Frank Schaffner – 3/3/05

This page was last updated on March 5, 2005.

Talkin’ ‘bout my generation; Frank Schaffner; Beaver County Times; March 3, 2005.

One thing you’ll note is that with one exception – and that was an error of ignorance – Mr. Schaffner never found communism and communists to be a threat.

While as a teenager at risk of being drafted to fight I was not a fan of the Vietnam War, I was appalled at the behavior of many that opposed the war. Based on Mr. Schaffner’s letter, I assume he was one of the people whose behavior I found reprehensible.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“My generation was the first generation to challenge the most powerful nation in the world’s history.

“My generation stopped the Vietnam War. It took us 10 years, but the anti-Vietnam War protesters finally got their dream.”

[RWC] I assume Mr. Schaffner is a “baby boomer” as am I. I expect I will be proud of my generation, but it will never be for our behavior with respect to the Vietnam War.

While Mr. Schaffner waxes nostalgic about his glory days, he should also remember the disgraceful treatment his generation heaped on our servicemen who served in Vietnam. In a previous letter, Mr. Schaffner implied he was an “honorably discharged veteran.”

Mr. Schaffner doesn’t describe his “dream” so I will. The goal of this group was simply to defeat the United States in an effort to make the world safe for communism. Don’t take my word for it; read Mr. Schaffner’s other letters in which he refers to “ultra capitalists” and “fundamentalist capitalism,” and not in a flattering context.

As a typical anti-war protester, Mr. Schaffner didn’t acknowledge the plight of the southeast Asians who didn’t want to live under a communist dictatorship. They didn’t get their dream.

“Richard Nixon in 1970 saw 400,000 people outside the White House and said, ‘We’re losing the people, we’re losing this war.’ He escalated the war in 1972 into Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. What a liar.”

[RWC] It’s interesting a self-described “anti-Vietnam War protester” would call someone a liar. What’s that about people living in glass houses? We now know much of the anti-war propaganda was false. I don’t know if Mr. Schaffner is a liar, but the above paragraph indicates he is at least guilty of ignorance. You’ll read what I mean below.

President Nixon began troop withdrawals almost as soon as he took office in 1969, yet Mr. Schaffner attacks Nixon instead of the Democrat presidents – Kennedy and Johnson – who escalated our small Vietnam advisory and training involvement into full-blown combat. Troop strength reached its peak of about 540,000 at about the time President Johnson left office and President Nixon took office. By the end of his first year in office, Nixon reduced U.S. troops in Vietnam to about 460,000. There were “only” about 27,400 U.S. troops in Vietnam by the end of President Nixon’s first term at the end of 1972. A ceasefire began in January 1973 and all U.S. troops were out of South Vietnam by the end of 1973.

Regarding the “400,000 people outside the White House” in 1970, I could find no support for this claim from Google and Yahoo searches. The only large demonstration I found for 1970 in Washington, DC, was about 100,000 to protest the killing of four Kent State students. After that, protests tended to decline in number and attendance.

Regarding the quote, “We’re losing the people, we’re losing this war” attributed to President Nixon, likewise I could find no reference.

Regarding Cambodia and Laos, bombing of the enemy in those countries began in 1970, not 1972. Regarding Thailand, there was no fighting in that country. Thailand was an ally and had some troops of its own fighting in Vietnam. Further, we had some U.S. bases in Thailand.

In addition to the wrong timing, there are a couple of problems with Mr. Schaffner’s claim that President Nixon escalated the war. First, it’s not escalation when you attack the enemy to defend yourself. The Vietcong and the NVA ran supply lines through – and launched attacks from – Cambodia and Laos. You can’t allow your enemy safe harbor. Second, troop withdrawal continued during this period. How can you “escalate” a war when you’re removing your troops?

“I am proud to be an American. If Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler would have been Roosevelt or Truman in 1946, I 100 percent guarantee you they would have nuked the world.”

[RWC] I think it’s telling that Mr. Schaffner believes he must tell us he’s “proud to be an American.” Maybe it’s because he wrote a letter a month ago telling us why he felt it would be so much better to live in Canada. I suspect Mr. Schaffner didn’t want us to make that connection.

Regarding “Roosevelt or Truman in 1946,” someone should probably tell Mr. Schaffner that FDR died in early 1945, months before even the first test explosion of the atomic bomb.

Did you notice Mr. Schaffner didn’t include Joseph Stalin or Mao Tse-Tung along with Hitler, et al? I wonder why. I guess he believes murderous communists wouldn’t “have nuked the world” if they had a monopoly on nuclear weapons. Mr. Schaffner made one mistake, however. As a Nazi, Hitler was a socialist, nearly the equivalent of a communist. Oops.

“I am so proud as an American that we didn’t use our nuclear superiority from 1946 through 2005.”

[RWC] What in U.S. history would lead anyone to believe we’d use our “nuclear superiority” unless we had no choice? Once again Mr. Schaffner’s history is a bit off. The U.S. didn’t have “nuclear superiority” for the entire period from 1945 through 2005. For much of the time before the fall of the USSR, the Soviet Union had more nuclear weapons.

“We tried to flex our muscle in Vietnam. Far-East Communism was not a threat and the anti-Vietnam protestors proved that. Russia will soon fall and we will voluntarily just give our manufacturing jobs to Chinese Communists.”

[RWC] “We tried to flex our muscle in Vietnam?” I’m no fan of either John Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson, but does Mr. Schaffner have such a low opinion of these men that he believes they’d put our servicemen in harm’s way merely to “flex our muscle?” I didn’t include Richard Nixon with Kennedy and Johnson because, as I mentioned above, Nixon began troop withdrawals almost as soon as he took office.

Exactly how did the anti-Vietnam protesters prove Asian Communism was not a threat? Tell that to the millions of South Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians who died at the hands of communists after we left South Vietnam. Oh, that’s right, we can’t because they are dead.