[Brookhaven]

Blame the French and Harry Truman for Vietnam.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ike (and Nixon) were of the opinion we wouldn’t do any better than the French in Vietnam and were opposed to sending anything more than a token amount of troops there as advisors.

Kennedy/Johnson ignored that advise and sent large numbers of American troops into Vietnam (something Nixon would not have done had he been elected in 1960.) By the time Nixon was elected in 1968 it was a full fledged war.

Ask people today who was to blame for Vietnam, most would blame it on Nixon (not Kennedy/Johnson.) The irony is if Nixon had been elected in 1960 (instead of the election being stolen by Kennedy) Nixon would not have sent troops into Vietnam, and THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AN AMERICAN VIETNAME WAR!

Poor Nixon has gotten all the blame for other Kennedy’s/Johnson’s bad decisions.

[GraceG]

Nixon was a bit of an irascible Bas—rd but he gets blamed for far far too much stuff.

Johnson really gets free pass on a lot of crap that went on in the 60’s.

[Mr. C]

“...Poor Nixon has gotten all the blame for other Kennedy’s/Johnson’s bad decisions...”

Yes that’s true, but isn’t that the Democratic way? Make a mess then blame it on the Republican who follows them into office?

[truthguy]

Ike (and Nixon) were of the opinion we wouldn’t do any better than the French in Vietnam and were opposed to sending anything more than a token amount of troops there as advisors. Kennedy/Johnson ignored that advise and sent large numbers of American troops into Vietnam (something Nixon would not have done had he been elected in 1960.) By the time Nixon was elected in 1968 it was a full fledged war. Ask people today who was to blame for Vietnam, most would blame it on Nixon (not Kennedy/Johnson.) The irony is if Nixon had been elected in 1960 (instead of the election being stolen by Kennedy) Nixon would not have sent troops into Vietnam, and THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AN AMERICAN VIETNAME WAR!

Yes an excellent analysis. Yes the left has put the blame for the Vietnam War on the Nixon Administration with a lot of help from the press (press=left). To a large extent they have been successful. Today's young people have the worst sense on chronology I've ever seen. They are lucky to get major events in the correct century so they are easily fooled by the press (again press=left) or by certified liars like Oliver Stone.

The press created the Camelot myth and they are perpetuating it. They have fooled the young people I know. They don't want to put the blame on Kennedy/Johnson because they want to make the Democrats appear to be the good guys while trying to make the Republican look bad. The real blame has to be on JFK/LBJ. McNamara worked for them not the other way around. He was a member of their administration. They could have fired him at any time. They must take the blame. I hope history will sort this out.