Detroiters including Mayor Cavanagh. He asked the mayor why the police took such extreme action before attempting to call to the people inside or to use tear gas in an attempt to bring out the alleged criminals. The mayor defended the police actions and explained such tactics were necessary in order to prevent a full-scale riot."
Brother Gaidi charged the police with an out and out attack' against members and supporters of the RNA. He explained that there was no Michigan law against carrying an unconcealed rifle in public and, therefore, the white police officers had no to investigate the Black Legion members as they I walked away from the church. The fact that a administration switched on Vietnam provide a powerful confirmation of the tremendous effect of the organized antiwar movement in the United States and the massive demonstrations it has staged. Present newspaper disclosures confirm that the antiwar movement was a major factor in compelling Johnson to decide to negotiate with Hanol, give uj the presidency and halt the bombing of Nort Vietnam.
Gen. William. C. Westmoreland had requested 206,000 reinforcements in March 1968 to make up for the ground lost to the Vietnamese during the mighty Tet offensive launched one month earlier. Johnson had planned to make a speech on March promising the first divisions of these reinforcements.
But, it would tear the country apart, Defense Secretary [Clark Clifford] argued, to hear a speech that promised only more war, the New York Times has revealed. Continuing the escalation policy, he warned, could bring "civil war'.
Clifford and other representatives of the *Eastern Establishment succeeded convincing Johnson of this estimate of the mood of the country. Johnson's March 31 speech, instead of a promise of more troops, was an abdication and an announcement of the administration's intention to begin negotiations.
However, the same sectors of the US ruling class which blocked Johnson seem to fear that Nixon is planning to return to Johnson's dangerous course of escalation.
In answer to Nixon's assertion that the NLF "broke' November's "bombing halt agreement,' the New York Times editors replied on March 9 Pentagon tigures show that from November to January the number of allied battalion-sized Current revelations about why the Johnson double-cross whenever the Communists do the same."
aggression brought a heavy American deaths and 2,593 servicemen wounded in one week figures that are actually higher than the comparable figures for the first week of the Tet offensive last year, because the NLF concentrated more heavily on US military installations.
Further, the Times charged on March 13 that in case after case... the intensity and results of the current enemy offensive were understated in communiques and by official allied spokesmen.' This was done by omitting important details about attacks from official accounts - or even by denying them.
The NLF response led the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Stennis, to declare, 'I don't believe anywhere.. We'll have to stay there for 10 present policy years at best.
The Militant
been held... possibly 80% of the population would have voted for Ho Chi Minh (Mandate threatened US property and was prompt overthrown by an invasion force of exil