Central Intelligence: Series 3: Episode 3
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Throughout 1964, President LBJ established himself as a man with a firm hand on the tiller. But there was one problem he inherited from the Kennedy administration that would not go away. It got under everyone's skin and still haunts the American psyche. Even today. In Vietnam, the Navy unleashed Operation Rolling Thunder and deployed... This is Donald Trump talking about Vietnam more than 50 years after the last American troops withdrew. The problem with Vietnam, you know, we stopped fighting to win. We would have won easy. We would have won Afghanistan easy. We would have won every war easy. But we got politically correct. Let's take it easy. We're not politically correct anymore, just so you understand.
We win. Now we win. A bigger question, however, isn't whether we stopped fighting to win, but whether we ever really started.
I am Eloise Page, and you are listening to Central Intelligence, my life inside CIA. The demonstrators opposed to the Vietnam War. The American nation cannot, must not, at one small step for man, and will not, permit the establishment of another communist government.
Season 3, Episode 3. Stop here, sir?
Yep. Thanks, Barbara. No closer.
Come on, let's have a look. In 1964, LBJ sent our Director of Central Intelligence, John McCone, and the Secretary of Defense, Bob McNamara, to Vietnam so they could sum things up for themselves. Looks peaceful enough. I know, Mr. Secretary, it does. Their guide was CIA's new chief of station in Saigon, veteran field officer Pierre Da Silva. And their driver was a young stenographer called Barbara Robbins. Just a whole bunch of civilians working the rice paddies. And that's what the South Vietnamese generals tell our advisors. So they assume it's safely in government hands. And that sounds better. So what are we missing, Pierre? Well, Mr. McCone, from here... All through that valley, and beyond those hills on the horizon?
Our informers tell us that's all controlled by the Viet Cong. That's right, isn't it, Barbara?
That's the intel. Any South Vietnamese army unit or government convoy moving through there gets blown up.
Seriously? Yep. And there are more and more places like this every week, all through the countryside. But, uh, we should head back. Hop in.
And we're only, what, 100 miles out of Saigon?
What was the strategic situation in Vietnam when LBJ took office in 1964?
Less. And the supplies coming in from the north make it this far. Easily. They don't need much, you see. That's the trick. The logistics are totally different.
Hold on, fellas. We're going off-road for a bit.
And the response from the South Vietnamese government? Truthfully? Please. Stay in Saigon, pocket the money from the opium trade, and hope we can save them. The situation on the ground was very different from the optimistic picture of approaching victory that the Pentagon had been painting. And McCone and McNamara took the news straight back to LBJ. Mr. President? Yes, Jerry? Is Bob here? Yes, sir. And Mr. McCone. All right. I suppose I better see both of them. Come on in, fellas. Thank you, Jerry. You're welcome. Thank you. Good morning, Mr. President. Is it? I've just been reading the cable you sent before you flew back. Was it really as bad as that? It was very disturbing, sir. The Viet Cong insurgency throughout the South has deteriorated our positions.
To a far greater extent than we realized. And why didn't we realize? Because our advisors are relying on Vietnamese reporting. Which has been deliberately distorted to make things look better. Oh, God. Well, frankly, sir, if we don't take action in the next few months, South Vietnam will very likely become a communist-controlled state. After which, all of Southeast Asia will probably fall. Well, even if the odds of that are low... Well, it's still possible, sir. I know, Bob. And I know how the public turned on Truman when he let the communists take over China, too.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:03
2
What was the strategic situation in Vietnam when LBJ took office in 1964?
4:03–9:36
3
What did McCone and McNamara see on their 1964 fact‑finding trip to South Vietnam?
9:36–17:28
4
Why did CIA analysts say South Vietnam was deteriorating faster than official reports suggested?
17:28–20:13
5
What political and military options did Johnson demand: strengthen the government or remove the Viet Cong?
20:13–35:15