Wednesday, February 18, 2004
History Lesson
When you listen to John F. Kerry talking about the Vietnam war (does he talk about anything else??) as a "Republican war," remember that it was John F. Kennedy who first sent troops there, and his successor Lyndon Johnson who escalated it to a major commitment of American forces. Nixon campaigned in 1968 on his "secret plan" to end the war.
Nixon's secret plan was to actually try to win it, or at least punish the North Vietnamese enough to make them back off. Unfortunately, by the time Nixon took office the war had become such a festering boil on the US body politic that the political will to win it did not exist. Once that tipping point was reached, North Vietnam had won the war. It won because the American public was never convinced the war was necessary and North Vietnam was able to last long enough for the American people to get fed up with it.
Nixon's secret plan was to actually try to win it, or at least punish the North Vietnamese enough to make them back off. Unfortunately, by the time Nixon took office the war had become such a festering boil on the US body politic that the political will to win it did not exist. Once that tipping point was reached, North Vietnam had won the war. It won because the American public was never convinced the war was necessary and North Vietnam was able to last long enough for the American people to get fed up with it.
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