Every major War that the US has been involved in the past 120 uears should have been avoided by the US military, and that includes Vietnam. America didn’t know what they were doing in Vietnam. America still doesn’t know what they had been doing in Vietnam. How well have Americans ever understood Vietnamese culture? Do they have any awareness of how strong the influene of Champa/Hinduism was in the past & some Confucianism persisting today & how dominant Budhism is now? Do they even understand the tenets of those religions, both the good and the bad? What about understanding the mindsets due to the periods of domination by the Chinese, French, and their fears of the Americans doing the same in the 1950s forward? Do they realize how the modern comforts in America throughout the 20th century such as electricity, phones, radio, and TV/internet were completely unavailable in most Vietnamese communities until the 1990s? And were Americans truly aware of how corrupt the system/officials were in South Vietnam in the 1954-1975 era? And do Americans really understand how fiercely independent/freedom minded the Vietnamese people were before, during, and after the War & how that continues to this day?
The Vietnamese have long ago moved past the War towards the future. But they have many scars still remaining on how it slowed them down in their development and how much it touched so many lives in horrific ways. Most of the vilages lost the majority of their young men, especially in the areas where you had the conflict - i.e. in the South with the Viet Cong always persistent and united with the North in the mission to unify the country under the government in Ha Noi.
The biggest challenges they face now are these:
1. They are still a developing nation with many infrastructure & norms (like streets/sanitation) with a way to go to be efficient/quality.
2. Their ability for institutions/infrastructure to adapt with the times & develop more quickly is greatly hindered due to them not having effective feedback channels. For an example on this watch how things have often worked in America when a politician comes out with a new policy that has flaws & feedback comes quickly & they need to answer hard questions. In the US there’s the First Amendment. In Vietnam there’s the government.
The best thing for America to do about Vietnam is as follows:
1. Continue to do as is being done with bilateral relations & this is one of the areas where I’m quite impressed with both parties & the diplomats in State.gov on how they handle things with Vietnam now and for the future. Keep it up.
2. Learn the lessons on Vietnam now for other countries - starting with Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Yemen/Houthis, and Taiwan. Tell your people the truth. That was the #1 fatal flaw with Vietnam. Our government didn’t tell us the truth. And the American people should have been getting well-educated on how determined the Vietnamese really were in the North & among the Viet Cong to have this unified country & what level of sacrifice it would have taken to beat them. We see that happening with Russia/Ukraine right now. How many Americans are aware that the Russians are increasing military spending by 70% per annum now? Don’t they know what that means?
Absolutely not.
My father, USMC was there in 63 and 64 as a combat advisor. He came home shortly after Kennedy was assassinated and he told me at age 13, that it was going to turn into a nightmare conflict and we were going to lose our asses in a major way.
It was his third and last war as Marine. He told me many times that the West always loses in negotiations with the orientals because we refuse to understand their culture and how they think. I think the Paris negotiations proved that.
No.
I was too young at the time do you understand all the issues, but it occurs to me that the template for the Vietnam War was the Korean War.
In the Korean War, the Communist northern half of the country invaded the southern half, trying to unify the country as a communist country.
In the Vietnam War, the Communist northern half of the country was invading the southern half, trying to create a unified communist country.
Was the mindset of the era that we needed to defend countries against communist aggression and directly intervene with US troops to do so?
Was the mindset of that era, that divided countries where the Communists were militarily invading the other half,, that we should defend the half of the country that was not communist against communist aggression?
Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread.
There are some great points and comments made here.
To those who fought, no matter the reasons, we all owe you a great debt which we will never be able to repay so please accept our gratitude and honor.
“Was the Vietnam worth it?” For the American people, hell no! For the Military Industrial Complex, hell yes! Democrats and war go hand in hand, as with the DC RINO pukes.
Didn’t LBJ inherit it from JFK and then tried to prove he could win it?
Even after China helped to kill and harm Americans in Vietnam and Korea they were granted most favored trade status and it has been a priority in giving the country away to them. You always know you were lied to and kicked in the face when our country looks the other way on the exploits and harm done by other countries. Vietnam was rewarded as well with trade.
At least Germany and Japan totally surrendered and apologized and we have great relations with them.
The free trade internationalist hate America. They are the first beat the drum for war and look the other way when trade and harms our country.
Nope. My brother was a Vietnam Vet, U.S. Army, 25th Infantry Division, Ch Chi 1966-1967. Died too young at 51. He wrote home from there that the war was a joke. That the black market thrived in Vietnam. That it was a good thing the VC couldn’t shoot for shit, and that if he was going to be shot, it would be by his fellow soldiers. Despite all that, he said at least he knew he had done his part. But what did the part he and thousands of other men play, actually succeed in doing? Vietnam was just another proxy war with Russia and China, and there was no victory, like there never is a clear victory in any proxy war.
Be careful of this shrimp. Farm raised is often noted in fine print. It is the wild caught shrimp that is clearly stated on the packaging and that is the type to get.
The mistake was allowing the French to keep Indochina after WWII.
I believe the author’s conclusion but all he gives is his conclusion. I was hoping he’d give some basis for the conclusion.
Nope. We didn’t even try to win. So definitely nope.
Did we win?
No.
The Zeppers around here will say yes.
While we were fighting in Nam, the Soviets overtook us military Interestingly l, The John Birch Society opposed the war as a distraction from Marxist infiltration here.
The democrats back then as now undermined America and Vietnam people and millions died because of their treason.