Though things were falling apart in Laos, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Mc Namara, clad in suntans and heavy-soled combat boots, took a firsthand look at the Vietnamese war and came away with guarded optimism.
As McNamara flew north from Saigon toward forested Binh Duong province, largely controlled by the Communist Viet Cong guerrillas, gunners in the escorting H21 helicopters stood at open ports, scanning the terrain below over the barrels of .30-caliber machine guns. McNamara landed inside the defenses of a "strategic hamlet" called Ben Tuong, the pilot project of the U.S.-backed...
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