news coming out of Vietnam,” Ann exclaimed. “It was a turning point, Biff.”
“Politically, not militarily. The media ignored the fact that well over fifty- eight thousand Viet Cong and VNA enemy troops perished under our superior American firepower that year. But, you wouldn’t know it from the selective press releases and the media.”
“That number may be inaccurate, an exaggeration or fabrication by LBJ’s administration, Biff.”
“Possibly, but let me state for the record that not a single city or South Vietnam province was lost during Tet. While it was actually a huge American military victory on one hand, the war lost enormous public support on the other.”
Roe chimed in. “I didn’t know those military facts.”
Ann acknowledged her husband’s statement by raising thoughtful eyebrows. “That’s astonishing. Biff, you never even mentioned those specifics to me.”
“The press buried those numbers. Didn’t fit their anti- war agenda.”
“I agree with that statement. Subsequently, American public opinion fractured down the middle: war supporters vs. anti- war. The media still overwhelmingly supports the anti- war movement and continues calling for negotiations. Walter Cronkite is the leading voice in that movement.”
Biff frowned, “Find it ironic, Ann? Just as you predicted in your last Joint Intelligence meeting in Hawaii two years ago, the first domino to fall was U.S. public opinion, not Vietnam. The public simply didn’t buy into LBJ’s policy. What did we get from our Vietnam involvement? How did that work out?” Biff shook his head in disgust before he answered his own question. “We got a state of anarchy. Riots erupting on campus and in the streets, draft card burning, and race riots in the cities. In my opinion, 1968 represented a general deterioration of societal norms in America.”
He watched their reactions as they sat by the fireside. A log popped as if punctuating his statement and a flame shot up when the log shifted as it broke in half.
Ann inclined her head in agreement, while Roe and Beth remained silent and uncommitted. Their tilted heads showed their fascination with this intellectual exchange.
In Biff’s view, America was undergoing a tectonic cultural revolution. He showed a rare glimpse of his frustrations and annoyance with the conduct of the war and its unintended consequences. His body language spoke volumes.
Roe had never seen Biff become so visibly upset. But, he was witnessing seven years of building frustration, dating from the ’61 Bay of Pigs fiasco to the present. Biff was ventilating. Roe thought that reaction was healthy. Biff needed to get this off his chest and this was an opportune time among friends who understood where he was coming from.
After several moments, Roe gave his opinion, catching everyone by surprise. He’d been reserved up to this point.
“Perhaps Vietnam is the wrong war in the wrong place for the wrong reasons. With so many self- imposed restrictions, military victory will come at a great price, not only in casualties, but with a splintering of our domestic psyche. Look at the breakdown in traditional society occurring right before our very eyes. San Francisco is the poster child of the anti- war movement and on the verge of anarchy.”
Everyone agreed.
Ann, knowing Roe’s deep- seated opinions regarding Vietnam, didn’t want him to get worked up. She went over and put a pillow behind his neck and gave him a hug … a message not to get too upset.
She turned back to Biff. “As I’ve said before, we can win the war militarily without question as you mentioned. But, we can lose it politically. We never really captured the hearts and minds of the peasantry in the countryside. They were never pacified. We never gained their commitment, their support. The South Vietnamese leadership went through five or six coups. I’ve lost count. In retrospect, the only leader with any chance of success, Diem, was assassinated in 1963. With our complicity, I might add.”
Biff, laughed at the indirect dig at him and the CIA. “You couldn’t resist that last comment, could you?”
“Nothing personal, Biff, but you’d agree, in hindsight, it was an ill- advised decision by JFK and his administration to allow Diem’s assassination.”
“Hindsight is always twenty- twenty, Ann.”
Beth sat quietly, sipping her brandy. She never discussed religion or politics, even with close friends, but Biff was glad to see she appeared amused with Ann’s and his friendly banter. He knew her well enough to know she was probably glad they were keeping such an emotional and divisive issue on an intellectual level. He grinned at his reserved wife.
Roe, reclining on the sofa, feet up on the hassock, leaned back on his pillow and glanced over to Beth and winked, indicating that this discussion may go on a while.
Biff joked that year seemed like the new Beatles’ album, “The Magical Mystery Tour.” Everyone laughed.
Ann changed the tone by giving an overview of everything that had happened during the year to bring them to this point.
She reminded them how the Tet offensive and the Pueblo capture had started off a turbulent year pivotal in dividing Americans into polarized camps, right and left—conservative vs. liberal, with rednecks and radical progressive activists at opposite fringes.
In March, Senator Gene McCarthy defeated President Johnson in the New Hampshire primary, supported by the anti- war student movement. This stunning defeat, the course of negative events in Vietnam, and the growing anti- war clamor prompted LBJ to announce two weeks later that he would not seek reelection. The sudden reversal took everyone by surprise.
The following week, April 4th, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, igniting race riots throughout the country. Student riots and draft- card burning demonstrations escalated on campuses. Activist students took over five buildings at Columbia University in anti- war protests.
The turmoil in America continued into July with the senseless assassination of Andy Warhol, the famous artist, in New York City on the 3rd of July. The next day, a Palestinian immigrant, Sirhan Sirhan, shot Robert F Kennedy Jr. in Los Angeles at close range, mortally wounding him. The world was going mad!
On the international front, the Soviet Union occupied Czechoslovakia with tanks rolling into Prague streets, bringing “winter to springtime” twelve years after occupying Hungary in a similar military fashion.
The universal chaos and civil unrest extended into the summer Democratic convention in Chicago with anti- war demonstrators fighting pitched battles with the police. Tear gas subdued the violence. Among those arrested was Abby Hoffman, a founder of the “Youth International Party.”
Ann recalled that the “Yippie” leader made headlines with his statement regarding revolution, a hallmark of the times. She quoted him verbatim: “Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process imbedded in the human spirit.”
Biff, Roe, and Beth were all astonished at Ann’s brilliant command of history, and her ability to pull up such esoteric quotes extemporaneously.
She went on to outline somewhat similar historical parallels between the mid- 1960s civil conflicts in America with the “War of Roses” in England in 1453, a conflict that lasted three decades.
“That war was a series of dynastic civil conflicts fought between the landed aristocracy and feudal subjects…”
Ann saw a striking likeness to the present events occurring in the sixties in the U.S. The current revolt did not primarily focus on land and property; instead, it focused on ideology. She elaborated on this analogy.
“The cultural revolution of the sixties is a convergence of irreconcilable differences in society’s attitudes and philosophies. Often, the divergence of political opinion and cultural mores reaches glacial dimensions culminating in a state of anarchy, like we are witnessing.”
Ann explained that she saw a thin line between orderly, First Amendment democratic protest and violent rioting, as activists challenged authority for what they perceived as their government pursuing ignoble policies.
She gave as an example the Students for Democratic Action at Berkeley, a radical left- wing organization. Some viewed the SDA as a communist front, and most agreed they were prone to violence.
Biff could not let that go. “You know that a splinter group of the SDA, the ‘Weather Underground’ is definitely an anarchist organization, right? They were recently implicated in blowing up the Park Police Station in San Francisco, killing a Sergeant Sullivan. The FBI raided an apartment in the Mission District where they found Bill Ayres’ fingerprints along with several Black Panther members’ prints. They also found bomb paraphernalia and revolutionary literature. Ayres and his wife, Bernadette Dorhn—both possible suspects—fled to Chicago with some Black Panther leaders, Huey somebody or another. An ongoing investigation is underway.”
Forced to agree with his assessment, Ann then redirected the conversation back to reflections on 1968 and the recent November presidential election.
“Earlier this month, Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey for the U.S. presidency. I was astounded that Alabama Governor Wallace, a white supremacist, received 13.5 percent of the vote! That vote made the presidential election close, 43.4 percent to 42.7 percent. Talk about polarization. Half the country went right, the other half left. Political and civic culture has been transformed. I predict it will continue to be difficult to resolve our future differences. This transformation will not end well.”
“No argument there,” Biff concurred.
“Supporting that viewpoint, last March the Kerner Commission Report proved prophetic. It stated what I’ve considered obvious for some time, that in 1968, America has two societies, ‘separate and unequal.’ The conservative side views America as fundamentally good, but always able to improve.”
“That’s the correct viewpoint,” Roe chimed in. “America’s fundamentally sound.”
They all looked at Roe, who was definitely tuned in and voicing his viewpoint. Biff knew his friend’s strong feelings on the topic and was glad he expressed them in context. He’d come a long way in his rehab, and was nearly back to his old self socially.
Ann acknowledged her husband’s participation with an engaging smile.
“That’s one school of thought, Roe. The opposing viewpoint, held by the left, is that our government is flawed and requires dramatic changes. To support their argument, they point to the student anti- Vietnam war rebellion and race riots. The United States no longer represents ‘a shining city upon a hill’ in their worldview. But, on the other side of the equation, the right views left wingers as political activists permeated by progressive radicals who are cynical, and even immoral. As in the ‘War of Roses,’ I predict this antithesis and rancor will last decades before being resolved. Unfortunately, the media will fan the fires of dissent, magnifying the differences.”
She had their rapt attention.
“War of roses?” Roe asked. “Think that’s a bit academic, dear?”
She politely ignored his friendly gibe, realizing perhaps she was a bit over the top with the analogy.
“Discourse will not be polite or civil. I was over on the Berkeley campus last week visiting friends, and made an interesting observation. Remember the banners that used to hang outside the dorm windows? Those painted sheets proclaiming ‘Hey, hey LBJ. How many kids have you killed today?’ They have come down now, but new banners reading ‘Dick Nixon, before he dicks you!’ have replaced them.”
Everyone shared a good laugh at this college rip. Ann scanned each face in their small group, gauging their reaction to where all this was going. Sensing it was time to wrap it up.
“So, in conclusion, this demonstrates that the present turmoil reflects a conceptual, civic revolt, as much as political. There seems to be no end in sight to all this bitterness, no matter what political party is in office.”
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