There is NO WAY the U.S. would allow the sort of situation that you have in Vietnam in the Western Hemisphere. Cuba happened, mainly because the U.S. was asleep at the witch and never dreamed that Castro would actually be able to pull it off.
Once bitten, twice shy.
As far as the deeper goal, preventing conservatives from Reagan onward, a serious Communist treat in South America would increase the chances for far right victory, not diminish it (Kill a Commie for Mommy, etc).
Reagan came to power thanks to an economic downturn, the pitiful U.S. reaction to the Iranian Hostage drama, and the fact that Jimmy Carter was a really, REALLY bad President and possibly an even worse politician.
How Carter was ever nominated is an enduring mystery to me (the 1976 election was the first one I really paid close attention to, I was justthismuch too young to vote). I can't figure out how he got the nomination, and how he beat Ford (even though Jerry wasn't exactly excitement in a can) is completely beyond me.
The actual important thing is that Carter was a moderate for the time, and would be close to a conservative now. He got stomped flat by Reagan, mainly because the economy was a shambles, with interest rates at levels that made loan sharks turn pale (how about a 30 year home loan at 19.5%? Older brother of one of my buddies had one of those jewels). I had a T-bill that was earning 22% interest and it was barely keeping up with inflation.
Since the economic problem was global (partly, but not totally, due to a major oil price shock) you have to fix that before you can even begin to cut Reagan off at the pass.
Once bitten, twice shy.
As far as the deeper goal, preventing conservatives from Reagan onward, a serious Communist treat in South America would increase the chances for far right victory, not diminish it (Kill a Commie for Mommy, etc).
Reagan came to power thanks to an economic downturn, the pitiful U.S. reaction to the Iranian Hostage drama, and the fact that Jimmy Carter was a really, REALLY bad President and possibly an even worse politician.
How Carter was ever nominated is an enduring mystery to me (the 1976 election was the first one I really paid close attention to, I was justthismuch too young to vote). I can't figure out how he got the nomination, and how he beat Ford (even though Jerry wasn't exactly excitement in a can) is completely beyond me.
The actual important thing is that Carter was a moderate for the time, and would be close to a conservative now. He got stomped flat by Reagan, mainly because the economy was a shambles, with interest rates at levels that made loan sharks turn pale (how about a 30 year home loan at 19.5%? Older brother of one of my buddies had one of those jewels). I had a T-bill that was earning 22% interest and it was barely keeping up with inflation.
Since the economic problem was global (partly, but not totally, due to a major oil price shock) you have to fix that before you can even begin to cut Reagan off at the pass.