As for the 1st, as far back as 1961, in the earliest days of the Kennedy Administration (you can believe this or not believe it), I knew exactly that we were going to War in Vietnam…that we were going to lose, & even how we were going to be run out.

    At the Time I did not know of a single American who could see what I did…but there were 2 in Britain who did, & with whom I had a brief, very-nice & informative Correspondence.

    One was Viscount, Bernard Montgomery of Alamein, whose address was “The Old Mill ” in Hampshire…& the Other was Lord Bertrand Russell, who lived on a Sheep Farm in Wales, which had 1 of those long Welsh Names.

    To give a Time-line on this Correspondence, the Secretary of Lord Russell  did send me a Note saying that his Boss would soon be having a 90th Birthday & would really appreciate a Birthday Card….which would have been in 1962

     Alas, I did not bother to send a Card, my Manners, not always having been the Best.

    What made me so sure of a War in Vietnam was the repeated Appearances on TV of 1 “Dr. Tom Dooley” a Vietnam, Aid-Worker, who most Viewers imagined to be some Kind of “Hero”, but who struck me as Someone I found so difficult to watch I could almost not handle it.

    Having seen Dooley 2 or 3 Times on TV, I knew we were headed for War in Vietnam, that we were going to lose…& even what that Loss would look like.

    At this very Time there was a top Hit on the Radio called “Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley”…”poor Boy you’re goin’ to die” which confirmed my worst Suspicions.

    What I could not square with this Premonition was the newly-elected President of the USA, John F. Kennedy, who seemed to be the last Person on Earth who would countenance this Premonition.

   A Line from the Film “JFK” by Oliver Stone nails it…when 1 General, in the Company of Several, comments, that if Kennedy was not prepared to send US Troops into Cuba, which is “next Door”…what are the Chances of his sending them 7,000 Miles away?”

     Where I was off Base in my Premonition of the “Vietnam War” was my Fear that the War would be over before the End of the 1960s, with a horrific Death Toll for US Troops somewhere around 10,000, before we finally got run out.

   Being “Anti War” during this Time, & working in the concrete-construction Business which tends to slow down in Colorado during January (because you can’t pour Concrete when the Snow is falling), I collected Unemployment Insurance in Washington DC during 2 consecutive Januarys, where I presented a Concept called the “Mid-Pacific Defense Perimeter”, which had 2 Precedents.

   One was that, long-Term, the best Defense against China or any far-eastern Power, having a Mind to establish military Bases in the Western Hemisphere, which is not to our Interest, would be to acknowledge the Battle Cry of the erstwhile, Empire of Japan, “Asia for the Asians” as the Asian Equivalent of our own “Monroe Doctrine” of 1823.  

    It was during this Time that I got to speak with Sens. Mike Mansfield of Montana & Gene McCarthy, who I came to know, but as an actual “Ally” on the Specifics of the Concept, it was only a Congressmen from Tennessee, Adm. William Anderson who had been the Skipper of the 1st nuclear Submarine, the “Nautilus”.

    On July 25th 1969, President Nixon, on Guam, a Point on my “Mid Pacific Defense Perimeter” made Statement, letting Everyone on  the Press Corps with him know, that he wanted to be known as the Author of a “Nixon Doctrine”…stating that “We re recognize the “Nationalism of Asians who say “Asia for the Asians”.

    Now to say this was 100% “my own Work” might be Something of a Stretch…for 1 Reason, that it had long been the Position of his Predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, to say “Let  Asians fight Asians”.

    On the other Hand it was in October of 1968 that I sent a Copy of the committee’s Position-Paper to Candidate Nixon, on what was meant to be a President’s “Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine” & on March 10, 1969, I did receive a Letter, from the White House, from then “President Nixon”, thanking me for my Submission…but that is just for Starters.

   Back in the Year 116 a well-beloved Emperor & military Genius (but not so much a “political Genius”) named “Trajan”, had a Mind to succeed where Alexander the Great had failed, by conquering India.

   In 117, on the March, Trajan died & was replaced by soldier-emperor Hadrian who had not the slightest Interest in conquering Peoples East beyond where the Population did not speak Greek…thus Pulling of all his Troops back to the Euphrates…a Boundary that was still Place 400 Years later, Something that was pulled off without shedding  Drop of Blood, making it the most historic military Maneuver of all Time.

    One the Day after, the Pronouncement, my Idea for what should have been the “Nixon Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine of 1969” came to be known as the “Nixon Doctrine”, an Article in the “Christian Science Monitor”,  was accompanied by a Cartoon of Nixon as a “latter-day Hadrian”, drawing a Line in the Sand with a Sword.

    While making the Rounds in Washington speaking to as many syndicated Columnists I could find, given the Time I would tell the Story of Hadrian 117…& clearly, 1 of them was on the Plane with Nixon on July 25, 1969.

     Bringing the Concept up to Date in 2022, I would leave the Mid Pacific Defense Perimeter just where I put it in 1968…but the 200,00 US Troops currently deployed in 800 overseas bases in 70 Countries I would have them redeployed, as Members of their States’ National Guards to 1,000 Posts, 2 Miles apart, along our southern Border with Instructions not to let Anyone cross from the southern Side.

     Every Post would have 200 Guardsmen…the Number of Posts would be in Line with the Populations of the 50 States.

    The Rio Grande would become the “21st century Euphrates”

     A Problem that had nagged me from 1962 until November of 1963, knowing, exactly, that there would be a War in Vietnam & how it would end, humiliatingly, I thought, in the late ”60s, with as many as 10,000 or even 20,000 US Troops dead”, but with President JFK, somehow, not having Anything to do with such an unprovoked Stunt…. the only Thing I could imagine was” Addison’s Disease”, with which the President had suffered for Years, having forced him to “resign” in favor of his VP, LBJ, with whom I was not familiar.

    Sitting in the CU Student Union, in Boulder, on November 22, when the News broke by Eric Severeid, that JFK had been pronounced dead, I still remember the 2 Words that hit me…”Not Addisons!”