Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- J. William Fulbright, Vietnam, and the Search for a Cold War Foreign Policy
- 1 Taking the Stage
- 2 Cuba and Camelot
- 3 “Freedom's Judas-Goat”
- 4 Of Myths and Realities
- 5 Avoiding Armageddon
- 6 Escalation
- 7 Texas Hyperbole
- 8 The Hearings
- 9 The Politics of Dissent
- 10 Widening the Credibility Gap
- 11 The Price of Empire
- 12 Denouement
- 13 Nixon and Kissinger
- 14 Of Arms and Men
- 15 Sparta or Athens?
- 16 Cambodia
- 17 A Foreign Affairs Alternative
- 18 Privileges and Immunities
- 19 The Invisible Wars
- 20 Conclusion
- Index
10 - Widening the Credibility Gap
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- J. William Fulbright, Vietnam, and the Search for a Cold War Foreign Policy
- 1 Taking the Stage
- 2 Cuba and Camelot
- 3 “Freedom's Judas-Goat”
- 4 Of Myths and Realities
- 5 Avoiding Armageddon
- 6 Escalation
- 7 Texas Hyperbole
- 8 The Hearings
- 9 The Politics of Dissent
- 10 Widening the Credibility Gap
- 11 The Price of Empire
- 12 Denouement
- 13 Nixon and Kissinger
- 14 Of Arms and Men
- 15 Sparta or Athens?
- 16 Cambodia
- 17 A Foreign Affairs Alternative
- 18 Privileges and Immunities
- 19 The Invisible Wars
- 20 Conclusion
- Index
Summary
Throughout the early weeks of 1967, American newspapers were filled with pictures of wounded GIs and screaming Vietnamese children, their clothes burned off by napalm. Stories of American atrocities began to mount. Letters from GIs sickened by the war poured into Fulbright's office. He read them all. One of the most poignant was written by a battle-hardened second lieutenant serving near Tuy Hoa:
I have been meaning to write this letter to you for a long while. This evening the pressures are too great to be ignored, even though they are the result of several small occurrences rather than one large disaster. Although, in one sense, the large disaster surrounds me. Adding fresh dimensions of madness daily.
It is just that, in the past few months as an advisor to the VN Coastal Force, I have seen too often the real casualties of this conflict – the farmers and their families in the Delta mangled by air strikes, and the villagers here killed and burned out by our friendly Korean mercenaries.
Of course, I do my share in the lunatic ward. I have even been reprimanded for over-enthusiastic pursuit of VC. Part of it is just compensation – it is refreshing, after seeing so many innocent people suffer, to meet real, live hostile forces capable of striking back. […]
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998