Rightfully so. Any "countrywide vote", you see, would have been a vote of already-terrorized people. (And the already-murderered people would get no such "vote", as well.) As I've already explained, the legitimacy of such a "vote" is dubious to anyone besides Jimmy Carter.
We took control of half of a little country because we believed in the dominos.
A belief which was borne out by subsequent events. (cf. Laos, Cambodia, the killing fields...)
We tried to take over a country that had showed it would not stop fighting outside powers because we thought USSR would get a foothold.
Actually, we didn't "try to take over" any country. We sent troops to the South to defend it, and then hamstrung our military from bombing the north or entering bordering nations to stop supply lines and enemy camps. I wish we had tried to take over the country; as I said, it would have made for a better outcome for all involved (except, of course, Minh and other high-ranking commies in the north).
We paid the price and destablized them and us. Idealistic, stupid and misguided.
Yup. We should have just fought the war and allowed our military to do its job.
You must do a brain stretch to think that communism was a bigger issue in Viet Nam than nationalistic issue.
That is not what I'm saying. I'm just reminding you that those people already had the choice of whether to live under Minh's fanatics, and opted not to by a wide margin. You've ignored this comment completely for some reason, even though I've made it several times. Seriously, what do you have to say about it? Anything?
My opinion is rooted on briefings provided by US government sources. I know of no contemporary analysts who thought the Viets would vote for someone other than Ho to rule a united country.
You're conclusion that the Viets would be coerced does not give credence to the mind set that the there was a strong anti-colonial feeling throughout the country, except by some in Saigon. The analysis was that the Viets were not exactly happy to kick French butt and then see the US ride in on a white horse to save them.
We did take over the south Viet Nam government. We killed the guy that was in there and State ran it through puppets until the fall. Laos and Cambodia were small dominos compared to the theory and rhetoric at the time. In fact the long view is that the domino theory was not upheld because events around the world and in Asia prevent further Soviet expansion, especially in such a linear fashion.