US general sought to use nuclear weapons in Vietnam War: Documents
A US general, who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War, devised a secret plan to use nuclear weapons at one point against Vietnam in 1968, according to recently declassified documents.
The top military commander, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, in Saigon activated a plan to move nuclear weapons to South Vietnam, but was overridden by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the documents show.
The documents, which reveal a long-secret set of preparations by the commander, show Westmoreland sought to have nuclear weapons at hand should the US forces find themselves on the verge of defeat at Khe Sanh, one of the fiercest battles of the war, The New York Times reported.
After receiving the approval of the American commander in the Pacific, Westmoreland put together a secret operation, code-named Fracture Jaw.
As part of the operation, nuclear weapons were to be moved into South Vietnam so that they could be employed on short notice against North Vietnamese troops.
However, Johnson’s national security adviser, Walt W. Rostow, notified the president in a memorandum on White House stationery, prompting the president to reject the plan.
“When he learned that the planning had been set in motion, he was extraordinarily upset and forcefully sent word through Rostow, and I think directly to Westmoreland, to shut it down,” said Tom Johnson, then a young special assistant to the president and note-taker at the meetings on the issue.
The president was worried about “a wider war” which would also involve the Chinese like in Korea in 1950, Johnson said in an interview.
“Johnson never fully trusted his generals,” said Johnson. “He had great admiration for General Westmoreland, but he didn’t want his generals to run the war.”
The story of how close the United States came to using nuclear weapons in Vietnam is contained in “Presidents of War,” a coming book by presidential historian Michael Beschloss.
“Johnson certainly made serious mistakes in waging the Vietnam War,” said Beschloss, who found the documents during his research for the book. “But we have to thank him for making sure that there was no chance in early 1968 of that tragic conflict going nuclear.”
Twenty-three years earlier, the US had used atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, forcing the Asian country to surrender during World War II.
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