I always wondered what would have happened if the US invaded the North, or occupied some islands opposite Haiphong
At the least we would have captured some Soviet and Chicom advisors.
That would either have brought the Soviets and Chicoms into the open or sent them home.
Former Prime Minister and Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky said the greatest disadvantage the US faced was that the US was front, center and on tv. The Russians and Chinese were in the background, virtually unknown to the world.
Ky had good things to say about US service members, not much good to say about US politicians.
He wrote a book “How We Lost the Viet Nam War”.
He kind of laid out the political situations in Vietnam between the government and the Buddhists and the relationship with the US gov’t.
It is pretty interesting.