[FlyVet]

Supposedly, one of the reasons we held back in VN was because the Soviets threatened to launch if we went at the war too hard.

After Linebacker II Giap admitted he was ready to quit. Imagine if we had called the Soviets on their bluff (?) in the early 60's, and leveled Hanoi and Haiphong mercilessly. What if Reagan had been President at that time? Would he have called the Soviets out? I guess we'll never now.

[FlyVet]

I meant, “I guess we’ll never know.”

[Pelham]

What if Reagan had been President at that time?

It would have been enough to have elected Reagan's choice for President, Barry Goldwater. Goldwater advocated taking the fight to North Vietnam during the 1964 election campaign.

Lyndon Johnson and his comrades in the national press portrayed Goldwater as a madman who would get us into a major war. All while LBJ himself was privately planning on sending American combat troops to South Vietnam to do the heavy fighting.

[Dead Dog]

I frequently argue on this site that the Vietnam war was officially won in 1972 after the south repulsed a 20 division combined armed division. US air support was decisive, no doubt, but the ground combat was all Vietnamese...and they won. The Paris Accords followed. It took the NVA 3 years to recover from their multiple attempts of Tet (they tried the same attack over and over with the same results). It took them 3 years to recover from the Easter Offensive. Not only was Vietnam winnable, it was won.

We lost at Watergate when the communist indigenous forces of the United States (Americong?) got elected to congress and passed Case-Church. Had we retaliated or supported the South during 1974 when the North began probing again, 1975 would not have happened.

[Dead Dog]

That should be “20 divisioin combined arms assult”