[Archon of the East]

I wrote vitriolic letters to President Nixon demanding an end to the Vietnam War.

A bit off subject I wasn't really old enough to understand first hand the actual political dynamics of that era. But why in the hell does Nixon's name get associated with Vietnam? I mean wasn't it exclusively Democrats, Kennedy and Johnson that got us involved and escalated it?

[allen08gop]

Nope.

Truman and Ike were there. Though some say that Ike sending the Military Assistance Advisory Group in November 1955 marks the official start of our involvement.

Vietnam War Memorial casualties numbers 1 and 2 were back in 1959.

Kennedy and Johnson dramatically ramped up our troop levels.

Perhaps someone else can comment on Ike's advice to Kennedy when JFK took over. I have heard he had a word or two about it.

[GregoryFul]

Nixon did his best to try to end the Vietnam war with a victory, by doing the unthinkable - releasing the "dogs of war" and bombing the enemy capital! The Dummies who prosecuted the war through the 60's just "sacrificed" Americans rather than use our maximum force to bring the war to an end.

It wasn't the Dummies' way. But it was also too late for Nixon to save the day. The left had won the propaganda war, and millions died when American military protection was withdrawn from the region. It is amazing to me that any thinking person would put their life in the hands of Dummies.

Of course, in recent years, "Moron Trivia" has opened my eyes. We are plagued by a plethora of ignoramuses in this country.

[photodawg]

But why in the hell does Nixon's name get associated with Vietnam? I mean wasn't it exclusively Democrats, Kennedy and Johnson that got us involved and escalated it?
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Very True. Nixon actually got elected because he maintained he had a secret plan to win the war. The plan was withdrawal and defeat.

[MarkL]

But why in the hell does Nixon's name get associated with Vietnam? I mean wasn't it exclusively Democrats, Kennedy and Johnson that got us involved and escalated it?

Yes, Kennedy and Johnson got us into it, but the fact that it ended while Nixon was in the White House allowed the Nixon hating press to cover for Kennedy and Johnson, and made it "Nixon's War." I was 10 years old in 1972, and I remember thinking that it was "Nixon's War" myself. But then, I was only 10. I managed to learn to think when I grew up. I've still got liberal friends and family memebers (all adults) who still think that it was "Nixon's War."

Mark

[SuziQ]

But why in the hell does Nixon's name get associated with Vietnam? I mean wasn't it exclusively Democrats, Kennedy and Johnson that got us involved and escalated it?

Behold the power of the lapdog media. At the time, there were no other news outlets than the 3 major networks. They HATED Nixon, mainly because he dared to fight back against the North Vietnamese, and Communism in SouthEast Asia, and they couldn't have that! They generated negativity toward the war with their nightly body bag counts, and almost NEVER said anything positive about the war. They presented the Tet Offensive as a DEFEAT for America rather than the victory it actually was.

I guess Nixon got tired of dealing with the defeatist politicians and tried to broker a peace deal. Even THAT was undermined by the likes of John Kerry and Ted Kennedy with their behind the backs negotiations with the North Vitnamese Communists at the Paris Peace talks.

Then with Watergate, Nixon became the boogey-man par excellence, and that has stuck.

[Iris7]

In the Left mind Nixon was associated with Joseph McCarthy. The Left guys hated McCarthy passionately.

The story is long. Chambers accused Hiss of being a Soviet agent (later confirmed by the Russians). In the Leftist eye the Left were being accused of harboring, shielding, and protecting traitors. The era was romantically communist here in the USA.

Venona, a major code breaking project, decrypted Soviet communications between Moscow Center and "American" Leftists - a whole bunch of "American" Leftists. These decrypts proved that there were a large number of American born Soviet agents many of whom were in high government positions. Hundreds of Soviet agents. Senator McCarthy had lists of Soviet agents in the United States government (lists derived from Venona intercepts) and went public with the information.

Venona had to remain secret and therefore these Soviet agents, men and women intent on destroying the Republic, were never arrested. The "American" Left went nuclear, the mass media of the day was mostly Left (as they are now) and so McCarthy was mercilessly hounded out of public life. Any criticism of the Left those people to this day call McCarthyism.

Lots more to the story. Chamber's Witness is a place to start.