Vietnam Plans in a 1960 Nixon Victory Scenario?

There has been much debate regarding whether or not JFK would have had the troops systematically withdrawn from Vietnam had he remained in office. What does not seem to be as discussed is what stance Richard Nixon would have taken regarding the war had he been victorious in 1960. Given his actions in the OTL toward the Vietnam War, it remains unclear which path he would have taken. What do you feel Nixon likely would have done had he won in 1960?
 
Probably little different. The 'troops' in Viet Nam were not much more than what we had in some similar situations. The forgotten example is the Greek civil war of the 1940s. The US took that one over from the Brits and sent in a batch or advisers, training specialist, technical specialists, ect... There were varying sized contingents of US military personnel in many other nations as well. The occupations of Hati & Nicaragua during the early 20th Century Banana Wars was a older example.

The difference was in Viet Nam our guys were losing from around 1963 & badly. Would Nixons group have just withdrawn the support group & wrote off the Diem regime & the South? Or escalated as the LBJ crowd did? The model for escalation was the Korean War, where large scale intervention made the difference. There were a few other smaller examples. The Commonwealth example in the Maylasian Emergency was another.
 
Not drastically different. What would make the difference is other areas such as Indonesia which could have blown up into civil wars had things turned out differently. So we really need to ask other questions about his foreign policy.
 
Well, if Nixon was in office, 1963 looks very different, as there's much less chance Henry Cabbot Lodge gets anywhere near RVN; JFK kept him there because he was afraid of having to run against him as the Republican nominee, whereas Nixon's position as the Republican incumbent makes his position vs Lodge much more secure. Lodge bears primary responsibility for the disastrous Diem coup; whatever you think of him, he's better than the revolving door of coups and juntas that paralyzed the RVN from his death on. He also might not have accepted the 'neutralization' non-compromise RE: Laos; actively contesting the HCMT from an early date would definitely affect the course of the insurgency in the South.
 
Well, if Nixon was in office, 1963 looks very different, as there's much less chance Henry Cabbot Lodge gets anywhere near RVN; JFK kept him there because he was afraid of having to run against him as the Republican nominee, whereas Nixon's position as the Republican incumbent makes his position vs Lodge much more secure. Lodge bears primary responsibility for the disastrous Diem coup; whatever you think of him, he's better than the revolving door of coups and juntas that paralyzed the RVN from his death on. He also might not have accepted the 'neutralization' non-compromise RE: Laos; actively contesting the HCMT from an early date would definitely affect the course of the insurgency in the South.

Lodge would have been vice-president. He could still have made the mistakes he did in OTL ( or convinced Nixon to make those mistakes).
 
There has been much debate regarding whether or not JFK would have had the troops systematically withdrawn from Vietnam had he remained in office. What does not seem to be as discussed is what stance Richard Nixon would have taken regarding the war had he been victorious in 1960. Given his actions in the OTL toward the Vietnam War, it remains unclear which path he would have taken. What do you feel Nixon likely would have done had he won in 1960?

The path Nixon took when he came to office OTL was what he was forced to do. But what he wanted to do was escalate like LBJ did, so if he had gotten the office in 1960 he would have done the same thing as LBJ. Maybe more. Nixon wasn't the type to be carefull or avoid confrontation like Kennedy. Like LBJ he believed in America's might and just like LBJ he would think showing an active fight against communism in Asia would give him the votes for his next office, which was all they thought about.
 
Lodge would have been vice-president. He could still have made the mistakes he did in OTL ( or convinced Nixon to make those mistakes).
Lodge would have been on a much tighter leash in Washington, with little direct authority or personal contact with Vietnamese, necessary to make a coup happen. Alternatively, depending on the TL, you can make President Nixon happen by a different VP pick; either way, the very specific chain of events that led to the coup is probably butterflied.
 
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