“Path to War” (2002) is a studied dramatization by John
Frankenheimer, for HBO, of the lumbering momentum of President Lyndon B.
Johnson’s escalation of the War in Vietnam, which started in earnest in early
1965.
Michael Gambon is not exactly a clone of LMJ, but Alec
Baldwin makes for a reasonable facsimile of Robert McNamara, who authored the
book “In Retrospect” explaining how insidious the road to war in Vietnam really
was. Donald Sutherland is a little bit
comical as Clark Clifford, and at one point, after McNamara has been awarded
the Medal of Freedom, Clifford says that McNamara is no “ostrich”. That may have inspired the use of “animal names”
when I was stationed at Fort Eustis in 1969; one of the lieutenants was called “The
Ostrich” just as I was “Chickenman”.
The Tet Offensive occurs near the end of the film. It
happened just before I entered the Army myself on February 8, 1968, to arrive
at Fort Jackson and the Reception Station at Ft. Jackson, SC in the wee hours
of the next morning. Despite a stint in
Special Training Company because of physical backwardness, I managed to use my
education to remain stateside and avoid getting sent to the meat grinder. But this was a dangerous time to go in.
Johnson comes to a realization of the quantity of men needed
very early in 1965. He computes at one
point that he could need a million men. He
quibbles in public about the need to ask for families to sacrifice their young
men. Later, when one of his own young
staff complains about the war, Johnson threatens to fire him and get him
drafted by the Marine Corps. Yes, it was
possible to get drafted by the Marines in 1968.
The film shows the gradual evolution of LBJ’s understanding
of the nature of this war. His administration, as McNamara wrote in his book, fully believed in the domino theory, and top brass meetings showed a real concern about China's entering the war and using nuclear weapons if the US didn't nip this on the bud on the ground first. He gets angry
that Ho Chi Minh won’t give up, especially in one scene at Camp David. By 1968, Johnson has come to grasp the
asymmetric nature of guerilla war and that brute force from a superpower won’t
compel surrender. The film ends with his
March 31, 1968 speech (link) when he says he will not run for
reelection. I was in Special Training Company, at my lowest moment, cleaning
the grease pit while on KP. But I think I
recall hearing that speech on the radio. Later, after I had returned to Basic,
I recall hearing on the radio that peace talks had started while I was cleaning
ammo in the rifle range.
HBO no longer seems to have a link to a site for this
specific film. It is available from
Netflix on DVD only.
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