Friday, May 24, 1946. Truman and the railroad strike.

President Truman made a radio address promising that if railway workers had not returned to work by 4:00 p.m. May 25, he was going to seize control of the railroads.

 

The French Army crossed the Mekong into Thailand from Laos in pursuit of Communist forces. Both Communist troops and Thai forces clashed with them there.

Last edition:

Thursday, May 23, 1946. Chick-fil-A.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Georgia, Georgia (Atlanta), restaurants and bars, Strike Wave of 1945-1946, The American Midwest, Weather

Thursday, March 21, 1946. The Strategic and Tactical Air Commands created.

The Strategic Air Command and the Tactical Air Command were created.

Shoulder patch of the United States Army Air Forces Strategic Air Command.

SAC therefore predates the Air Force as an independent branch of the military.

And so does TAC, which has been inactive since 1992, when it was merged into SAC.

I've been meaning to do a post on reorganization of the U.S. military, which the illegal war on Venezuela and King Donny's War shows to be a desperate need, but I haven't gotten around to it.

The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure went into effect.

French forces engaged in the The Battle of Thakhek in Laos, allowing the French to reestablish themselves in that portion of French Indochina.

Kenny Washington became the first African American to sign with a professional football team since 1933.

Last edition:

Wednesday, March 20, 1946. Tule Lake closes but its residents struggles continue.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, 1960, 1960s, Aircraft, Disaster, Ethnicities, Internment of Japanese, law, Racism, U.S. Air Force

Wednesday, March 6, 1946. North Vietnam allows the French in. The US wants the USSR out of Iran.

North Vietnam agreed to allow French troops to return to its cities in return for recognition as "a free country within the framework of the French Union" in hopes that this would speed the departure of Nationalist Chinese troops.

Iran was in the news.

Last edition:

March 5, 1946. Winston Churchill - Iron Curtain Speech (The Sinews of Peace) - 5 March 1946

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Heroes, The Cold War, the spoken word, Winston Churchill

Thursday, February 28, 1946. Ho Chi Minh asks Truman for help.

Putative President of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh telegrammed President Truman and asked him to dissuade France from returning troops to French Indochina. Truman did not reply.

Ho in 1946.

FDR would have almost certainly taken the opposite position from Truman, who supported France, and quietly have opposed France resuming colonial occupation of Indochina.

Ho was, of course, a Communist, so the rosy spin on the historical counterfactual here probably isn't all that warranted.

Béla Imrédy, age 54, former Prime Minister of Hungary from 1938 to 1939, was executed by firing squad for collaboration with the Nazis.

Last edition:

Wednesday, February 27, 1946. What is Russia up to now?

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Donald Trump, Ethnicities, Harry S. Truman, Herbert Hoover, Russia, The Cold War, the spoken word, U.S. Navy, USSR, Vladimir Putin

Thursday, February 7, 1946. France attacks in Bến Tre Province, Truman speaks. Bikinis appear in the press. Strike controls. Army shoes on the market.

France launched a large-scale campaign to take the island province of Bến Tre Province in the Mekong Delta which was held by the Việt Minh.

President Truman gave a press conference.

The President's News Conference

February 7, 1946

THE PRESIDENT. [1.] I have a most interesting letter which I would like to read to you this morning, from the famous Dean of Canterbury, Mr. Hewlett Johnson. He says:

"My dear Mr. President:"--

This is dated 31st of January, 1946·

--"May I categorically deny a statement, which I understand has appeared in the American press, that I regarded America as 100 years behind in everything save religion and 150 years behind in that." [Laughter] "That statement, which is of course ridiculous, was made in a jocular mood by my predecessor." [More laughter]

"I neither endorsed such a statement, nor do I think it is true.

"I believe and constantly affirm that America leads the world in industrial adventure, activity and achievement. Indeed, I am accused in England of over-enthusiasm for America's achievement.

"I am convinced that we in Europe have rich lessons to learn from America, especially in enterprise and the arts of production.

"I believe also that America may learn in the future from some European experiments in distribution and planned economy.

"I only write because had such a statement really been made by me, it would have shown the most gross ingratitude for the over-abundant kindness I received from you and your countrymen."

If anybody wants a copy of that letter, we will furnish it.

[2.] Now to get down to serious things, I am particularly interested in this food situation.

In most of the wheat-producing countries of the world, outside of the United States and Canada, there has been almost a total crop failure in wheat. Australia's crop is a failure. South Africa had a drought. All Europe suffered from a drought, so far as the wheat situation is concerned. And in the far East, the production of rice in India is from 12 to 15 percent short of the usual crop, and they are always an importing country on that part of their food, and they import from Burma and Siam and Indochina. Those countries' rice crops are, of course, a total failure on account of the fact that they have--were in this war situation, and they also have had adverse weather conditions along with the war situation. The Japanese crop, I am informed, is 15 percent short of normal, and they import usually 15 percent of their rice for food.

It is proposed under this program which we have inaugurated, that we hope to be able to ship 6 million tons of wheat in the first half of 1946. Now, if anybody needs a lesson in arithmetic, that is about 200 million bushels. The measures ordered should make it possible for us to come closer to what we want to do by about 500,000 or a million tons.

Wheat and other food products which we plan to export during the first 6 months of this year will provide 50 million people with a diet of 2,000 calories a day, or 100 million with 1,000 calories a day for a 6 months' period.

Now, some of the people in the devastated countries of Europe are living on much less than 1,500 calories a day. We eat about 3,300 here in the United States. The situation is so serious that we felt it was absolutely essential to take every measure possible to help keep the people in these countries from starving; because in those countries which are our friends and allies, they are not to blame for the situation.

And in enemy countries we can't afford to see our enemies starve, even if they did bring this situation on themselves. We can't do that and live according to our own ideals.

We have asked Canada and Australia, and all the countries which are supposed to have surplus foods, to join us in this program; and I think every one of them will.

If you want a copy of these figures and things, Mr. Ayers will be able to furnish them to you after the conference.

Q. Mr. President, is it possible we may have meat rationing as a--may we have to come to that eventually?

THE PRESIDENT. I hope not. If the packing plants can run at full blast, it will not be necessary. If it becomes necessary, in order to keep 10 or 15 million people from starving to death, I think we ought to do it.

Q. Mr. President, can you throw any light, in that connection on that same story, in your meeting with the Cabinet?

THE PRESIDENT. That is substantially the statement that was issued yesterday as adopted by the Cabinet as a whole.

Q. Mr. President, under the Potsdam Declaration, the rations of the Germans should be no higher than the European average?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right.

Q. Does this worldwide shortage, particularly as it affects Europe, indicate there will have to be a cut in German rations?

THE PRESIDENT. There will probably have to be a cut in the whole European ration. There is a cut in the whole European ration now. That is what we are trying to meet. We are trying our best to meet the thing on as equitable a basis as we possibly can.

Q. But this thousand calories would be less than the Germans are getting. Are we going to feed the enemy better than our allies?

THE PRESIDENT. No, we are not. That is what we are trying to prevent. We are not going to do that. We are going to take care of our allies first. That figure is in Poland and Germany, principally.

Q. I was thinking of Poland, that is what I mean.

THE PRESIDENT. Poland and Germany. But we certainly are not going to treat our allies worse than our enemies, you can be assured of that.

Q. Mr. President, are there any mechanical difficulties in milling the flour?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't know. I don't know enough about the milling business to answer the question.

Q. Mr. President, can you say whether there is any problem of hoarding wheat in other countries at the present time?

THE PRESIDENT. I am not familiar with it, if there is.

Q. Mr. President, in connection with the extraction order, there are some rough spots in the milling industry, and I take it that the objection to that order is to get the wheat and the order--you would not object to the order being workable or flexible, so long as you got the wheat?

THE PRESIDENT. That's the point exactly. And I think we will get their cooperation-I don't think there will be anybody who isn't anxious to keep people from starving to death. It's un-American, I think, to have the idea to let people starve.

Q. Mr. President, when you were discussing this with the experts--with the agricultural people particularly--did they bring up details of this wheat shortage--grain shortage--in certain areas where farmers would be anxious to keep the wheat right with them, and you have to get it out? Is that part of the problem?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes. I think every phase has been gone into by the agricultural experts.

Q. Any particular answer to that situation ?

THE PRESIDENT. I can't give you an answer to that. We hope that this situation will work out. The reports that have been made indicate that everybody seems to think it answers the purpose.

Q. Mr. President, if there will be no rationing here, are the mechanics such that we will cut down, just not buy so much; that is, the American people--

THE PRESIDENT. Yes. Make contributions, just like they would clothing and everything else. I think they will do that. I think they will be pleased to do that.

Q. Mr. President, who will handle the equitable distribution of these food supplies in the various countries?

THE PRESIDENT. UNRRA will handle most of it.

Q. It will continue under UNRRA?

THE PRESIDENT, Yes.

Q. Mr. President, does this 6 million tons represent an increase in our commitments, or a decrease in our commitments?

THE PRESIDENT. No. There is, I think, a slight decrease in our first commitments. You will have to get those figures categorically from the Secretary of Agriculture, who has been the conferee with our allies in this setup.

Q. Mr. President, can you tell us what estimate you have on wheat saving from the livestock reduction program?

THE PRESIDENT. About--between 25 and 50 million bushels.

Q. Well, do you believe that this saving is justified in the light of the danger of short liquidation of livestock?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think there will be any short liquidation of livestock. Livestock will be slaughtered at a lighter weight than they ordinarily would. And 225-pound hogs will, I think, make just as good eating as 300-pound ones; and I used to raise them.

Q. [Aside] Better.

[3.] Q. Mr. President, about Mr. Pauley. Are you going to withdraw his nomination?

THE PRESIDENT. I am not. I am backing Mr. Pauley. I think Mr. Pauley is an honest man, and I don't think he is the only honest man in Washington or in the oil business.

Q. Have you any comment?

THE PRESIDENT. I think he is a very capable administrator, because he was the Reparations Director up until just recently and did a magnificent job in that, and I have the utmost confidence in him.

Q. Did Secretary Ickes advise you of his testimony before?

THE PRESIDENT. No, he did not. I didn't discuss it with him.

Q. Do you intend to now?

THE PRESIDENT, No.

Q. Mr. President, did Ed Flynn confide in you yesterday, when he was going to leave your office, that he was going to criticize Mr. Ickes?

THE PRESIDENT. No, he did not. I didn't discuss Mr. Ickes with Mr. Flynn. He was discussing other matters.

Q. Can you tell us what you were discussing, sir?

THE PRESIDENT. It was political matters in the State of New York. [Laughter]

Q. Mr. President, you don't consider that this situation involves anything at all, any change in your relations with Mr. Ickes?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think so. Mr. Ickes can very well be mistaken the same as the rest of us.

[4.] Q. Mr. President, how is the price-what is the situation on the wage-price balance?

THE PRESIDENT. I hope to be able to make a complete statement on that in a day or two. I can't do it now.

Q. Will it come today possibly?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think so.

Q. Do you anticipate, sir, that that would bring on an early settlement of the steel and other big strikes?

THE PRESIDENT. I hope so.

Q. Mr. President, has the administration made any suggestions on that wage-price formula that may be under consideration by U.S. Steel and Labor in their current sessions?

THE PRESIDENT. I haven't discussed the matter with either one, up to the present time.

Q. I was wondering whether Mr. Snyder may have passed it along for some suggestions for a formula?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't think so. They are working on it. That's what they are working--it will all be worked out.

Q. Is it a materially new wage-price stabilization policy, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT. No, it isn't. It's a working out of the situation we are faced with now, and I think it will be worked out in a very satisfactory manner.

Q. Can you say when, sir?

THE PRESIDENT. I hope in the next day or two.

Q. There has been some speculation, Mr. President, that this will be called "the big steel formula"?

THE PRESIDENT [laughing]. I haven't heard that one.

Q. Does that mean it will be temporary, Mr. President, in meeting the present situation?

THE PRESIDENT. Here is the situation that we are trying to meet: We are all aware of the fact that what we need is production. We know that if we get production--mass production--on the basis that we are capable of putting out here in this country, that the situation will adjust itself; and whenever that situation comes about there will be no reason for a wage-price formula, for that will adjust itself.

And that is exactly what we have been working for, ever since V-J Day. That was the reason for the first directive on a wage price formula. It was my hope that we would, as soon as possible, begin working just as hard as we could to create production to meet the demand that has now piled up as a result of the war.

We have had some stumbling blocks. We are trying to meet those stumbling blocks now. The first wage-price formula would have worked, if we had been able to arrive at the production we were hoping we were going to get.

[5.] Q. If the steel and other strikes are not settled, will there still be a Florida trip?

THE PRESIDENT. I am still going to Florida.

Q. [Aside] Good!

THE PRESIDENT. I can still do business by telephone.

[6.] Q. Has the committee from the House Territories Committee reported to you on their investigation of statehood for Hawaii?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right. They recommended

Q. Can you report your views?

THE PRESIDENT. They recommended that Hawaii ought to have statehood.

Q. As you made in your annual Message for immediate statehood?

THE PRESIDENT. That's right. I think they were--they are in favor of that very thing.

Reporter: Thank you, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT, All right.

NOTE: President Truman's forty-seventh news conference was held in his office at the White House at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 7, 1946.

How nice it must have been to have a President who didn't sound like an idiot every time he spoke.

The India Burma Theater Roundup came out.  It was one of the many service newspapers of the Second World War.

The paper's masthead.

We've had Yank up here from time to time and that service magazine notably had a pinup in ever issue, an unfortunate indication of things to come, even though the pinup was always clothed.  Perhaps because of its distance from the continental US, the Roundup was packed with pinups.  This issue, which I'm not going to fully post, had a bikini clad young woman on every page.  I note that because, for whatever reason, I'd assumed that the bikini had come into being in the 1950s.  Not so, it had clearly arrived by the mid 1940s.

Because we put some newspapers up from the 1940s, well because we do it quite often, we've looked at quite a few and that's been revealing as well  The Rocky Mountain News was very obviously much more of a tabloid than it was later, and it had cheesecake photos in it a fair amount.  However, the other day going through it it had an article entitled "Denver Women Do Not Like Nude Look" featuring a woman wearing a see through blouse.  I don't doubt that Denver women didn't like it, but the fact that it even came up says something about the standards of the time.  Indeed, in looking at the issue for this day in 1946, a bikini clad actress was featured.  In a recent issue, a cartoon that focused on post war life had women a dressing room, naked bare backs to the viewer, in the drawing, with the cartoon page being the one that children favored.

Perhaps related, the Rocky Mountain News had this article for the day:

Hmmm.

In a more serious article:

And the Cold War was heating up.

This article for shoes in the same issue featured a type of shoe that we'd call a Service Shoe, that being an ankle high boot.  That type of boot has been discussed at length here, and is still made by companies like Red Wing and Whites.  They were the boot of the U.S. Army from 1902 until into World War Two, when they were replaced by the M1943 combat boot.  In 1945 some troops would still have had them.

The advertised manufacturer, Roblee, is still around.  They came into existence in 1908.  Roblee had been an Army contractor during World War Two and had made service shoes as well as jump boots.

Indeed both of the shoe designs depicted above would have worked for the Army uniform at the time, which leads us to suspect that these were contract overruns, or perhaps left over after contract terminations.

Related Threads:

Munson Last Boots, or how I became a hipster and didn't even know it. And reflections what hipster affectations mean.

Labels: Agrarianism, Agriculture, Army, Clothing, Commentary, Contra Mudum, Footwear, James Montgomery Flagg, Work

Saturday, January 26, 1946. Taking over the packing plants.

It was Chinese New Year.

The Department of Agriculture took over 133 striking meat packing plants.

In the same issue of the Rocky Mountain News, Robert Ruark, famous for his hunting columns, had one about radio telephones.

The Sheridan Press also had a headline on the strike, without the same tone.

The same issue had this advertisement, showing how important equine power still was.

The SS Argentina departed from Southampton for New York with 452 war brides, 173 small children, and one "war bridegroom" married to a WAC.

French troops fought the Viet Quoc Armed Force, Vietnamese nationalist and socialist troops,  at Phong Thổ District. The French would prevail after a two day battle.

Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng, whose army this was, was not a Communist party, and in fact it was suppressed by the Communists and many of its members went into exile following the Vietnamese War.

Bikini Atoll was chosen for nuclear tests by the U.S.

Film critic Gene Siskel was born on this day in Chicago.

Last edition:

Friday, January 25, 1946. Soviet nuclear program gets s jump start.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Crime, Czechoslovakia, Douglas MacArthur, Dutch East Indies, Espionage, It was because of World War Two, Japan, Joseph Stalin, Nuclear power, Sudetenland, Sweden, Unions, USSR, Weapons, Wyoming

Tuesday,. August 14, 1945. VJ Day. World War Two ends. New wars start.

Emperor Hirohito accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and recorded a radio message to the Japanese people saying that the war should end and that they must "bear the unbearable."   Truman announced the Japanese surrender the same day.

Hirohito's full recorded, and then broadcast, speech stated:

To our good and loyal subjects.

After pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining to our empire today, we have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure.

We have ordered our government to communicate to the governments of the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union that our empire accepts the provisions of their Joint Declaration.

To strive for the common prosperity and happiness of all nations as well as the security and well-being of our subjects is the solemn obligation which has been handed down by our imperial ancestors, and which we lay close to heart. Indeed, we declared war on America and Britain out of our sincere desire to ensure Japan’s self-preservation and the stabilization of East Asia, it being far from our thought either to infringe upon the sovereignty of other nations or to embark upon territorial aggrandizement.

But now the war has lasted for nearly four years. Despite the best that has been done by everyone—the gallant fighting of the military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of our servants of the state, and the devoted service of our 100 million people—the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.

Moreover, the enemy has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to damage is indeed incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives.

Should we continue to fight, it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization. Such being the case, how are we to save the millions of our subjects or to atone ourselves before the hallowed spirits of our imperial ancestors? This is the reason why we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers.

We cannot but express the deepest sense of regret to our allied nations of East Asia, who have consistently co-operated with the empire towards the emancipation of East Asia. The thought of those officers and men as well as others who have fallen in the fields of battle, those who died at their posts of duty, or those who met with untimely death and all their bereaved families, pains our heart day and night.

The welfare of the wounded and the war sufferers, and of those who have lost their homes and livelihood, are the objects of our profound solicitude. The hardships and sufferings to which our nation is to be subjected hereafter will certainly be great. We are keenly aware of the inmost feelings of all you, our subjects.

However, it is according to the dictate of time and fate that we have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable.

Having been able to safeguard and maintain the structure of the imperial state, we are always with you, our good and loyal subjects, relying upon your sincerity and integrity. Beware most strictly of any outbursts of emotion which may engender needless complications, or any fraternal contention and strife which may create confusion, lead you astray, and cause you to lose the confidence of the world.

Let the entire nation continue as one family from generation to generation, ever firm in its faith of the imperishableness of its divine land, and mindful of its heavy responsibilities, and the long road before it.

Unite your total strength to be devoted to the construction for the future. Cultivate the ways of rectitude; foster nobility of spirit; and work with resolution so that you may enhance the innate glory of the imperial state and keep pace with the progress of the world.

Bearing it would prove to be nowhere as difficult as predicted for anyone, particularly Japanese women, and in general the Japanese middle and lower class. Frankly, everyone's life in Japan would improve immeasurably.  So much so, but for some wackadoodles, Japan has never looked back.

The recording had to be smuggled out of the Tokyo Imperial Palace out of fear of a military coup taking place

The attempted coup did in fact take place, as Japanese officers attempted to steal the recording and prevent the surrender.  The attempt failed, and at 19:00 Truman announced the Japanese surrender. Coup leader Major Kenji Hatanaka commited suicide after its failure..

As odd as it may seem, there were still air raids conducted until the surrender was broadcast.  The last raid was on Akita  (秋田空襲), which was the last raid of the war, which was a nighttime raid that occurred more or less at the same time as the attempted coup.

The Marifu railyard after the bombing raid of 14 August 1945 by B-29s

Huge crowds gathered all over the US to celebrate the end of the war.

The famous Times Square photograph of a sailor kissing a woman, which is protected by copyright, as American copyright provisions are absurdly long, was taken.

The Soviets continued their advance on South Sakhalin and some of the Kurils, and advanced deep into Manchuria.

Gen. MacArthur was delegated to take the Japanese surrender.  A cessation of hostilities is ordered by both sides.

The War Production Board lifted restrictions on the productions of automobiles.

The Viet Minh launched an uprising against the French in Vietnam.

Steve Martin was born.

Last edition:

Monday, August 13, 1945. Japan announces its surrender. The impacts of World War Two start.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, British League of Nations Mandates, Chinese Civil War, It was because of World War Two, Japan, Mongolia, Palestine, Southern Jiangsu Campaign, U.S. Air Force, World War Two, Zionism

May 19, 1941. Allied Victory In Ethiopia

Italian forces in Ethiopia surrendered.

Today in World War II History—May 19, 1941

This would stand as the first major Allied victor of World War Two.   Amazingly, Italian bitter enders carried on a guerilla campaign against the British until 1943, something which is little remembered, particularly in the context of general Italian ineffectiveness during the war.

The British took Fallujah in Iraq. 

On the same day, anticipating what was coming, the RAF withdrew from Crete.

In Japanese occupied Indochina, Vietnamese nationalist and communists formed the Viet Minh.  The movement was Communist dominated, although at this point it did include some other nationalist elements.  In some ways it was a revival of an organization that had been formed in the mid 1930s, in China, to oppose the French, but Japanese occupation sparked its immediate renewal.

The organization would go on to oppose the French after the war and would become solidly Communist by that time.

On Vietnam Veterans Day

Today is Vietnam Veterans Day.

The reason for that is that it was on this day, in 1973, that the last American combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam.

As we now know, they were withdrawn under an agreement, the Paris Peace Accords, that President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger believed would fail.  That Nixon believed that was cynically assumed, and it turns out correctly assumed, by the first historians of the war, who uniformly regarded the war as an ill though out American disaster. 

Starting about a decade ago, or so, however, revisionist histories, some fairly good and not so much, took the opposite approach.  A statistical analysis of the war conducted by a Marine veteran and expatriate living in Australia fairly convincingly argued that the war had been effectively won by 1968 and that the process of Vietnamization conducted by the Nixon Administration thereafter simply reflected that.  Two books on the early portion of the war when Diem was still the living autocrat in charge in the Republic of Vietnam took charitable views towards the pre 1965 American build up and argued that the war could have been won but for mistakes in that phase.

Then came Ken Burns groundbreaking recent documentary, followed by Max Hasting's new book on the war, which I'm only now just reading. 

Both make clear what the earlier books already had suggested.  The United States failed to appreciate the real situation in Vietnam from the onset, even while the French remained there, and the following intervention was beset by mistakes from the very first.  Worse yet, in some ways, Richard Nixon basically set out to betray the South Vietnam by extracting the United States dishonestly, believing that the North would ultimately prevail.  All that was needed, in his view, was some breathing room to make the departure decent.

Unfortunately for history, Nixon's other activities removed him from the Oval Office so that he was not present to bear the brunt of the impact of his decisions, which came in 1975 with the northern invasion.  The Army of the Republic of Vietnam collapsed in the face of that offensive, but in no small part due to a lack of effective air power.  Having been trained since at least the early 1960s to rely on massive American supplied firepower, without it, it really couldn't fight, and its troops rapidly lost spirit, to the extent they ever had any, and effectively quit.  Thousand and ultimately millions paid the price.

So are the pundits right, that the United States should have never gone in, in the first place?  I'm still not sure.  I find it hard to see a way that the U.S. could have avoided Vietnam, save perhaps for having denied the French any assistance in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  That would have been the approach, to the extent that we can discern one, that Franklin Roosevelt would have taken, as he was universally opposed to colonialism and seems to have been fairly comfortable with independence movements that were heavily communist.  Of course, had Vietnam become a communist state in 1946, it's hard not to imagine that being the case all the way to at least Thailand.

Which is perhaps the point.  Earlier in this blog I posed the suggestion that the Vietnam War ought not to be looked at in a vacuum, but rather as a campaign, and not wholly successful one, in the Cold War.  And that still seems correct to me.

But one fought at great cost that the country has never really gotten over in some ways. 

Making this a good day to remember its veterans.

Some Gave All: Memorial to French War Dead. Gandelu France

Some Gave All: Memorial to French War Dead. Gandelu France:

Memorial to French War Dead. Gandelu France

This memorial in Gandelu, France has been kept current following its original dedication to World War One's lost soldiers.  Those lost in World War Two, the French Indo-China War, and the Algerian War were later added.

MKTH Photographs.

July 9, 1968. North Vietnam raises its flag above Khe Sanh.

In an anticlimactic footnote to the Siege of Khe Sanh, the North Vietnamese Army raised the flag above the outpost that had been abandoned by the United States on July 5.

Khe Sanh bunkers

The entire affair became symbolic for many for the state of the Vietnam War. The US had occupied an interior position, much like the French had at Dien Bien Phu, and then held it against what turned out to be a giant feint in order not to suffer the same humiliating defeat that the French had earlier.  In the meantime, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive and the combined impact of everything made the NVA and VC look to be a much more potent force than they really were.  Having said that, the NVA assault on the Marine Corps base at Khe Sanh was an impressive feat involving moving a large number of men, including artillery, through the jungle without being detected.

The siege commenced on January 21, 1968 and ran all through the Tet Offensive and into the Spring with President Johnson ordering that the base not be allowed to fall after the base was quickly surrounded.  Air support to the surrounded base was massive.  Ground fighting on the neighboring hills was sometimes intensive. 

The 1st Cavalry advancing in Operation Pegasus.

In March of that year Operation Pegasus was commenced, over Marine Corps objection, to relieve the base, which the Marines asserted was not in need of relief.  By mid April the 1st Cavalry Division had reopened the highway and declared the base no longer surrounded.  On April 15 the Marines followed on the Army's Operation Pegasus with Operation Scotland II to clear the area around Khe Sanh. That operation continued into February 1969, but in the meantime the Marines withdrew from Khe Sanh in July, 1968.

Marine Corps memorial service for fallen American and South Vietnamese servicemen on June 19, 1968 the day the abandonment of the base commenced.

Operation Charlie, the withdrawal from the base at Khe Sanh was commenced on June 19, 1968 and was conducted at night.  Hill 689, near Khe Sanh, was occupied for a few days after Khe Sanh itself was evacuated.  On this day, the NVA occupied Khe Sanh. While the military declared the ongoing occupation of Khe Sanh pointless in the conditions that followed Tet, the Press was not kind to the US military after the occupation was learned of. Less well known is that the Khe Sanh plateau continued to be patrolled by the Marines, lending credence to the changed American view on the importance of the base, if not the overall American assessment of the strategic situation in 1967 and 1968.

Khe Sanh was actually reoccupied in 1971, a fact that's rarely noted, by the ARVN and the US in Operation Dewey Canyon II and subsequently used for a jumping off point for the ARVN in the 1971 Operation Lam Son 719 offensive.  That latter offensive turned disastrous for the ARVN in Laos and the base was abandoned for good on April 6, 1971.