Well they certainly influenced all those I encountered in public school and college. We were taught the war was bad and essentially that it was all Nixon's fault. If you had a very enlightened teacher he may have given you a bit of background but the conclusion was always the same. Add some Hollywood movies and you have the recipe for poisoning the minds of all of us educated in the post-Viet Nam era.
In case someone asks, here is a nice summary of the history time line.
A citizen's view opinion written by Diane L. Gruber
In recent months the Democratic presidential hopeful, John Forbes Kerry, has taken to calling the Vietnam War “Nixon’s War.” Misinformation and falsehoods repeated often enough over time “become” fact, particularly when the mainstream media fails to set the record straight.
Let’s examine the facts about “Nixon’s War.”
During the Eisenhower administration, which ended Jan. 20, 1961, America’s involvement in the conflict between the Communist North and the anti-Communist South was limited to providing economic and military advisors to assist the South Vietnamese government. There were no American soldiers, sailors or Marines in combat roles in Vietnam. Richard M. Nixon was Dwight D. Eisenhower’s vice president during his entire eight years in office.
When John F. Kennedy took office, 750 American advisors were in Vietnam. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president following the Massachusetts Democrat’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. At that time, there were 16,000 American military advisors in Vietnam. The American death toll stood at just 612.
In early 1964, President Johnson ordered limited air strikes and sent in 7,000 additional advisors.
On Aug. 10, 1964, the Democrat-controlled House and Senate accepted Commander-in-Chief Johnson’s story that the USS Maddox had twice been attacked by North Vietnamese boats. Historians generally agree that Johnson lied to Congress about the Gulf of Tonkin incident in order to obtain authority to take a more aggressive approach against North Vietnam. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolu-tion passed, with just two dissenting votes after two days of debate.
Under the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Johnson ordered full-scale bombing of North Vietnam and sent the first ground troops to South Vietnam.
Shortly after the Texas Democrat beat Republican Barry Goldwater for re-election in November 1964, he announced new draft rules. Johnson’s plans to escalate American’s role in Vietnam required more cannon fodder. That is, more young men had to be drafted. Married men, who had been exempt under the old rules, became subject to the draft effective July 1, 1965.
My future husband’s childhood friend returned from Vietnam in a body bag in May 1966, the same time Kerry wrote to his local draft board requesting an additional 12-month deferment so that he could go to Paris. When the board refused, he enlisted in the Navy for a four-year term.
Johnson was still president.
By the middle of 1966 Americans were long since accustomed to tuning in to the nightly news broadcast on ABC, NBC and/or CBS to find out about the day’s combat action.
Johnson was still president.
By the summer of 1968, the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam had increased to 550,000 with an additional 70,000 offshore with the U.S. Seventh Fleet. My future brother-in-law was recuperating in a San Diego military hospital, sans his left arm. His Purple Heart was earned by picking up a live grenade in order to save six fellow-soldiers.
Johnson was still president.
Shortly after returning to Vietnam to command a six-man boat on the Mekong Delta, Kerry experienced his first intense combat action in December 1968. Americans were dying at a rate of 300 per week.
Johnson was still president.
When Johnson left office on Jan. 20, 1969 there were 540,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Vietnam. That’s 34 times as many as when he took office. Almost 38,000 Americans lost their lives during the five years Johnson held the presidency.
It is interesting to note that the media had continuously characterized Barry Goldwater as a war-monger when he ran against Johnson in 1964. Even when Johnson’s war policies significantly increased the number of young men returning to their loved ones in body bags, Americans received no apology from the media.
Shortly after taking office, President Nixon put a policy in place to reduce America’s involvement in Vietnam. In 1972 the last American ground combat units left Vietnam. The military draft was terminated in 1973.
When Nixon left office in August 1974, less than 40,000 American troops remained. The Republican administration of Gerald Ford continued the withdrawal policy, and the last U.S. military personnel exited Vietnam in April 1975.
Given the facts, shouldn’t the Vietnam War more accurately be called “Johnson’s War” or “the Democrats’ War?” Senator Kerry, you should think again before trying to distort history to gain votes. You are not the only American who remembers the Vietnam War.
Diane L. Gruber practices law in West Linn and is an elected member of the Oregon State Bar’s House of Delegates.