A Vietnam surge

You'd have to put your POD for a viable south vietnamese government earlier than that. Posit a Diem who is both competent and actually has grassroots support. Or replace Diem with someone who does.
So what about going back to 1944-5? Couldn't the U.S. have found a genuine nationalist who wasn't a fascist (the postwar U.S. preference) or a Communist to take over a unified Vietnam? Surely there were a few in Japanese jails, or known to the French. Or support Ho (who claimed to be a nationalist first)? (I confess, I find this claim less than credible.)
 

Typo

Banned
Here I must disagree. At TET the communists expected the ARVN to collapse and the population to rise up in support. Neither of which happened. They had localized victories - and there was heavy fighting in some areas especially Hue but it was a military disaster for the VC.

Had the press been reporting using the rules and standards of WW2 that might have been the end of it. BUT everyone was looking for a story - and 'American Embassy overrun' sells more papers than 'Attack on Embassy thwarted'

And yes it did not help that the American and ARVN forces ignored all the warning signs like the Allied command had done with the Battle of the Bulge in WW2. I think that is a good comparison - imagine if the start of that battle had been reported 'live' in the same way.....
But public support of the war was still gone, and therefore, the insurgency, whatever the desire of Hanoi...achieved its ultimate goal for the Communists.
 

Hendryk

Banned
Or support Ho (who claimed to be a nationalist first)? (I confess, I find this claim less than credible.)
Ho was a nationalist first and foremost. He saw Communism as a means to an end--namely the independence and unification of Vietnam--rather than an end in itself. He was much more similar to Zhou Enlai than Mao Zedong in that regard.
 
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