James Lowenstein Passed Away: After his first trip to Vietnam in 1967, James G. Lowenstein, who worked for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had reason to doubt the military leaders who were always upbeat about American progress.
He went to the Mekong Delta, which is a place where guerrilla fighting is common, and stayed at a home that was thought to be safe for a visiting dignitary. The following day, when he woke up, he heard that three locals had been killed while sleeping in the village leader’s home.
In an oral history, Mr. Lowenstein said, “I started to wonder, if this was a safe village, what it was like in the other villages that weren’t considered safe.” Later, when he went to military briefings with Gen. William C. Westmoreland and other senior officers, he started to think that “someone, somewhere down the line,” wasn’t telling the truth.
Over the next few years, Mr. Lowenstein, who was technically a Foreign Service officer on loan to the Foreign Relations Committee as a consultant, became a front-page name because he wrote detailed reports for the committee that often disagreed with the White House said.
In Southeast Asia, he went to embassies, villages, and jungle outposts to learn about military and intelligence operations. He also partnered with Richard M. Moose, who worked for the same committee and was just as determined as he was.
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In December 1969, the two men spent weeks going back and forth across Vietnam. Then, they wrote a report that questioned the Nixon administration’s ideas about the South Vietnamese military’s strength. Five years before the war ended, they concluded that it “appears to be neither won nor over.”
James Lowenstein Dies At 95: His Senate Reports Refuted Assertions About The Vietnam War!
James G. Lowenstein, a staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had reason to be dubious of military brass and their incessantly positive appraisals ofhttps://t.co/n4RlbaGVUc pic.twitter.com/qvE69ZE4KQ
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The document was quoted in newspapers and on the evening news, and it was praised by the boss of the Senate staffers, J. William Fulbright, who said it was “sober, unbiased, and revealing.” Later, the Arkansas Democrat sent Mr. Lowenstein and Mr. Moose on missions to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, South Korea, Greece, and the Philippines.
Usually, their reports made headlines. Mr. Lowenstein said, “These reports got so much attention that a few senators started to say that the staff was getting more attention than the committee members.” If you believe this is interesting, please discuss it with the other people you know. Visit techyember.com for the most recent news and updates regarding famous people.
