Vietnam was a criminal war waged and escalated by war criminals. That Henry Kissinger never faced consequences for his evil is a tragedy. They were also directly responsible for the Cambodian genocide. Ken Burns' Vietnam documentary is highly recommended.
You’re right, the Chinese should have been held responsible for war crimes.
RudyB
EDITOR: No major issue but for the record here are a couple of typo errors
" with increasingly brutality"
"the break-up of British Indian into a Hindu-majority "
But Thanks for these insights and reminders. 1973 marked my college graduation. I remember those days all too well.
SAWGUNNER
It always amazed me to read that even as the victors met at Versailles at the close of WW1, Ho Chi Minh himself was there advocating for the independence of his nation.
Think what you must but those nations settled and colonized by France have always been global hot spots. Political dysfunction seems to be the legacy the French left on places as different as Lebanon, Algeria, Viet Nam and even our own ethically challenged, marinated in corruption, Bayou State.
Had the war not been "Americanized" by LBJ and the Kennedy hold overs, then it is likely Nixon would have never needed to peddle his "Vietnamization" plan.
Unlike the North Koreans, the Vietnamese have never elevated anyone to the status of Great Dear Leader. Yes, Nam is not a truly free nation but American Vietnamese (mainly the successful children of refugees it now seems) are free to travel there. Our Viet intervention came about after the Communist conquest of Cuba; and when the Soviets and Red Chinese broke up their love fest then it no longer made sense to expend blood and treasure in an obscure and resource-poor region of Asia.
Cory Lane
Regardless of the outcome of the Vietnam War, Vietnam Veterans who served honorably, the living and the dead, should be honored and remembered for their service and sacrifice.
BOBGUTJAHR
Students do not understand the beginning and end of the Viet Nam war. I'm hard pressed to find people who know who won the Civil War or even the name of the band that Paul McCartney played in before Wings.
The American Intifada can't even find Palestine on a map.
If you want students to understand far-away Viet Nam, you might want to start with their own country.
Young folks have never been as fully lucid about recent history as any of us would prefer.
The columnist George F Will (where has he been lately?) once wrote that he was in a theater showing old news reels from the 1930s. The news reel narrator intoned about "victorious rebel forces jubilantly enter Madrid" and the student audience all cheered as they watched that event from 30 years before, unaware that the "victorious rebels" were allied with Hitler and Mussolini
Many of these are not young people. People 40 years old and older.
BOBGUTJAHR
An important piece that was overlooked above was President Diem's attempt to forcefully convert the largely Buddhist population to Catholicism. This cost South Viet Nam critical popular support.
Allen Johnson
Communism is fueled by stoking resentment in populations weighed down by abject poverty and peonage, while a privileged elite lived high on the hog. Communism of course betrays the masses while forming its own elite.
For example, in 1919, Ho Chi Minh beseeched U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to help Vietnam gain independence from its French overlords. Minh was rebuffed, and eventually turned to communist support.
For a rice-growing peasant living in a thatched hut, neither side offered a better life. Sadly, too often American forces "burned a village to save it." In recent years, Vietnam has become a trading partner with the U.S. and other western nations. Yet every year, numerous Vietnam peasants are blown up by weapons that had not exploded when dropped during the Vietnam War.
You might want to keep in mind that in 1919, the U. S. had just finished fighting an unpopular world war as allies of the French. To have expected the U. S. to have supported the independence of a French colony would have been very risky.
Besides, most of the world was colonized at the time. The U. S. lacked the popular will to go around freeing other country's colonies. Where even to start?
BOBGUTJAHR, I agree with your analysis of that the situation in 1919. Historical hindsight can show the precipitating influences that make for later events. One can fast forward to 1959 when Castro revolutionaries overthrew the Batista regime. Communism thrives on the fuel of resentful inequality, propagandizes and pushes revolutions, then dehumanizes the proletariat.
We do well to learn these lessons so as not to repeat. For example, the trends to financial inequality will explode into revolutionary fervor if resentful "have nots" reaches a critical population mass. It is not right now.
Vietnam was a criminal war waged and escalated by war criminals. That Henry Kissinger never faced consequences for his evil is a tragedy. They were also directly responsible for the Cambodian genocide. Ken Burns' Vietnam documentary is highly recommended.
You’re right, the Chinese should have been held responsible for war crimes.
EDITOR: No major issue but for the record here are a couple of typo errors
" with increasingly brutality"
"the break-up of British Indian into a Hindu-majority "
But Thanks for these insights and reminders. 1973 marked my college graduation. I remember those days all too well.
It always amazed me to read that even as the victors met at Versailles at the close of WW1, Ho Chi Minh himself was there advocating for the independence of his nation.
Think what you must but those nations settled and colonized by France have always been global hot spots. Political dysfunction seems to be the legacy the French left on places as different as Lebanon, Algeria, Viet Nam and even our own ethically challenged, marinated in corruption, Bayou State.
Had the war not been "Americanized" by LBJ and the Kennedy hold overs, then it is likely Nixon would have never needed to peddle his "Vietnamization" plan.
Unlike the North Koreans, the Vietnamese have never elevated anyone to the status of Great Dear Leader. Yes, Nam is not a truly free nation but American Vietnamese (mainly the successful children of refugees it now seems) are free to travel there. Our Viet intervention came about after the Communist conquest of Cuba; and when the Soviets and Red Chinese broke up their love fest then it no longer made sense to expend blood and treasure in an obscure and resource-poor region of Asia.
Regardless of the outcome of the Vietnam War, Vietnam Veterans who served honorably, the living and the dead, should be honored and remembered for their service and sacrifice.
Students do not understand the beginning and end of the Viet Nam war. I'm hard pressed to find people who know who won the Civil War or even the name of the band that Paul McCartney played in before Wings.
The American Intifada can't even find Palestine on a map.
If you want students to understand far-away Viet Nam, you might want to start with their own country.
Young folks have never been as fully lucid about recent history as any of us would prefer.
The columnist George F Will (where has he been lately?) once wrote that he was in a theater showing old news reels from the 1930s. The news reel narrator intoned about "victorious rebel forces jubilantly enter Madrid" and the student audience all cheered as they watched that event from 30 years before, unaware that the "victorious rebels" were allied with Hitler and Mussolini
Many of these are not young people. People 40 years old and older.
An important piece that was overlooked above was President Diem's attempt to forcefully convert the largely Buddhist population to Catholicism. This cost South Viet Nam critical popular support.
Communism is fueled by stoking resentment in populations weighed down by abject poverty and peonage, while a privileged elite lived high on the hog. Communism of course betrays the masses while forming its own elite.
For example, in 1919, Ho Chi Minh beseeched U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to help Vietnam gain independence from its French overlords. Minh was rebuffed, and eventually turned to communist support.
For a rice-growing peasant living in a thatched hut, neither side offered a better life. Sadly, too often American forces "burned a village to save it." In recent years, Vietnam has become a trading partner with the U.S. and other western nations. Yet every year, numerous Vietnam peasants are blown up by weapons that had not exploded when dropped during the Vietnam War.
Justice is a condition for peace.
You might want to keep in mind that in 1919, the U. S. had just finished fighting an unpopular world war as allies of the French. To have expected the U. S. to have supported the independence of a French colony would have been very risky.
Besides, most of the world was colonized at the time. The U. S. lacked the popular will to go around freeing other country's colonies. Where even to start?
BOBGUTJAHR, I agree with your analysis of that the situation in 1919. Historical hindsight can show the precipitating influences that make for later events. One can fast forward to 1959 when Castro revolutionaries overthrew the Batista regime. Communism thrives on the fuel of resentful inequality, propagandizes and pushes revolutions, then dehumanizes the proletariat.
We do well to learn these lessons so as not to repeat. For example, the trends to financial inequality will explode into revolutionary fervor if resentful "have nots" reaches a critical population mass. It is not right now.