Is It Possible, Could America Have Won the Vietnam War In '1968?

Article by: Gene Kuentzler '1999 ^ | 3/17/02 | Gene Kuentzler

[Mom_Grandmother]

Is It Possible, Could America Have Won the Vietnam War In '1968?

By '1968, North Vietnamese morale was at it's lowest point ever. The plans for "Tet" '68 was their last desperate attempt to achieve a success, in an effort to boost the NVA morale. When it was over, General Giap (Senior General Vo Njuyen Giap) and NVA viewed the Tet '68 offensive as a "failure", they were on their knees and had prepared to negotiate a "surrender."

At the time, there were fewer than 10,000 U.S. casualties, the Vietnam War was about to end, as the NVA was prepared to accept their defeat. Then, they heard "Walter Cronkite" (former CBS News anchor and correspondent) on TV proclaiming the success of the Tet '68 offensive by the NVA. They were completely and totall amazed at hearing tha the US Embassy had been overrun. In reality, the NVA had not gained access to the Embassy--there were some VC who had been killed on the grassy lawn, but they hadn't gained access. Further reports indicated that riots and protesting on the streets of America.

According to General Giap, these distorted reports were insperational to the NVA. They changed their plans from a negotiated surrender and decided instead, they only needed to persevere for one more hour, day, week, month, eventually the protesters in America would help them to achieve a victory they knew they could not win on the battlefield.

Remember, this decision was made at a time when the U.S. casualties were fewer than 10,000, at the end of '1967, beginning of '1968. Today, there were 58,000 names on the Vietnam Wall Memorial that was built with the donations made by the American public.

Although General Giap did not mention each and every protester's name in his book, many of us will never forget the 58,000 names on the Wall. We will also never forget that names of those who helped in placing those additional 48,000 names there: Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, Walter Cronkite, and other's.

Gene Kuentzler, '66-67, S-3 Operations 19th Combat Engineer Battalion

[Tallguy]

People forget that the Vietnam War was fought in the context of the Cold War and the last real shooting war, Korea. When we invaded North Korea, the Red Chinese counter-invaded and hurt us badly. Many of our senior generals and political leaders feared a similar reaction.

[Check6]

Vietnam would have been a dim memory in 1968 if Goldwater had beaten Kennedy in 1964. Well, actually, Goldwater DID beat Kennedy but the election was stolen ... using the precursor to the tactics used by Gore and his merry band of criminals. Point is this: Goldwater and LeMay would have "made the cinders dance" way long before 1968. The commies would have realized that straightaway and they would have backed down rather quickly.

[Mom_Grandmother]

Thank you, my husband was there and he discribed it as he** on earth. But he is just one soldier that believes his country let him down. Those men would have fought to the last man even with-out the draft dodging cowards (Clinton). My dad says Japan was the worst place on earth, so I tend to believe both. Ad for nuclear weapons, geezz, that should be used "only" as a last resort anywhere on earth.

I pray I never live to see the day one is dropped anywhere on the face of the earth.

[Mom_Grandmother]

Has Cronkite ever spoken publically about that announcment he broadcast all those years ago that may have changed the course of that war. If he did, I'd like to hear what he said.

[saminfl]

The long and the short of it is that they wanted it worse than we did, worse then the South Vietnamese did. The North Vietnamese were willing to fight to the last man, woman, and child and we weren't.

I think that is a myth perpetuated by American leftists.

[Rebelbase]

Unfortunately, it will be sooner than later.

[RLK]

(1)I thought that ARVN suffered enormous casualties, and that the NVA targeted them over the U.S. forces. (2) I've heard that the South would have held even after the U.S. left, if Congress had just supplied them with arms to match the Soviet Union's aid to the North.

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You are correct. In the final push from the North the North vietnamese invaded with massive Soviet made tank units, in massed formation. The South had no armamnt manufacturing capability. They were denied supplies by the ascendency of the radical political left in this country. Consequently, they had no defenses.

The North had such confidence in the lack of support of the south that they had massed their troup and armor units. It was a military gift. At that point, a one day support attack by American air power would have wiped out all Norther armor and the majority of the Northern army. The war would have ended. Instead, we betrayed the south the same as we betrayed the Cubans at the Bay of Pigs.

[proudofthesouth]

One thing I've never understood about Vietnam is this: Why would we fight so hard for a piece of land; good american soldier boys die; then after a period of time abandon the hard fought for land and give it back to the enemy? I've posed this question to friends who fought in Vietnam and no one has ever been able to answer it.

[PJ-Comix]

The reason the Buddhists killed themselves was because of the effectiveness of Diem's pograms and the irrelevance of Buddhism. Catholocism brought litteracy, medicine, and other advancement to the country. The Buddhists were becoming irrelevant. People were turning from Buddhism. It was a dying organization. In protest, a few Buddhists committed suicide.

WRONG! What happened is that Diem was so clueless as a leader that he actually issued a decree to forbid the flying of the Buddhist flag on Buddha's birthday. This set off a protest by the Buddhists and a company of Civil Guards killed 9 people protesting this politically idiotic decree on May 8, 1963. So instead of at least trying to mollify the Buddhists after this incident, Diem instead set out to crush the Buddhist leaders (Diem had previously crushed a couple of other sects lie a moron). This is what caused the Buddhist monks to burn themselves in protest.

Diem was just flat out a clueless leader with no sense of diplomacy or compromise. His attitude was "My way or the highway."

[PJ-Comix]

Vietnam would have been a dim memory in 1968 if Goldwater had beaten Kennedy in 1964.

Goldwater was running against a corpse? Hey, I thought Kennedy died in 1963 but what do I know?

[zog]

--there was never any sort of reason beyond profits and having something to do for the military/industrial big business guys. The amount spent per dead alleged commie could have hired them on the US payroll at 1/10th the cost, or less. We created more sympathisers for ho chi minh then he could have in his wildest commie dreams.

I'm sorry for all the guys who fought in the international rich man's scam war. Scam war run by conmen in the soviet unuion, the USA, china and in europe. international conmen, faking out their own peoples and laughing all the way to the international banks in lichtenstein and geneva. Sorry for those who never made it back home. Sorry for the ones who did and got told they were psychotic and delusional when they came down with illnesses based on exposure to chemical warfare agents. Sorry for all the innocents killed, US boys mostly, and a lot of civvies bewildered why their rice farming was such an international deal that super powers had to be involved in it, and if they didn't do what both sides fulla guns tokd them to do they would be killed. Talk about your rock and a hard place.

The politicians lied from day one, including the tonkin gulf attack. Lies. conmen and scam artists, fast buck sleazoids. Power mad pathological liars. These are the same guys all got together and were super glad that prez kennedy got whacked by the 'lone gunman".

Same exact guys. Same guys training palestinian snipers today, same guys running opium and paste outta south east asia, same guys in cahoots with the kla muslim drug smugglers and terrorists in the balkans, same guys in business partnerships with the wahabis, same guys who keep picking sides in the south american cartels until it's time for the next double cross, same guys who have for generations made untold billions off of selling and using up weapons and building bases and running wars all over here and yonder on the planet.

Same guys, same lies. They keep getting better and better at it, too.

[PJ-Comix]

I'll end with one question, what were the boundaries of Viet Nam in 1920, versus 1960?

Um.... YOU need to go back and relearn your history. There was NO nation of Vietnam in 1920. What is today Vietnam was part of the French colony of Indochina which also incorporated what is today Laos and Cambodia.

[RLK]

You make it sound like Ho and Mao were bosom buddies.

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Qut telling me I said things I didn't say. I know the battle separating SE Asia from the Cinese from the 900s. Actually, the liberation from China was accomplished not so much by successful battle, but because the climate and disease were so horrible that the Chinese found the area too worthless and inhospital to occupy. The area was avoided by everybody except the indiginous population until it was found it could meet the increasing need for rubber.

That having been said, An American defeat would be enjoyable by both Ho and Mao, regardless of any personal dislike between them. They were entitled to their opinion of Kennedy's stupidity, and expressed it with some joy.

[PJ-Comix]

Some folks never learn. If a lot of folks here could have gone back in a Time Machine they would have advised to keep fighting the Vietnam war with supposedly more effective methods. End result: The North still would have won.

Instead of refighting the Vietnam War, learn from it. I know our military did which is why they were so effective overthrowing the Taliban. They got maximum result with minimal ground forces.

[mathurine]

The communists won the classic pyrrhic victory in Vietnam. Almost three decades after they won, their country remains economically unsound and politically repressive. Like North Korea, Cuba, Albania and a few other nations which organized and strived as surrogates in the Cold War and became believers in the communist system in a way in which the big communist countries were not, these countries are stuck now with an ideology that will not lift the people up, and with a group of former allies and handlers who are no longer willing nor able to help them.

[OldEagle]

"One thing I've never understood about Vietnam is this: Why would we fight so hard for a piece of land; good american soldier boys die; then after a period of time abandon the hard fought for land and give it back to the enemy? I've posed this question to friends who fought in Vietnam and no one has ever been able to answer it."

In a word, POLITICS!

[Biblebelter]

Doris Kearns learned from the Kennedys to whom sex is not intimacy but merely the manner in which politicians/celebrities network in order to achieve personal goals.

[PJ-Comix]

An American defeat would be enjoyable by both Ho and Mao, regardless of any personal dislike between them.

Funny how after the Vietnam war the Vietnamese and Chinese fought it out with each other in a series of big border clashes.

[Captain Kirk]

Define "winning." If that would entail an invasion of North Vietnam, we would have faced one million or more screaming Chinese. Thanks but no thanks. We should have stayed out that mess and followed the noninterventionist policies of the founders.

[tubebender]

Has Cronkite ever spoken publically about that announcment he broadcast all those years ago that may have changed the course of that war. If he did, I'd like to hear what he said.

I guess I would be the last to know because I view him as an accessory with Jane Fondofherself and as it was pointed out today on another thread (or maybe Drudge) that a legal beagle said there was a case to try Janie for treason. I believe he has written a book on it.