The Normal Conspiratorial Politics of Vietnam IV

The Normal Conspiratorial Politics of Vietnam IV

Peter Schultz

 

                  Dean Rusk, trying to refute arguments that JFK had decided to pull the US and its military out of Vietnam, said that no president could “leave Americans in uniform in a combat situation for domestic political purposes.” [324] Rusk was wrong, both about JFK and about presidents generally. Not only presidents but even generals like General Harkins, et. al., left American soldiers in combat situations for political purposes, e.g., for fortifying the Army hierarchy devoted to the Concept. This is the meaning of Clausewitz’s famous remark that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.”

 

                  JFK was conspiring to pull the US out of Vietnam after the 1964 presidential election, should he have won. As Newman points out, “Kennedy kept his plan a closely guarded secret,” sharing it only with a few of those he trusted and not with others like General Taylor, Dean Rusk, or his vice president, LBJ. It, the plan, had to be kept secret because had it become known “’before the 1964 election, there would be a conservative outcry against returning him to the Presidency for a second term.’” [322] As JFK told Kenny O’Donnell, “’If I tried to pull out completely now from Vietnam, we would have another Joe McCarthy scare…, but I can do it after I’m re-elected.’” [323] As Newman argued, “Kennedy knew the war was a lost cause, and that his problem was how to disguise his intentions until after the election.”  [323]

 

                  So, again, it appears that “conspiracies are the normal continuation of normal politics by normal means.” General Harkins, et. al., including the Vice President, were conspiring to keep the US and its military in Vietnam, and even at elevated levels. While JFK, et. al., were conspiring to get the US and its military out of Vietnam. And others were conspiring to make sure that Kennedy did not succeed, either in getting re-elected or in getting the US out of Vietnam. His assassination, conveniently, ensured both of those outcomes.