In 1962, McNamara supported a plan for mass spraying of the rice fields with herbicides in the Phu Yen mountains to starve the VC out, but this was stopped when Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs W. Averell Harriman pointed out to Kennedy that the ensuing famine would kill thousands of innocent people. In late 1962, McNamara ordered planners to assume the withdraw of American advisers from South Vietnam in 1964 as, according to Pentagon calculations, the war should be won by then. At the time, McNamara told Kennedy: "There is a new feeling of confidence that victory is possible".
In 1962, McNamara supported a plan for mass spraying of the rice fields with herbicides in the Phu Yen mountains to starve the VC out, but this was stopped when As:sistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs W. Averell Harriman pointed out to Kennedy that the ensuing famine would kill thousands of innocent people. In late 1962, McNamara ordered planners to assume the withdraw of American advisers from South Vietnam in 1964 as, according to Pentagon calculations, the war should be won by then. At the time, McNamara told Kennedy "There is a new feeling of confidence that victory is possible".