Vietnam itself was of little importance (other than as a domestic political issue, i.e., JFK and LBJ were afraid of a “who lost Vietnam” controversy such as “who lost China” hurt the Democrats a decade before.)
The big prize was Indonesia. And the pro-western Suharto perhaps would not have dared to overthrow the pro-leftist Sukarno in 1965, if it hadn’t been for the US stand in Vietnam. I’m not justifying it; the bloodbath in the 1965 coup in Indonesia was horrendous.
But that was the thinking.
I know that was the thinking, and I even understand it. At the time I even agreed with it, even though I was just a very young man, and didn't know anything, really.
As I said in my post, in hindsight; I understand the power of the "domino theory."
My point was that it was the received wisdom of the advisors of to the President, like Dean Acheson, and Allen Dulles, and McGeorge Bundy, and Robert McNamara, that Communism was stronger, that Communism would prevail in the long run.
Today, with the benefit of hindsight we can see that Communism is not stronger, is not more efficient, and will not prevail over the long run.
That could be. I’m not up on what those advisers thought about Communism as the wave of the future. I don’t think however that McNamara had any particularly strong beliefs on that, because IMO he was a yes-man who just did and said what he thought the president wanted to hear.
Actually Eisenhower, whom I respect, had little concern about Vietnam. When Kennedy came to the White House for his post-election briefing with Eisenhower, Eisenhower didn’t even mention Vietnam. Laos was the topic of conversation with regard to southeast Asia.
It never would’ve gotten to the point it did if Eisenhower had still been in control IMO. He knew the limits of power and the cost/benefit aspect of things.
There is a great big flaw in your thinking. You can't whistle past the graveyard and expect nothing can happen. Communism had to be stopped in any way possible including force of arms. Christianity is stronger than Islam, yet 1.57 billion people are Muslims, all prosthelytized by the sword.
In the Sixties and Seventies Global Communism was taking over country-after-country and Nikita Khrushchev told the West that "we will bury you! It was happening as they claimed until President Reagan gained his office with the understanding that he could bankrupt its benefactor, the Soviet Union.
With the fall of South Viet Nam, the Pathet Lao took over Laos, The the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia. Myanmar (Burma) became the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma with Soviet-style nationalisation and central planning. A Communist insurrection was ongoing in Thailand and the Philippines.
Several sub-Saharan African states formally embraced communism, including Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), the People's Republic of Benin (French West Africa), the People's Republic of Mozambique, the People's Republic of the Congo, the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the People's Republic of Angola.
In Central America , the Sandinista's (FSLN) overthrew the government in Nicaragua. El Salvador was fighting the "Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front" (FMLN). The Marxist URNG was fighting the Guatemalan government.
In South America The Shining Path was active in Peru. There was a Marxist–Leninist coup in Grenada.
In 1979 the Soviets Invaded Afghanistan.
Nations were actually falling like dominoes and it wasn't a stretch to understand Communism would reach critical mass within only a few years. It mattered not that their communist system is weak if the USA had become the last bastion of freedom struggling against the communist slave labor of the whole world.
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| Post-Soviet states |
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Dinesh D'Souza in [D'Souza, 1999] sums up the 1980s revolution.Now, with Islam we are facing the same sort of domino threat if we don't stand up and stop it dead!In Chapter One: Why Reagan Gets No Respect he summarises how Reagan reversed the downward trend of the 1970s for human freedom:
"During the Reagan administration, all this changed. No more nations fell into the clutches of the Soviet bear. Capitalism and democracy began to advance around the world. On Reagan's watch, dictatorships collapsed in Chile, Haiti, and Panama, and nine more countries moved toward democracy: Bolivia (1982), Honduras (1982), Argentina (1983), Grenada (1983), El Salvador (1984), Uruguay (1984), Brazil (1985), Guatemala (1985), and the Philippines (1986). Fewer than one-third of the countries in Latin America were democratic in 1981; more than 90 percent of the region was democratic by 1989. In Nicaragua, shortly after Reagan's second term ended, free elections were held, and the Sandinista government was ousted from power. Apartheid ended in South Africa, and a black-majority government was elected. All these changes occurred relatively peacefully."