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Addition to War, Rumors of War, Fear, etc.

I read a reply to my reply to being called "nicely," the message writer's idea, a liar. I gathered my thoughts, found support, and wrote the following reply.

Now, let's put the rest of the story with what you found on the web site you searched. I checked with a military expert with a master's in history and an area of concentration in military history, a Ph.D. in political science, and a certified teacher in social studies who took a course in Vietnam history. With their input and the research of two books which are considered authoritative sources, as well as reading several web sites, I found that my intitial premis is correct: The United States first became involved in Vietnam aiding France.

According to Guenter Lewy, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in his book American in Vietnam , the United States became involved in Vietnam in the early 1950's under President Truman, when the French were still very much in power in Vietnam. The French, involved in the Indochina War, received assistance from the U.S., first through financial aid. The outbreak of the Korean War confirmed the U.S. belief that Vietnam issues were greater than a colonial war, and French resistance was a critial link in the containment of communism. In 1954, the United States accounted for 78% of the French war burden.

(By the way, this book is used in college level courses about Vietnam.)

The authors of the Pentagon Papers, copyright 1971, state: "The U.S. became virtually a prisoner of its own policy. Containment of communism, concern for the French in relation to the postwar Europe of NATO, EDC, and the Soviet threat in the West,... all compelled the U.S. to continue aid" to the French in Vietnam. This same information is found in Lewy's book.

After Dien Bien Phu fell, May 7, 1954, the French miliatry effort collapsed. Vietnam was divided into North and South Vietnam along the 17th parellel. The United States then became allied with South Vietnam, again as a way of stopping the spread of communism.

In effect, the United States came to France's aid in Vietnam, then, as I stated in my first message, made decisions that mired the country more and more in the events a world away. Under President Lyndon Johnson, the problem escalated until we were embroiled in a real conflict along with the South Vietnamese.

I like the quote, "History is made with no way to see the future but is written after the fact."


Viv, fell, went boom!

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