Vietnam:U.S. re-enters Vietnam War in 1974

What if Congress decided not to cutoff military funding in 1973, and after North Vietnam attacked again in 1974, President Gerald Ford decided to send U.S. troops back to South Vietnam?
 

Nietzsche

Banned
What if Congress decided not to cutoff military funding in 1973, and after North Vietnam attacked again in 1974, President Gerald Ford decided to send U.S. troops back to South Vietnam?

"I Gerald Ford do accept the motion of this congress to impeach me from the office of President of the United States of America..."
 

Germaniac

Donor
Not likely, actually wholy ASB the United States Military might have been willing but the populace would have revolted. Troops would never go back the south Vietnam, as the Citizens of the US wouldn't allow it. The Government was still reeling from Watergate so another massive blow might just crush that little dutch boy with his finger in the dam
 
What if Congress decided not to cutoff military funding in 1973, and after North Vietnam attacked again in 1974, President Gerald Ford decided to send U.S. troops back to South Vietnam?

The Last of Draft troops revolt and refuse to goto Nam .
From US major bases across the World you Hear Hell No We won"t Go .
 
If Vietnamization never ended and the US sent the USAF to assist the South Vietmanese then I don't think actual US soldiers are needed.
 
sent the USAF to assist the South Vietmanese then I don't think actual US soldiers are needed.
They tried that originally and it didn't work. In fact it led to the escalation and eventual deployment of US ground troops in the early 1960s.
 
No way Ford would ever have sent troops back in there, no matter how badly the cowardly ARVN was getting beat up. Never mind public opinion. Even Tricky Dick wouldn't have done that, even though he might have used air power. I once, back in the mid '70s, saw a poll about which president was blamed the most for the war. Surprisingly, Nixon was blamed by more people than LBJ, and as much of an SOB as Tricky Dicky was, I think he should get more credit than he seems to for getting us out of there the best way he could. [Even Ford got 9% of the blame] I blame that mess completely and utterly on LBJ, for sending in American boys to die in the place of the gutless ARVN. If they couldn't make it with all the help they got, up to and including advisors, [mostly lifers, who probably didn't mind a good fight] then screw 'em, domino theory be damnned.
 
If Vietnamization never ended and the US sent the USAF to assist the South Vietmanese then I don't think actual US soldiers are needed.

I've read somewhere that the 74 invasion involved fairly convential large scale forces, indeed often in columns, which our airforce was designed for.

Of course after an initial surprise, the North would change tactics, but that is not a trivial task.

I have heard the supply situation for the South was quite bad also. Just keeping the supplies going would have been a big help.
 
By late '74, the supply situation was bad in the south, army units were even badly short of such basic things as bullets. After Watergate and all that followed, the government just did not have the political capital to do much about it, and the American people just wanted to forget Vietnam. Ford was in no position to jump back into the fight. Then in Jan. 1975, Phuoc Long province fell, then came the spring offensive in late March, and it was all over by April 30. I can remember watching with grim fascination as the whole thing unfolded.
 

Bearcat

Banned
Air Power

I've read somewhere that the 74 invasion involved fairly convential large scale forces, indeed often in columns, which our airforce was designed for.

Of course after an initial surprise, the North would change tactics, but that is not a trivial task.

I have heard the supply situation for the South was quite bad also. Just keeping the supplies going would have been a big help.

Air power crushed the Easter Offensive in 1972 and could have stopped the North again in 1975. But realistically, no way. The US simply had no desire to get involved (at least outside the top of the Ford Admin and the military). Congress would not let Ford do *anything* about Vietnam or Angola.

And, in the event, it was better not to. Vietnam and Angola were not that important, though it may be harsh to say. They were sideshows in the Cold War. The center of gravity in that struggle was always the plains of Germany. Diverting too much effort from that potential theatre was always a bad move, as the Sovs soon discovered in Afghanistan.
 
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