Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam QUOTES

61 " A month after it ended, President Johnson decided not to seek reelection, and Westmoreland would shortly thereafter be removed as its commander. Richard Nixon was elected president eight months later mendaciously promising not victory, but a secret plan to bring the war to an “honorable end. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

62 " Marines do not hesitate in combat. If the Corps has a defining philosophy, that’s it. In war, when the enemy is foolish enough to show himself, marines go right at him and kill him, risks be damned. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

63 " To me the way they were used, particularly the way their idealism and loyalty were exploited by leaders who themselves had lost faith in the effort, is a stunning betrayal. It is a lasting American tragedy and disgrace. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

64 " Just take your flak jackets and some gear because we’ll be back for dinner. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

65 " Mohr quoted Westmoreland, after the general had toured the bullet-riddled embassy grounds in Saigon, saying the enemy’s efforts had failed, and that they had sought “to cause maximum consternation in South Vietnam.” “It was clear that consternation had been achieved,” Mohr wrote.19 "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

66 " The imperial heir in 1954, Bao Dai, was a nationalist who had abdicated after the Japanese occupation ended in 1945, giving his benediction to Ho Chi Minh. This conferred a legitimacy on Ho that proved troublesome when Bao Dai briefly returned to head the French-backed government of South Vietnam. From 1949 until 1955, the faux emperor failed to shake his image as an interloper. Ho had been designated the national leader, and Bao Dai was now seen simply (and correctly) as an agent of the French. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

67 " None of them was impressed with Gravel, who at present was their commander. He had, in their eyes, failed them. He had sent Meadows and Downs out on missions that were foredoomed. It wasn’t all his fault, because he was getting pushed around from above, and he had complained about it bitterly and consistently. But part of being a leader was being able to push up as well as down. You didn’t ask men to risk everything on a mission that you did not believe in yourself. Gravel had been doing this now for several days. The men knew when they were being misused. This was the real deal, not some classroom exercise. These were blood decisions. They were the most important ones a military commander is asked to make. If you knew more because of where you were and what you saw, then you stood your ground. You didn’t just protest; if need be, you refused. You put your judgment on the line. This might destroy your career—hell, it would certainly destroy your career—but you accepted that, because whatever happened to you, your career, your reputation, these were minor things by comparison. Lives were at stake. A real leader knew his responsibility was not first and foremost to himself; it was to his men, and the mission. What mattered in combat, what really mattered, was not only understanding why you asked men to risk their lives, but making them understand. Men would willingly risk their lives, but they needed to know that it counted. And they needed to know they had a chance. If the commander believed those things himself, he could convince his men. The problem here was that neither the young company commanders nor Gravel held that belief. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

68 " He had spent his first day in Hue as scared as he had ever been. The fear had started when they were shot at on the chopper coming in, and had then just stayed at full throttle. He realized he had adapted to it. It surprised him. Fear, because it was everywhere and everyone felt it, receded in importance. It was still there, but when you realized there was nothing you could do about it, it ceased to matter. It just became your new reality. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

69 " China is traditionally Vietnam’s enemy. [Vietnam] had been kicking [invaders] out for millennia. And we were just the latest. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

70 " The smallest pleasure, like a mouthful of canned fruit or the chance to bathe in an ice-cold river, was a luxury, something to be savored. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

71 " The Geneva Accords called for elections in 1956 to reunite the country. But as it became apparent that Ho’s Communist government had overwhelming popular support—Eisenhower later estimated that if the elections had been held in 1954, Ho would have captured 80 percent of the vote13—South Vietnam’s president, Ngo Dinh Diem, reneged on the election. The United States, which had not been a party to the Geneva Accords, continued to back Diem, "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

72 " The perfect wound was one that was not mortal, debilitating, or disfiguring, but that was bad enough to get you out. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

73 " The absurd body counts and kill ratios were proof of his leadership. He sold them to LBJ, who in turn presented them as fact to the American people. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

74 " Never mind that this fellow had been busy that morning shooting scores of people in cold blood,9 the image alone told a simpler, more brutal story, one brandished enthusiastically by the war’s opponents. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

75 " Local recruits made regular night trips past villages on the city’s outskirts just to make guard dogs bark, which became such a nightly occurrence that few paid attention to it anymore—either that or the dogs would grow so accustomed they no longer stirred. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

76 " The plan called for attacks leading up to Tet against American bases throughout the South—Khe Sanh, Da Nang, Con Tien, Pleiku, and others. It anticipated that Westy would move his troops to defend his own bases, which would leave Saigon, Hue, Can Tho, Nha Trang, and dozens of other South Vietnamese cities to be defended by much weaker ARVN forces. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

77 " Hanoi’s leaders were virtuoso songbirds of propaganda. They lived in a bubble. There were no voices of dissent in their society to check or challenge wishful thinking. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

78 " And Johnson was a convert. Body counts were the first thing he asked for in regular war briefings. He bragged that his general in Vietnam killed thousands of enemy personnel for every one man he lost: "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

79 " Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” Vietnam became the case in point. In a letter to Diem in 1961, Kennedy wrote, “We are "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam

80 " The Battle of Hue would be the bloodiest of the Vietnam War, and a turning point not just in that conflict, but in American history. When it was over, debate concerning the war in the United States was never again about winning, only about how to leave. And never again would Americans fully trust their leaders. "

― Mark Bowden , Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam