Public Opinion Mixed on Vietnam Policy

Feb. 13, 1965 - To Richard O’Grady, a teacher in Wilton, Conn., the war in Vietnam is a challenge demanding that the U.S. “smash the enemy hard.”

To William Gorham Rice, a retired professor in Madison, Wisc., American involvement in Southeast Asia is disastrous, and the answer is to leave Vietnam’s problems to the Vietnamese. 

To Americans all over the country, surveyed by correspondents of The New York Times in the tense days of the last week, Vietnam is a focus of worry and hard thought. Opinions differed sharply.

Jack Reilly, operator of a Chicago cocktail lounge, summarized the opinions of many when he said: “We have played pattycake too long. We either have to get out ignominiously or else throw everything we have at the Viet Cong.”

A young woman in Berkeley Heights, N.J., commented: “Since the South Vietnamese are obviously unwilling to cooperate effectively with us, we should try to negotiate a withdrawal of all outside powers by means of a Geneva conference that would include China.”

Many Americans said they supported President Johnson enthusiastically, but some said they did so because they found no alternative.

On Broadway at 95th St., Fred Meyer, a seaman, said: “I think the President is going about this in the right way. We should continue our retaliation until they get enough of it. If we stand firm and strong, the situation will improve.”

In New London, Conn., Lloyd Church, a food-processing worker, said: “If a man smacked me, I’d smack him back, and I expect my country to do the same.”

Mrs. Charles Kunzer, a Chicago housewife, said she did not want an all-out war. “But you can’t let them walk on you,” she declared. “We should step up our retaliation raids. They seem the only alternative to letting our boys get killed.”

In Indianapolis, a 22-year-old National Guardsman, Maurice Hiatt, predicted that nothing would come of the week’s violence. “The Communists are chicken,” he said, “when you come right down to a really tough situation.”

In Los Angeles, a young Army reservist remarked: “I blow hot and cold. I’m all for hitting those fellows back. But I don’t want to see it grow into an all-out effort. It might be too much like Korea all over again.”

In Portland, Ore., Mrs. H.R. Glascock Jr. said: “If we don’t stop them now, we will lose all of Southeast Asia. So, where is our next line of defense — the Philippines, Hawaii, or California?”

But other Americans opposed the U.S. policy as aggressive or colonialist and warned that it might touch off a holocaust.

Mrs. Ann Upshure of Voluntown, Conn., urged: “Leave the Vietnamese to their own country.”In New London, Conn., the Rev. James Pratt said that “when President de Gaulle suggests that the Geneva conference be reconvened and Southeast Asia neutralized, he’s barking up the right tree.” 

Eric Wolfe, a visiting lecturer at Yale, said: “The U.S. actions are foolish. We haven’t learned anything from the French tragedy a few years ago.”

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