Nixon-Lodge
Nixon picked Lodge largely for ticket-balancing considerations. Until Solid Democratic South ended in the 1970s, Republican national tickets generally had an East-West/Midwest balance. With Nixon being from California, he sought an establishment easterner for the Veep slot. With NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller unwilling to be his (or anyone elses) running mate, Ambassador (and former U.S. Senator) Henry Cabot Lodge was selected to fill the Veep slot.
As with Agnew in 1969-73, Nixon as president would have largely ignored Lodge. The damage that Lodge did to U.S. efforts in South Vietnam was as a new Ambassodor, who was appointed by JFK to tie a potential 1964 Republican rival to his Vietnam policy in case things went badly. Lodge didn't understand South Vietnam, didn't like Diem, and strongly encouraged the ARVN Generals coup against Diem. Without Lodge in South Vietnam, Nixon would likely have pursued his usual foreign policy realpolitick and backed the conservative strongman Diem due to the lack of any better alternative.
Diem and his regime were far from perfect. However, the North Vietnamese only shifted from guerrilla war tactics to major unit attacks as a result of the deteriorating political situation in South Vietnam in the aftermath of the coup and assassination of Diem. If Diem remain in place after 1963, the political/military situation would not have rapidly deteriorated to the point where ten or hundreds of thousands of U.S. grounds troops were needed in 1965 to stave off an otherwise certain loss of South Vietnam to the communists.
Nixon picked Lodge largely for ticket-balancing considerations. Until Solid Democratic South ended in the 1970s, Republican national tickets generally had an East-West/Midwest balance. With Nixon being from California, he sought an establishment easterner for the Veep slot. With NY Governor Nelson Rockefeller unwilling to be his (or anyone elses) running mate, Ambassador (and former U.S. Senator) Henry Cabot Lodge was selected to fill the Veep slot.
As with Agnew in 1969-73, Nixon as president would have largely ignored Lodge. The damage that Lodge did to U.S. efforts in South Vietnam was as a new Ambassodor, who was appointed by JFK to tie a potential 1964 Republican rival to his Vietnam policy in case things went badly. Lodge didn't understand South Vietnam, didn't like Diem, and strongly encouraged the ARVN Generals coup against Diem. Without Lodge in South Vietnam, Nixon would likely have pursued his usual foreign policy realpolitick and backed the conservative strongman Diem due to the lack of any better alternative.
Diem and his regime were far from perfect. However, the North Vietnamese only shifted from guerrilla war tactics to major unit attacks as a result of the deteriorating political situation in South Vietnam in the aftermath of the coup and assassination of Diem. If Diem remain in place after 1963, the political/military situation would not have rapidly deteriorated to the point where ten or hundreds of thousands of U.S. grounds troops were needed in 1965 to stave off an otherwise certain loss of South Vietnam to the communists.