Division in Washington over Vietnam

Apr. 26, 1965 - Washington’s war of words over Vietnam was escalating today, with critics sharpening their language and the Johnson Administration expanding its efforts to win public and Congressional support.

Two Senators, one on each side of the issue, made the most forthright declarations.

Sen. Wayne Morse (D-Ore.) charged that Johnson’s policy in Vietnam would send him “out of office the most discredited President in the history of this nation.”

Morse, who has repeatedly criticized the Administration’s policies in Vietnam, also called for the removal of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk. 

Sen. Russell Long (D-La.) hammered away in the other direction. Addressing the annual meeting of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Long said “modern-day appeasers and isolationists” were undermining Johnson’s policy in Vietnam.

Long said such criticism led the Communists to believe that the U.S. would “surrender all of Asia.”

He added: “Therefore, I have no doubt that our losses in Vietnam will increase so long as anyone suspects that the handful of Senators and Congressmen and the bearded beatniks with the peace-at-any-price placards represent anything more than a small, poorly regarded fragment of American thinking.”

Even so, such influential Senators as J.W. Fulbright (D-Ark.), Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.), and George Aiken (R-Vt.) have expressed varying degrees of criticism.

Senate sources say the unrest — particularly over the bombing of North Vietnamese military targets — is not limited to those who have spoken out.

One reason the criticism has been relatively muted is the pressure and persuasion Johnson has exerted. Another is a reluctance to attack the President during a foreign crisis. 

Johnson has often complained to visitors that his critics are free with advice but not with concrete proposals.

A recent public poll by Louis Harris Associates indicated that 57% of the public supported Johnson’s handling of the Vietnamese war and that 43% opposed it.

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