He’d decided to adhere rigidly: The full text of the Code of Conduct can be found at Inq, 937.
“You’re a weakling”: Author interview with Harry Iredale.
“I was determined”: CA, Vol. III, 1006–86.
“A brief confession”: LBJ, NSF, Memos to the President, Walt Rostow, Vol. 112, Dec. 26–31 (1 of 2), container 44, “Statement of Robert James Hammond.”
Scowling grimly: The Rules of Life are quoted in Bucher, op. cit., 281.
Stepped into a sunken tub: Ibid., 284.
“You will be given a special treat!”: Ibid., 287.
Schumacher sent back a note: Trevor Armbrister, A Matter of Accountability: The True Story of the Pueblo Affair (Coward-McCann Inc., New York, 1970), 282.
“That’s nonsense”: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Office of the Executive Secretariat, Korean Crisis (“Pueblo Crisis”) Files, 1968, Entry 5192, Lot 69D219, box 5, folder: Miscellaneous—Pueblo, 2/1/68–8/68, Book II of II, transcript: “Officers of the Armed Spy Ship ‘Pueblo’ of U.S. Imperialist Aggression Army Were Interviewed by Newspaper, News Agency, and Radio Reporters.”
They debated the exact meaning: Bucher, op. cit., 304.
Some signed hesitantly: Details of the collective signing are taken from Bucher’s and Schumacher’s memoirs and the author’s interview with Bucher.
CHAPTER 8: AT THE MAD HATTER’S TEA PARTY
People in the capital heard artillery: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 19, Telegrams to Posts Other Than Seoul (1 of 2), container 36.
“Tens of thousands of hand grenades”: NA, RG 526, Records of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Stack 630A/1/2/1, box 12, folder: Pueblo #2.
An East German diplomat: WW, Memorandum on an Information of 1 February 1968, Embassy of the GDR in the DPRK, Pyongyang, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, MfAA C 1023/73. Translated by Karen Riechert. http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/113741.
“Fat revisionist pig”: Obituary of Kim Il Sung, Daily Telegraph, London, July 11, 1994.
Their own request: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 12, CIA Documents [1], box 32.
Bulldozed and defoliated: Daniel P. Bolger, “Scenes from an Unfinished War: Low-Intensity Conflict in Korea, 1966–1969,” Leavenworth Papers No. 19 (Combat Studies Institute, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1991), 49.
Digging in for war: NA, RG 218, Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Records of Chairman (Gen.) Earle G. Wheeler, 1964–1970, box 29, folder: Korea (Pueblo) 091, 21 Feb. 1968, Vol. III.
“Seriously disturbed”: NA, RG 526, Records of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, box 13, tab 15, folder: US6500, USS Pueblo, Jan. 26–27, 1968.
“Sir, this is the break”: LBJ, NSF, Country File, Korea, box 57, folder: Pueblo Incident, Vol. Ia, Part A.
“Results could be explosive”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 15, Telegrams to Seoul, tab 9–17, box 34.
Berger’s retort to Porter: LBJ, NSF, Memos to the President, Walt Rostow, Vol. 58, Jan. 25–31, 1968 (2 of 3), container 28.
Park already had alerted his generals: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 16, Telegrams from Seoul, tab 8, box 34, “Final Vance Meeting with President Park,” Feb. 17, 1968.
“Getting nowhere”: Reminiscences of Vice Admiral J. Victor Smith, U.S. Navy (Retired), (U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland, 1977), 422.
“Putrid corpse”: LBJ, NSF, Country File, Asia and the Pacific (Korea), Korea cables and memos, Vol. V, 9/67–3/68, box 255.
LBJ was disappointed: NA, RG 59, Records of Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Rusk telephone transcripts, telephone call from Walt Rostow, Feb. 2, 1968, 10:13 a.m.
“[Smith] is not psychologically suited”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 16, Telegrams from Seoul, tabs 1–5, box 34.
“I’d sit up watching”: Author interview with Marion Smith.
A bridge leading to Panmunjom: Details of the students’ protest are drawn from wire service accounts printed in the Virginian-Pilot and the News and Courier (Charleston, South Carolina), Feb. 8, 1968.
“Appeasement, indecisive, disappointing”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 16, Telegrams from Seoul, tabs 1–5, box 34.
Arrested and paraded: Don Oberdorfer, The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History (Basic Books, New York, 1997), 10.
“I resolved to uproot”: Park Chung Hee, The Country, the Revolution, and I (Hollym Publishers, Seoul, South Korea, 1970), 61.
“Ringleader of a Communist cell”: New York Times, May 20, 1961.
“An almost psychopathic fear”: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Office of the Executive Secretariat, Korea Crisis (“Pueblo Crisis”) Files, 1968, Historical reports relating to diplomacy during the Lyndon Johnson Administration, 1963–1969, box 4, folder: Vol. 6.
“Forceful, fair and intelligent”: Edward C. Keefer et al., Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Vol. XXII, Northeast Asia (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1996), 543.
“Upheaval, division, and probably bloodshed”: NA, RG 59, op. cit.
Drinking heavily: Karen L. Gatz, editor, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Vol. XXIX, Part 1, Korea (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 2000), 377.
“We’re doing very well”: Author interview with Kent L. Lee.
“No, I am not”: LBJ, Appointment File (Diary Backup), 2/1/68–2/9/68, Feb. 2, 1968, container 89.
“Flat on our ass”: Gatz, Foreign Relations of the United States, op. cit., 554.
Ball destroyed all hard copies: George W. Ball, The Past Has Another Pattern: Memoirs (New York, W. W. Norton & Co., 1982), 436. A copy of Ball’s report in draft form, however, found its way to the LBJ Library, and the author had it declassified. The draft can be found at NSF, Intelligence File, “Pueblo (Jan. 1968),” box 11, document #2.
The United States “will not . . . humiliate itself”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 14, Telegrams to Seoul, tab 1–12, box 33.
“A pirate and a thief”: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, Political and Defense, Pol 33-6 Kor N.–U.S., 2/1/68 to 2/15/68, box 2276, folder: 2/8/68.
Emergency powers: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 12, CIA Documents [2], box 32.
Only a few hours: New York Times, Feb. 16, 1968.
“An absolute menace”: Gatz, Foreign Relations of the United States, op. cit., 377.
“We are not helpless”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 14, Telegrams to Seoul, tab 20–22, box 33.
“Gasped, sputtered”: LBJ, NSF, Memos to the President, Walt Rostow, Vol. 62, Feb. 14–16, 1968 (2 of 2), container #29 (1 of 2).
Fortifying themselves with whisky: Author interview with Abbott Greenleaf.
“Not strong enough”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 16, Telegrams from Seoul, tab 8, box 34.
“Profoundly disturbed”: Ibid.
“Going on for some time”: Gatz, Foreign Relations of the United States, op. cit., 378.
“A weak reed”: Ibid., 382.
“Will fight together”: Sergey S. Radchenko, The Soviet Union and the North Korean Seizure of the USS Pueblo: Evidence from Russian Archives, Cold War International History Project, Working Paper #47 (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., undated), 65.
“A defensive character”: Ibid., 66.
CHAPTER 9: THE ENDURANCE OF MEN
“Welcome to your new home”: F. Carl Schumacher Jr. and George C. Wilson, Bridge of No Return: The Ordeal of the U.S.S. Pueblo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971), 162.
Pondering various ways: Author interview with Lloyd M. Bucher.
“I have broken into tears many times”: Time magazine, April 12, 1968.
“Time is running out”: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, Political and Defense, Pol 33-6 Kor N.–U.S., 4/1/68 to 5/1/68, box 2270, folder: 4/15/68.
His emaciation startled him: Details of Woelk’s experiences are drawn from an author interview with Woelk; an online essay he wrote, “D.P.R.K.’s Glorious Medicare Care,” www.usspueblo.org/Prisoners/Medicare_Care.html; and Ed Brandt, The Last Voyage of USS Pueblo (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1969), 71.
“The typical day started in stupidity”: Schumacher, op. cit., 174.
“They have blinded the boy!”: Ibid., 166.
“We just don’t walk like you”: Trevor Armbrister, A Matter of Accountability: The True Story of the Pueblo Affair (Coward-McCann Inc., New York, 1970).
“Rascally fighting spirit”: Author interview with Peter Langenberg.
“You ought to be beaten”: Brandt, op. cit., 139.
“My head just exploded”: Author interview with Jim Kell.
“So hungry you’d be shaking”: Ibid.
“100 percent mechanized”: “My Pueblo Nightmare,” Boston Globe series, May 1969, episode 11.
“Talk and talk and talk and talk”: Kell interview, op. cit.
“They couldn’t sell us on their system”: Langenberg interview, op. cit.
Bought his own car for $3,200: Brandt, op. cit., 141.
“They haven’t perfected the goat”: Stephen R. Harris and James C. Hefley, My Anchor Held (Fleming H. Revell Co., Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1970), 101.
“Delirious with delight”: “Day 221: Mid summer, time to mow the lawn!” essay by crewman Ralph McClintock, copy in author’s possession.
“Look at him and grin”: Author interview with Charles Law.
“It scared the hell out of you”: Kell interview, op. cit.
“How dare you bring that up!”: Brandt, op. cit., 148.
CHAPTER 10: ALLIES AT ODDS
Description of Kaiser estate: LBJ, Appointment File (Diary Backup), April 15–17, 1968, Hawaii, container 96.
“A pyrotechnical spectacle”: Time magazine, April 19, 1968.
Under scrutiny by cryptanalysts: NA, RG 526, Records of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, folder: US6500, USS Pueblo, April 1968, box 13.
“Replying to the letters”: LBJ, Papers of Clark Clifford, folder: Pueblo—March 1, 1968–January 20, 1969, box 23.
His overarching fear: LBJ, NSF, International Meetings and Travel File, Korea, President Johnson’s Meeting w/ President Park, 4/68, container 21.
A turning point: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 21, Airgrams, misc., box 37.
A sense of destiny: Ibid.
Gripped by “intense fear”: LBJ, NSF, International Meetings and Travel File, Korea, President Johnson’s Meeting w/ President Park, 4/68, container 21.
A “relatively short war”: LBJ, NSF, Country File, Korea, Memos and Cables, Vol. VI, 4/68–12/68, box 256.
“Inimical to the U.S. national interest”: Ibid.
“A shock for the Asians”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 7, Day by Day Documents, Part 14, box 30.
“You must give us the main strength”: Ibid.
“Loaded with live bullets”: Ibid.
“We are treating them too well”: WW, Report, Embassy of Hungary in North Korea to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, 27 April 1968, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Crisis-Conf.Doc_reader-Pt1.pdf.
“Bourgeois pacifism and revisionism”: WW, Presidium of the Central Committee of CPCZ, Information about the Situation in Korea, February 5, 1968, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/NKIDP_Document_Reader_New_Evidence_on_North_Korea.pdf.
220 miles up the east coast: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files 1967–1969, Political and Defense, Pol 33-6 Kor N.–U.S. 4/1/68 to 5/1/68, folder: 4/15/86, box 2270.
CHAPTER 11: SUMMER OF DEFIANCE
“Every little nitpicky thing”: Author interview with Jim Kell.
“It would cost them a lot of money”: Author interview with Lloyd M. Bucher.
He’d make it his solemn business: Ibid.
Bucher mumbled that he no longer cared: Ed Brandt, The Last Voyage of USS Pueblo (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1969), 151.
“I’m happier than shit”: Author interview with Charles Law.
“Goddamn it, I didn’t kill the goddamn plant”: Brandt, op. cit., 145.
Strano husbanded his growing stash: Ibid., 152.
“He’d realize we got to him, and he’d send us off”: Law interview. op. cit.
“His head down”: Trevor Armbrister, A Matter of Accountability: The True Story of the Pueblo Affair (Coward-McCann Inc., New York, 1970), 308.
“Christ, there goes my career”: Ibid., 309.
“You lose a .45[-caliber pistol] in the Navy”: Author interview with F. Carl (Skip) Schumacher Jr.
“If you got five or six guys who saw it one way”: Bucher interview. op. cit.
“No tender private thoughts could be conveyed”: Lloyd M. Bucher and Mark Rascovich, Bucher: My Story (Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970), 335.
“I told you it was gonna make me sweat”: Armbrister, op. cit., 309.
“Run over him”: Interview with Donald Richard Peppard, Library of Congress, Veterans History Project, Oct. 29, 2002.
“The majority were . . . CIA operatives”: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files, 1967–1969, Political and Defense, Central, Pol 33-6, Kor N–U.S., 7/1/68, box 2272, folder: 7/1/68.
Two crewmen were beaten: HI, unpublished excerpt from Bucher: My Story, Bucher Papers, box 17.
The “12 ball problem”: F. Carl Schumacher Jr. and George C. Wilson, Bridge of No Return: The Ordeal of the USS Pueblo (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., New York, 1971), 177.
Harris’s nighttime dreams: Stephen R. Harris and James C. Hefley, My Anchor Held (Fleming H. Revell Co., Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1970), 100.
The infection in Murphy’s foot: Edward R. Murphy Jr. and Curt Gentry, Second in Command (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1971), 267.
“Let the evil spirits out”: Armbrister, op. cit., 318.
“Good luck, everyone”: Brandt, op. cit., 164.
“That means a lot to me”: Kell interview. op. cit.
Still more coordinates: Murphy, op. cit., 269.
“Oh, how I long to walk”: “Text of Pueblo Crew’s Press Conference,” as prepared by the Korean Central News Agency, Sept. 16, 1968, 12.
“The proof is irrefutable”: Ibid., 16.
What a North Korean court-martial was like: Brandt, op. cit., 182.
Toilet paper stayed in Bucher’s pocket: Bucher, Bucher: My Story, op. cit., 346.
CHAPTER 12: AN UNAPOLOGETIC APOLOGY
“Defeatism, puny protest, and wishy-washy talk-a-thons”: Congressional Record, July 22, 1968, pp. H7168–7169.
Such mishaps . . . had to stop: LBJ, NSF, Country File, Korea memos and cables, Vol. VI, 4/68–12/68, box 256.
“Maximum exploitability”: NA, RG 218, Records of Gen. Earle Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, box 29, folder: 091 Korea, 5/1/68–4/31/69.
“Wipe out” potential American invaders: Washington Post, June 1, 1968.
“U.S. restraint in the Pueblo affair probably strengthened this view”: NA, RG 59, General Rec
ords of the Department of State, Policy Planning Council, Korea through Philippines 1967–1968, box 306, folder: Korea, 1967–1968.
Code-named “Freedom Drop”: NA, RG 218, Records of Gen. Earle Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , box 29, folder: Korea 091, 1 May 1968–31 April 1969.
Cynical and unpleasant: WW, 15 April 1969: 11:00 p.m., Telephone conversation between National Security Adviser Kissinger and Dr. Kramer, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Crisis-Conf.Doc_reader-Pt1.pdf.
“Maximum violence”: LBJ, NSF, Memos to the President—Walt Rostow, Vol. 76, May 9–14, 1968 (1 of 2), box 34.
“Over 30 miles from shore on dry land”: LBJ, NSF, Papers of Clark Clifford, Pueblo, March 1, 1968–Jan. 20, 1969, box 23.
“Both sides would understand this ambiguity”: LBJ, National Security File, Memos to the President—Walt Rostow, Vol. 78, May 20–24, 1968 (2 of 2), box 34.
“This country cannot indulge in lies”: Virginian-Pilot newspaper, undated. A copy is in the author’s possession.
“Republic of Korea and the United States are inseparably bound”: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files, 1967–1969, Political and Defense, Pol 33-6 Kor N-US, 5/1/68 to 7/1/68, box 2271, folder: 5/20/68.
The more outlandish the rhetoric: Ibid., folder: 7/1/68.
A Japanese newsman: NA, RG 526, Records of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Stack 630A/1/2/1, box 12, folder: “Pueblo No. 1.”
“Is Commander Bucher in good health?”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 18, Telegrams from Seoul, Tab 1 [1 of 2], box 35.
“We will be vulnerable to criticism”: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 15, Telegrams to Seoul, box 34, tabs 4–8.
“It [is] not practical for us to remain motionless”: NA, RG 59, General Records of the Department of State, Central Foreign Policy Files, 1967–1969, Political and Defense, Pol 33-6 Kor N.–US, 7/1/68, box 2271, folder: 7/1/68.
Pak didn’t seem to understand: LBJ, NSF, National Security Council Histories, Pueblo Crisis 1968, Vol. 18, Telegrams for Seoul, Tab 1 (1 of 2), box 35.
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