THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 12, 1995 TAG: 9505110002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
Conspicuously silent in the many articles and editorial notes regarding former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's recently published book, In Retrospect, is any criticism of former President Johnson. McNamara may have been one of America's ``best and brightest,'' but his tenure as secretary of defense was predicated upon being compliant to the dictates of LBJ.
Robert A. Caro's biography of LBJ, The Years of Lyndon Johnson - Means of Ascent, portrays an American president who demanded unyielding obedience from his subordinates and who faithfully rewarded his supporters.
Caro notes that the cornerstone in LBJ's ascent from his initial election as a congressman in 1936 to becoming the president of the United States upon the assassination of JFK in 1963 was the Texas-based construction conglomerate of Brown & Root. It should be no surprise that Brown & Root was part of a consortium of American construction firms awarded huge contracts for building roads, bridges and base facilities in Vietnam.
At the commencement of LBJ's presidency in 1963, there were only 18,000 American ``advisers'' in Vietnam, and JFK was seriously entertaining notions of withdrawal. Only after LBJ became president did the United States commit to a major offensive ground war that the former defense secretary now admits was a mistake.
To the question of why the United States under President Johnson committed to such an atrocity, and then continued to prosecute it even after the most senior administration official responsible for its conduct had knowledge of its futility, must be viewed in light of the dynamics of the president himself. To attribute primary criticism to Robert McNamara is to miss the target.
H. E. MYERS
Virginia Beach, May 1, 1995 by CNB