Julian E. Zelizer: Obama should listen to Biden
[Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. His new book, "Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of National Security -- From World War II to the War on Terrorism," will be published this fall by Basic Books. Zelizer writes widely about current events.]
PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Vice President Joseph Biden is emerging as an important voice within the White House on the war in Afghanistan.
The New York Times reported that during a meeting in the situation room on September 13, Biden urged the president to consider reducing America's troop presence in Afghanistan. Rather than embracing a mission to protect the Afghan population, the U.S., Biden reportedly said, should target al Qaeda cells in the region through special operations forces and targeted missile attacks.
The emerging relationship between Biden and President Obama brings back memories of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1964, many congressional Democrats were strongly warning Johnson that it was not wise to escalate America's involvement in Vietnam.
While liberals such as Idaho's Frank Church were more predictably making this argument, so too were some of the most hawkish voices in the Senate. Georgia Senator Richard Russell, Johnson's mentor in the 1950s, privately told the president that Vietnam was the "damn worse mess I ever saw" and that if it came down to sending in American troops or getting out, "I'd get out." Russell added that the territory in Southeast Asia was not worth a "damn bit" to the U.S.
Russell was not alone. As the historian Fredrik Logevall has documented in his book "Choosing War," there were several prominent international leaders, such as France's Charles de Gaulle, who called for the U.S. to avoid sending forces into the region and embrace a policy of neutralization, which would attempt to negotiate an agreement to preserve the status quo of a country divided into communist and non-communist sections.
There were also secret memoranda from officials within the administration, including Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, warning of the high risks of escalation.
Johnson was sensitive to these arguments. In May, he had told national security adviser McGeorge Bundy that he had recently looked at a sergeant he knew, who had six children, and wondered why he should send him to Vietnam: "What in the hell am I ordering him out there for?"
Following the Democratic landslide in 1964, when Johnson decisively defeated Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater and Democrats gained huge majorities in the House and Senate, Humphrey wrote Johnson to urge him to call for a withdrawal from Vietnam, since 1965 was the "first year when we can face the Vietnam problem without being preoccupied with the political repercussions from the Republican Right."...
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PRINCETON, New Jersey (CNN) -- Vice President Joseph Biden is emerging as an important voice within the White House on the war in Afghanistan.
The New York Times reported that during a meeting in the situation room on September 13, Biden urged the president to consider reducing America's troop presence in Afghanistan. Rather than embracing a mission to protect the Afghan population, the U.S., Biden reportedly said, should target al Qaeda cells in the region through special operations forces and targeted missile attacks.
The emerging relationship between Biden and President Obama brings back memories of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1964, many congressional Democrats were strongly warning Johnson that it was not wise to escalate America's involvement in Vietnam.
While liberals such as Idaho's Frank Church were more predictably making this argument, so too were some of the most hawkish voices in the Senate. Georgia Senator Richard Russell, Johnson's mentor in the 1950s, privately told the president that Vietnam was the "damn worse mess I ever saw" and that if it came down to sending in American troops or getting out, "I'd get out." Russell added that the territory in Southeast Asia was not worth a "damn bit" to the U.S.
Russell was not alone. As the historian Fredrik Logevall has documented in his book "Choosing War," there were several prominent international leaders, such as France's Charles de Gaulle, who called for the U.S. to avoid sending forces into the region and embrace a policy of neutralization, which would attempt to negotiate an agreement to preserve the status quo of a country divided into communist and non-communist sections.
There were also secret memoranda from officials within the administration, including Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, warning of the high risks of escalation.
Johnson was sensitive to these arguments. In May, he had told national security adviser McGeorge Bundy that he had recently looked at a sergeant he knew, who had six children, and wondered why he should send him to Vietnam: "What in the hell am I ordering him out there for?"
Following the Democratic landslide in 1964, when Johnson decisively defeated Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater and Democrats gained huge majorities in the House and Senate, Humphrey wrote Johnson to urge him to call for a withdrawal from Vietnam, since 1965 was the "first year when we can face the Vietnam problem without being preoccupied with the political repercussions from the Republican Right."...