In the weeks leading up to the coup d’etat against Ngo Dinh Diem, former Vice President Richard Nixon said on at least two occasions that the issue was not Diem and someone better but Diem and someone worse. And he was right. After Diem’s overthrow and murder, South Vietnam endured a revolving-door government for a year and a half as various factions staged one coup after another—seven coups just in the year 1964.
I remember when the NY Times published the entire Pentagon Papers in a special section. They claimed that they revealed that Nixon was an evil rat.
Curious, I read through the whole thing—which was a considerable labor. The only really interesting thing I found was the revelation was that JFK ordered the CIA to assassinate Diem. Needless to say, it was buried in that enormous pile of stuff, and the Times never called any attention to it.
But it was obvious to me at the time that it was JFK who wrecked the Vietnam War, not Nixon or even LBJ. After Diem was killed, South Vietnam basically ceased to fight against the invaders, and we were stuck with having to do it ourselves. Thousands of our troops died, because JFK (author of the Bay of Pigs fiasco) was an idiotic jerk, who wanted to prove that he loved the Buddhists more than the Catholics in Vietnam. Heavens forbid that JFK should act like a Catholic! It would cost him votes!
From the article:
The disgusting picture on television several years ago of President Lyndon B. Johnson moving parts of a mock Viet Nam battlefield around while his generals stood silently nearby was another prescient moment showing foolish politicians playing games with the lives of our Armed Services!
Similar to the photo of Adolph and his disbelieving and very nervous generals.
We no doubt have a matching photo today, albeit without the mock-up or battlefield maps. This time the CIC may not even be in the room.
Not once but twice it was clear cut that Uncle Sam had won the war.The communists were preparing to sue for peace. In 72 they were getting prepared for Occupation in the north. Well, eveyone knows what happened in 72. Same thing happened in 68-69. The Viet Cong were wiped out, northern unitw were withdrawing to the north. The north was hunkering down to resist invasion and were trying to figure what the best deal was that they could get from the AMericans. Then we stood down to give them time to regroup. The northward flight of the NVA slowed down and reversed. The honchos in Hanoi shocked that the Americans had backed off but the Americans made it obvious Both timess Hanoi thought it had lost the war .
Bump.....