Typo
Banned
The US never helped the Vietnamese against the French, they funded the French war against the Vietnamese IIRC
America wins the Vietnam war
- Thread starter AbeLincoln1865
- Start date
Correct. The OSS provided aid to Ho during WWII against the Japanese. When the war was over Ho (reasonably enough) asked for independence from France and US diplomatic support to that end. For really bad reasons, the US said not only "No" but "we're actually going to provide aid to the French in suppressing you". That aid slowly grew to the point where the US was fighting its own war and the French were completely gone.
I think the way for the US to win the war is for Chiang Kai Shek to defeat the Communists which also means the Korean war would end in Us victory not stalemate if only George Marshall hadnt made Chiang halt...
I recall reading somewhere that Lyndon Johnson was so scared about the South collapsing during his term that he really feared a Second Joe McCarthy Red Scare if that had happened. Any thoughts? Who would have instigated a second McCarthyite Red Scare in Johnson's term? Goldwater, Reagan, Jesse Helms??
pnyckqx
Banned
Wouldn't have been Helms since he wasn't elected to the Senate until the 1972 election.
There was nobody that could have been in the position of influence to do that sort of thing during LBJ's Presidency. Goldwater and Reagan were both staunch anti-communists, but neither man was a conspiracy theory nutball.
At least they weren't into harmful conspiracy theories. Goldwater believed that the government was covering up contacts made with extra terrestrials, and Reagan had an obsession about an asteroid or comet hitting the earth, and communicated such thoughts to Soviet leadership during his Presidency.
Cuāuhtemōc
Banned
Depends what you consider victory, then yes, it is possible for "victory" in Vietnam.
At most, it'll be plausible to have a battered down, depopulated South Vietnam still existing until now. It'll be in the crapper for a long time.
At most, it'll be plausible to have a battered down, depopulated South Vietnam still existing until now. It'll be in the crapper for a long time.
MacCaulay
Banned
There's one thing that folks kind of sidestep here, and that's something the Vietnam War really brought to the fore: what does "win" mean?
It's something that was very simple for the US military before Vietnam, it was crystal clear before Korea. But that was a conflict where simple words like "win" and "lose" begin to have their meaning drain away.
Does having America "win" the Vietnam War mean having American tanks roll through Hanoi while we're jamming the Star Spangled Banner? Because experience in that country showed we need more than that to bring peace.
Perhaps maybe that's what part of the problem was: you don't "win" conflicts like that. You have to "bring peace" to them.
It's something that was very simple for the US military before Vietnam, it was crystal clear before Korea. But that was a conflict where simple words like "win" and "lose" begin to have their meaning drain away.
Does having America "win" the Vietnam War mean having American tanks roll through Hanoi while we're jamming the Star Spangled Banner? Because experience in that country showed we need more than that to bring peace.
Perhaps maybe that's what part of the problem was: you don't "win" conflicts like that. You have to "bring peace" to them.
Same outcome as Korea. An independent South that over time outperfoms the North economically and as a result becomes the stronger of the two.