During The Vietnam War Gen. William C. Westmoreland Activated A Plan To Move Nuclear Weapons Into Vietnam

President Johnson with Gen. William Westmoreland in South Vietnam in 1967.CreditCreditYoichi Okamoto/Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library

New Your Times: U.S. General Considered Nuclear Response in Vietnam War, Cables Show

WASHINGTON — In one of the darkest moments of the Vietnam War, the top American military commander in Saigon activated a plan in 1968 to move nuclear weapons to South Vietnam until he was overruled by President Lyndon B. Johnson, according to recently declassified documents cited in a new history of wartime presidential decisions.

The documents reveal a long-secret set of preparations by the commander, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, to have nuclear weapons at hand should American forces find themselves on the brink of defeat at Khe Sanh, one of the fiercest battles of the war.

With the approval of the American commander in the Pacific, General Westmoreland had put together a secret operation, code-named Fracture Jaw, that included moving nuclear weapons into South Vietnam so that they could be used on short notice against North Vietnamese troops.

Johnson’s national security adviser, Walt W. Rostow, alerted the president in a memorandum on White House stationery.

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Update: US general made preparations behind president’s back to nuke Vietnam, declassified memo shows (RT).

WNU Editor: A lot of "what ifs" if the U.S. did use tactical nuclear weapons during the Vietnam. I know one thing. We will be living in a very different world today if they were used.