I saw on eBay a lampoon pin of “Nixon’s The One” with a heavily pregnant woman (implying he was the father). So you could see the types of mean-spirited crap directed his way.
Vietnam was going to be a catch-22, regardless. Although we can say in hindsight that it probably would’ve been better to have stayed out of what was a civil war, the march of Communism across Asia was undeniable, and we also couldn’t stand back and let the Russians acquire one more ally after another.
I lay the blame at the feet of Truman. If Gen. MacArthur could’ve taken the war in Korea straight to the Red Chinese and taken out Mao (or neutered him), leaving Chiang as ruler, those Communist uprisings would never have been able to pop up. With Chiang in Peking instead of Formosa, they would’ve obliterated any attempts by the Vietnam Communists under Ho to take control of the country (and, hence, we probably would not have had to do anything there). The Soviets would’ve been isolated as a result, and might’ve collapsed even earlier.
Go back even further, had we not been dragged into WW1 and a stalemate between Germany and Britain occurred, they would’ve been forced to bury their differences and quickly team up and take out the Communist insurgency in Russia by 1920. Then all the Communist garbage, the rise of Hitler, WW2, et al, would never have come to pass. A far different century, and far better.
It’s what I told another FReeper, you can see Satan’s fingerprints all over the 20th century up to now. Countless wars, genocides, evil ideologies, cultural deterioration, diminishment of Christianity...
Kaisar Wilhelm ( because of his birth damaged arm and what THAT did to his personality from there on ) had a "thing" about besting his Brit first cousin and the British Empire. His arrogance and inferiority complex brought him to jealous rages.
Emperor Franz Joseph, of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, lost his heir and ONLY son through Rudolf's murder and suicide pack with his mistress, leaving the Austro-Hungarian Empire with no direct blood heir, since Franz-Joseph and Elizabeth ( the world renown beauty "Sissi" ) only had three children; only one of them a son.
So that left the Emperor making his nephew, Franz Ferdinand and his Morganatic wife the heir apparent/future Emperor and Empress...with NO future heirs after them.
Franz Ferdinand, like his now dead first cousin, Rudolph, was more enlightened and not as rigid as his uncle, so would have made a pretty good Emperor....if the damned lefty , Nihilistic youths, the BLACK HAND, and some Russian higher ups hadn't planned, carried out, and/or funded his assassination!
Franz Joseph asked Wilhem to help him get an apology.If that had worked out, there would have been NO WW I! And as we know, it didn't, through no fault of Kaiser Wilhem.
President Wilson was a lot of things...a huge racist, supporter of the KKK, a lefty, very naive, and also an IDIOT !The French ( Clemenceaue )and Brits ( Lloyd George ) at Versaille had him by the nose, did whatever THEY wanted, which he signed off on and the Treaty of Versaille brought forth ALL of the wars of the 20th century AND the spread of Communism and the birth of Fascism and Nazism.
Yes, the above is rather simplified, but also FACTUAL!