1965: Malcom X Files

LBJ’s inauguration on 20th

27th – only days after LBJ’s inauguration there’d been a coup in South Vietnam and Khanh seized full control.

LBJ’s aides, National Security advisor George Bundy and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, sent a memo to LBJ stating that America’s “limited” military involvement in Vietnam is not succeeding and that the US had reached a ‘fork in the road’ in Vietnam. The US must escalate or withdraw. Surprisingly, the decision was taken to escalate. Maybe a brief discussion along Chomskian lines of why the escalation and not withdrawal.

Reaching its peak

French military historian and Indo-China specialist Bernard Fall made claim that another 90,000 South Vietnamese had been killed since 1961 – victims of the terror of the US-imposed regime and “the crushing weight of American armour, napalm, jet bombs” and “vomiting gasses”. Lovely!

300,000 Korean mercenaries were introduced in January 1965 to “defend” the South Vietnamese by terrorism. Former General Park had taken power in a coup in Republic of Korea and ran South Korea with an iron fist of martial law and extensive political prisons. Owed the US a debt of thanks and needed money to boost his modernisation program. ROK housed more than 30,000 US troops. Park got big US aid plan in return for 300,000 ROK troops serving in South Vietnam – independent investigators claim that there were many massacres committed by South Korean troops against South Vietnamese civilians. Death toll is conservatively estimated at 8,000. ROK troops ran ‘New Life Villages’ for evacuated South Vietnamese villagers. Brutal. LBJ got news of the endless Korean-inflicted atrocities and said Vietnam was a “bitch of a war” but it took an even “bigger son of a bitch to win it”.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more than 2,600 other blacks arrested in Selma, Ala., during three-day demonstrations against voter-registration rules (Feb. 1). Malcolm X, black-nationalist leader, shot to death at Harlem rally in New York City (Feb. 21). U.S. Marines land in Dominican Republic as fighting persists between rebels and Dominican army (April 28). Medicare, senior citizens' government medical assistance program, begins (July 1). Blacks riot for six days in Watts section of Los Angeles: 34 dead, over 1,000 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested, fire damage put at $175 million (Aug. 11–16). Power failure in Ontario plant blacks out parts of eight states of northeast U.S. and two provinces of southeast Canada (Nov. 9). Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed.

The men of the hour – by December 64 –Nguyen Cao Ky and Nguyen Van Thieu. They were two up-coming military men who created an Armed Forces Council in Saigon. Within weeks the council took over most of the affairs of state. By Feb 65 Ky and Thieu could claim to be in charge of the government.

Ranger 8 - successful

Launched 17 February 1965

Impacted Moon 20 February 1965 at 09:57:37 UT

Latitude 2.67 N, Longitude 24.65 E - Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility)

In February 1965, Ranger 8 swept an oblique course over the south of Oceanus Procellarum and Mare Nubium, to crash in Mare Tranquillitatis where Apollo 11 would land 4½ years later. It garnered more than 7,000 images, covering a wider area and reinforcing the conclusions from Ranger 7. About a month later, Ranger 9 came down in the 90 km diameter (55 mile) crater Alphonsus. Its 5,800 images, nested concentrically and taking advantage of very low-level sunlight, provided strong confirmation of the crater-on-crater, gently rolling contours of the lunar surface.

On February 19, 1965, several dissident South Vietnamese Generals moved their battalions into Saigon with the intention of ousting General Nguyen Khanh. General Khanh escaped to Da Lat with the aid of Air Marshall Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, which enabled him to crush any coups that were launched against the new regime. He threatened to bomb Saigon and Tan Son Nhut Airport unless the rebel troops were withdrawn, but was dissuaded from this by General William Westmoreland, Commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam.

In February 1965, General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu joined forces with Air Vice Marshall Nguyễn Cao Kỳ in a coup d'etat against General Nguyen Khanh's government that lasted for (260 days) from January 1964-October 1964, with the support of a neutralist coalition. Air Marshall Nguyễn Cao Kỳ appointed Dr. Phan Huy Quat to form a new government.

Ranger 9 Launched 21 March 1965  Impacted Moon 24 March 1965 at 14:08:20 UT. Another completely successful flight. Thus, after a long trouble-plagued start that taught the system engineers a great deal and the scientists very little, Project Ranger finished with three flights that greatly advanced the lunar scientists' knowledge of the surface and whetted their appetites for a closer look. Wikipedia

The 1964 Civil Rights Act had made racial discrimination in public places, illegal. It also required employers to provide equal employment opportunities. Projects involving federal funds could now be cut off if there was evidence of discriminated based on colour, race or national origin.

King now concentrated on achieving a federal voting-rights law. In March 1965 he organized a protest march from Selma to the state capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama. King was not with the marchers when they were attacked by state troopers with nightsticks and tear gas. He did lead the second march but upset some of his younger followers when he turned back at the Pettus Bridge when faced by a barricade of state troopers.

After the attacks on King's supporters at Selma, LBJ attempted to persuade Congress to pass his Voting Rights Act, which proposed to remove the right of states to impose restrictions on who could vote in elections.

Although opposed by politicians from the Deep South, the Voting Rights Act was passed by large majorities in the House of Representatives (333 to 48) and the Senate (77 to 19). The legislation empowered the national government to register those whom the states refused to put on the voting list.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAkingML.htm

Malcom X  killed

Tensions increased between Malcolm and the Nation of Islam. It was alleged that orders were given by leaders of the Nation of Islam to "destroy" Malcolm; in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, he says that as early as 1963, a member of the Seventh Temple confessed to him having received orders from the Nation of Islam to kill him.

On March 20, 1964, Life published a photograph of Malcolm holding an M1 Carbine and pulling back the curtains to peer out of the window of his family's home. The photo was taken in connection with Malcolm's declaration that he would defend himself from the daily death threats which he and his family were receiving. Undercover FBI informants warned officials that he had been marked for assassination.

In June 1964, the NOI sued to reclaim Malcolm's home in Queens, which they claimed belonged to the organization. The suit was successful, and Malcolm and his family were ordered to vacate the house. On February 14, 1965, the night before a scheduled hearing to postpone the eviction date, the house burned to the ground. Malcolm and his family survived, and no one was charged with any crime.

On February 21 in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom, Malcolm had just begun delivering a speech when a disturbance broke out in the crowd of 400. A man yelled, "Get your hand outta my pocket! Don't be messin' with my pockets!" As Malcolm and his bodyguards moved to quiet the disturbance,[21] a man rushed forward and shot Malcolm in the chest with a sawed-off shotgun. Two other men charged the stage and fired handguns at Malcolm, who was shot 16 times. Angry onlookers in the crowd caught and beat the assassins as they attempted to flee the ballroom. Malcolm was pronounced dead on arrival at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.

Two suspects were named by witnesses — Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, both members of the Nation of Islam.

Three men were eventually charged in the case. Talmadge Hayer, also a Black Muslim, confessed to having fired shots into Malcolm's body, but he testified that Butler and Johnson were not present and were not involved in the shooting. All three were convicted. Wikipedia

Malcom X was shot 16 times [in 1965] as he delivered a speech in NY. Three men were arrested and convicted. The Church Committee in 1969 has shown that Malcom’s assassination was “indirectly caused by the FBI”.

 “My life as a Radical Lawyer”, by William M Kustler: “Malcom X was supposedly murdered by former colleagues in the NOL as a result of the faction fighting which has led to his splitting away from that movement, and their “natural wealth” at his establishment of a competing entity. However, as the accompanying January 22nd 1969 memo from the SAC, Chicago, to the Director makes clear, the NOL factionalism at issue didn’t “just happen”. Rather it had “been developed” by deliberate Bureau actions – through infiltration and the “sparking of acrimonious debates within the organisation”, rumour-mongering and other tactics designed to foster internal disputes – which were always the standard fare of COINTELPRO. – the cointelpro papers, ward Churchill and jim vanderwall.

Months of front-page news reports of UN, NVNamese, Soviet initiatives that preceded the February ‘65 escalation  –and then we were expected to believe that those commies just didn’t want to talk peace – Arthur Schlesinger on Vietnam in 1965.

There was nearly double the number of US combat troops in Iraq than in Vietnam during 1965 “But with each US escalation came an increase in the number of Communist troops in South Vietnam and an increase in the violence.”

He also significantly expanded the list of bombing targets and increased the number of US combat troops to over 500,000 by the time he left office in 1969. That was the high water mark for US military personnel in Vietnam.” Robert Brigham, Indie, 14/01/07

A heated debate was sparked off – often acrimonious – in Washington. Congress attacked the president and the NS team – no political corollary – Saigon had done little to provide for its own security.

4000 US casualties and $2bn a month. Congress pushed for an end to the war during LBJ and Nixon years.

February 4th, Bundy visited South Vietnam for the first time. Soviet p.m. Aleksei Kosygin arrived in Hanoi at the same time. Two days later VC guerrillas attacked the US military compound at Pleiku in the Central highlands, killing eight Americans, wounding 126 and destroying ten aircraft. “I’ve had enough of this” LBJ said the next day to his National Security Advisors. He approved Operation Flaming Dart, the bombing of a North Vietnamese army camp near Dong Hoi by US Navy jets from Aircraft Carrier “Ranger”.

LBJ may not have been entirely open about this decision as he made no statements about it. Opinion polls taken shortly after the bombing indicate a 70% approval rating for the president and 80% for US involvement in Vietnam. This allowed LBJ to agree to a long standing recommendation from his advisors for a sustained bombing camapign against North Vietnam.

Bernard Fall had flown on combat missions. He described the decision to escalate the attack as a fundamental policy decision . “What changed the character of the Vietnam War was not the decision to bomb North Vietnam, not the decision to use American ground troops in South Vietnam, but the decision to wage unlimited arerial warfare inside the country at the price of literally pounding the place to bits.” In Hanoi the Soviet PM is pressured by the North VN to prvide unlimited military aid to counter the US aggression. This was agreed and Surface to Air missiles (SAMs) arrive within weeks.

Bloody Sunday

From Selma to Montgomery, Alabama 1965.

7th March – voting rights marchers are beaten at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, attempting to march to Montgomery.

17th to 25th March – King, James Forman, John Lewis, lead marchers from Selma to Montgomery after a US District judge upholds the right of demonstrators to conduct an orderly march.

Ranger 9 in March produced the best photographs yet. The moon was surveyed to find a suitable landing site. Space probe Mariner 4 sent back the first close up photographs of Mars.

John Alexander McCone  resigned from his position of DCI in April 1965, correctly believing himself to be unappreciated by President Johnson. Upon his resignation, McCone submitted a final policy memorandum to Johnson arguing that Johnson's expansion of the war in Vietnam would arouse national and world discontent over the war before it brought down the North Vietnamese regime.

April 28 1965, despite his having no intelligence experience, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed William Francis Raborn, Jr  as the 7th Director of the CIA (DCI). Time magazine wrote that his organizational skills would be invaluable in a CIA that admitted it was in danger of being "drowned in data"[1], but his tenure was not successful: author David Barrett described Raborn as "incompetent at CIA, not understanding the agency or the intelligence business"[3], and even the CIA's own historians said "Raborn did not 'take' to the DCI job"[4]. Raborn resigned on June 30, 1966, having served for only fourteen months as DCI; he was replaced by his deputy Richard Helms. Wikipedia

LBJ elected to send 25,000 marines in to Dominica to avert a communist takeover – May 1965. Soon LBJ followed up by sending in the FBI “wedge” Mark Riebling.

LBJ swung into action – sent in 33,000 US troops (mostly marines) to put down the revolt (supporters of the democratic Bosch against right wing dictatorship) – to support the dictatorship.

Westomreland was a bit worried about the commitment to Dominica while Vietnam was going on. But the objective was achieved quickly – they had 2000 troops in a “more flags” effort from the Organisation of American States (OAS).

LBJ’s bullying pissed off some more countries! This victory in a Vietnam like environment was an important propaganda coup. April 1968, US Ambassador W Tapley Bennet told LBJ that thousands had been massacred by leftist rebels. It was a lie.

A popular rebellion broke out. In ‘65 The rebels wished to re-install Juan Bosch as the country’s elected leader. Alarm bells rang in the White House and 20,000 marines were sent in to crush the rebellion. The CIA were pulling the strings to ensure that the brutal military regime remained in power.

US troops and marines were landed during the election campaign of ‘65/ ’66.

Would Dominican victory influence Hanoi? – No.

On June 19, 1965, the National Leadership Committee headed by General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu appointed Kỳ to the office of premier, the highest political office in South Vietnam. fragment

Greece

The CIA in 1965 aid the Greek King in removing Prime Minister George Papandreous from power. Papendreous had failed to support US interests vigorously enough .

A CIA backed military coup in 1967 - overthrew the government two days before the elections. The favourite to win was George Papandreous, the liberal candidate. During the next six years, the “reign of the colonels” backed by the CIA ushered in the widespread use of torture and murder against political opponents. When a Greek ambassador objects to LBJ about US plans for Cyprus, LBJ tells him: “Fuck your parliament and your constitution”.

King Paul and Queen Frederika – she’d been in the Hitler Youth and had publicly defended Nazi Germany. Three of her brothers served in Hitlers army. Greece’s right wing government had tortured and jailed thousands of political prisoners, some for over 15 years.

The British Royal family accompanied the Greek royals at public occasions and got booed on the streets.

Karomanlis – the PM – lost his power after the protests and 19 political prisoners were released.

UK anarchist cartoonist Donald Rooum was arrested protesting against the Greek Royals. He was beaten, arrested, then beaten again. A piece of brick was planted n him  - the officer responsible was CID Officer Det. Sgt. Harold “Tanky” Challenar, ex SAS trooper. Suffered a convenient mental breakdown and never sood trial. Three constables who worked with him got three years each.

Rooum proved his innocence but plenty of others were convicted of the same charge Stuart Christie

In 1968 “hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Greek KYP, directly subsidised by the CIA, was being laundered through Pappas for the Nixon campaign”…It was not until 1976, however, that the House Intelligence Committee was able to confirm Demetracopoulos’ allegations against Pappas. It received sworn evidence from Henry J Tasca, a career Foreign Service officer who had been Nixon’s Ambassador to Greece, that in 1968 Pappas had served as a conduit for campaign funds from the Greek government to the Nixon campaign. “the price of power” by Seymour Hersh, page 138.

The Beatles had accounted for over 85% of all American single sales in 1964. The film “Help!” came out in colour.

Lennon made his Jesus remarks in Alabama there were ‘Beatle burning’ rallies –30 radio stations banished the Beatles from the airwaves – it grew to 35. The Vatican complained about ‘beatniks’ dealing in ‘profanity’.

On August 11th Lennon made his “clarification – come – apology”

The tour went ahead – Louisville, Kentucky was cancelled and at Washington DC the KKK protested noisily. A gunshot rang out during the Memphis gig – or so they thought – it was firecracker. Lennon attacked the Vietnam War at a NY press conference. Shea stadium, NY, had a below capacity crowd

They played their last ever gig – behind 6 foot iron cages at SF’s Candlestick Park. It had become too dangerous for the Beatles to play America – consequently as festivals era began no Beatles were involved. The FBI began to take an interest in Lennon.

The Voting Rights Act 1965 was signed into law August 6th 1965. In ensuing years the black vote registration gains it made possible and the discriminatory election techniques it voided allowed black southerners in many small towns and rural counties to enjoy meaningful participation and representation in the American electoral process for the first time in their lives. “Bridge to Freedom” David J Garrow.

12th August King opposed the Vietnam War at mass rally, ninth annual convention of SCLC in Birmingham.

Motown

Motown stars went to the UK in 1965 – The European Motown Revue Package Tour. Earl Van Dyke – leader of the Funk Brothers – Martha and the Vandellas – “Little” Stevie Wonder; fingertips; The supremes; The Miracles. The London shows sold out.  In order to sell out of London though British stars suchj as Georgie Fame had to be added to the bill.

A massive influence on Britain’s Beatles. The Supremes “Where Did Our Love Go” – Berry Gordy believed the Supremes could take Motown into new areas MaryWilson, abetter singer, was sidelined to allow the more ambitious Diana Ross to take the lead. Four Tops “Baby I Need Your Loving” was their first hit.

Motown’s first hit in Britain was Mary Well’s “My Guy”. Motown, distributed by EMI in UK – its early releases were on the “Stateside” label. EMI combined two of Berry Gody’s US label names to form ‘Tamla Motown’.

Isley Brothers “This Old Heart Of Mine” (H-B-H)

Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker pacifist, poured kerosene over himself and set light to himself below the third-floor window of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at the Pentagon on November 2, 1965. Alice Herz, an 82-year-old woman, also burned herself that year in Detroit, Michigan.[44]

Bob Dylan “Bringing it all Back Home”;  “Blonde on Blonde”; “Basement Tapes” “Highway 61 Revisited”

C Douglas Dillon and John A Gronouski go. Henry H Fowler (Treasury), Laurence F O’Brian (PMGeneral), John W Gardner (HE&W), are all new in.

Arthur Schlesinger (inter-llectual) admitted he lied about Bay of Pigs. Complimented the Times for their suppression of information – Chomsky Reader, p60/61.

The conservative party of New York ran National Review Editor William F Buckley for mayor against John Lindsay. Buckley lost.

In December 1965 Operation Game Warden began consisting of US Navy river patrols on South Vietnam’s 3,000 nautical miles of inland waterways. February 6th, VC guerrillas attacked the US military compound at Pleiku in the Central highlands, killing eight Americans, wounding 126 and destroying ten aircraft. Operation Flaming Dart, the bombing of a North Vietnamese army camp near Dong Hoi by US Navy jets from Aircraft Carrier “Ranger”.

In Hanoi the Soviet PM is pressured by the North VN to prvide unlimited military aid to counter the US aggression. This was agreed and Surface to Air missiles (SAMs) arrive within weeks.

CIA Death Squads

Department of Information and Intelligence was set up in 1969

The DII was set up with advice and financial support of US public safety advisor William Cantrell, a CIA operations officer, in mid 60s. CIA’s Technical Services Division – innovated equipment – some of it for torture – are of the functions carried out by the DII. See http://www.serendipity.li/cia/deathsquads.htm  or copy saved as CIA support of Death Squads