Posted on 09/23/2011 4:43:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Ike didn’t “start” Vietnam. We had some advisers there just as we had advisers just about everywhere. The decision to make them more than purely advisers was Kennedy’s as was the decision to kill the President of the allied Republic of South Vietnam. Arguably that was the moment when we took the war entirely into our own hands.
Kennedy didn’t start Vietnam—France did. My brother was a tank driver in Nam and they were instructed that if they blew up a rubber tree, the french would get $1MM from the US.\.
Just so. When the Pentagon Papers were released, the NYTimes printed the whole thing in a special section, and I read the whole thing.
Although the media said that the Pentagon Papers revealed that Nixon was evil, they did no such thing. The one really shocking revelation was that JFK gave the order to the CIA to assassinate our ally, Diem.
I always thought he did so because Diem was Catholic, and JFK assiduously avoided even the thought of doing anything Catholic while in the White House, because he did not want to offend his base. Yes, he got the Catholic vote, but he was extremely leary of seeming to take any Catholic positions, for fear of offending those who predicted that the Pope would instruct him what to do.
That was the moment when the South Vietnamese war effort fell apart, and the U.S. was obliged to take over.
No, the French started Vietnam to protect their rubber tree ownings. Ike just decided to pull the french’s asses out of the fire (as we always did.)
Sure. The Vietcong started the war against France, the colonial power. But Kennedy made the basic decision to step in after France gave up.
The french started vietnam to protect their rubber tree interest. Ike decided that french interests were greater than our own.
"What?!" Khrushchev gasped upon reading Castro's telegram on Oct. 28 1962. "Is he proposing that we start a nuclear war? That we launch missiles from Cuba? But that is insane! Remove them (our missiles) as soon as possible! Before its too late!" instructed the Soviet premier. So much for the Camelot fable of JFK "standing up to the Russians," during the Missile Crisis Khrushchev "blinked" alright. But at Fidel Castro and Che Guevara's genocidal lust–not at JFK's flaccid threats.That's a bit extreme -- those threats were blood curdling. Khrushchev was a walnut in a vise, and knew it. He was removed from power due to his backing down in the Missile Crisis. Guevara was also a big joiner, and became part of the "New Man" movement -- and as a consequence was hunted down by US special operatives with intel help from the USSR.
Very well said! Having lived through those days I can attest to the absolute truth of your comments. His cowardice at the Bay of Pigs is one of the blackest marks on American history.
I like it.
Kennedy left 19,000 American soldiers in Vietnam.
Johnson left about 500,000 Americans in Vietnam.
Nixon left no Americans in Vietnam.
Ike spoiled the Republican record but the Democrats did the heavy lifting of getting America into this war. The strange thing is that the 1960's Democrats warred against the Soviets. Now they want to be the Soviets.
Why do you think the missels were ever removed from Cuba?
The French didn’t “start” Vietnam unless you go back at least to the 1870s or even a couple of centuries earlier. The Communists started the particular phase of the conflict which we eventually involved ourselves in.
It is an established fact that Castro advocated keeping missiles in Cuba, even if it meant a nuclear war. So Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, and all the other Castro ass-kissers would have been fried if Castro had gotten his way.
It is an established fact that Castro advocated keeping missiles in Cuba, even if it meant a nuclear war. So Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, and all the other Castro ass-kissers would have been fried if Castro had gotten his way.
I disagree with this assessment. They responded to Vietnamese pressure in 1956. Unable to quell the disobedience, they got Ike involved in the late 50’s, and then turned over total defense with advisors to Kennedy. LBJ decided to escalate to protect french interest in 1965. I lived through that. I know what happened.
Originally we didn’t want France to get Indochina back after WWII, but they set that as a condition for getting them into NATO.
I thank your brother for his Vietnam service.
Later on I too was a tanker in the National Guard but in Vietnam I flew Hueys. During the 1972 Easter Offensive the NVAs came in with tanks and punched through at Loc Ninh and were stopped at An Loc along QL 13. Right there south of the ville was a Michelin rubber plantation. I’ll always remember going treetops over these immaculate untouched rubber trees while the bad guys were hosing us with small arms, 51 cal and 37 mike mike. The s**t of it was the tree canopy concealed these NVAs yet they moved underneath it like an indoor gym I recall how untouched the rubbber trees looked when the An Loc ville was nothing but bouncing rubble but we sure killed a lot of them that June of 1972. The ARVN rangers did themselves proud and outlasted the siege record of the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Saw a lot of killed soviet T-54 tanks and BTR-50 APCs and none of us had anything good to say about the French because even all these years after they pulled out we were still protecting their s**t and your brother was a brave guy to be a tanker I saw some abandoned M-48 tanks from the air.
Thanks for your time I dont get to do this very often.
Castro first sent Che to the Belgian Congo. The CIA backed the Congolese government with air support, ironically using many of the same Cuban-American pilots who fought valiantly at the Bay of Pigs. Once the Congolese efforts were defeated, Castro sent him to Bolivia...and decided to be a little more direct in getting rid of him.
When local Bolivian Communists contacted Castro to ask what level of support was expected of them, Castro’s reported answer was “Not even an aspirin!”
Ditto, and the Cubans freedom fighters never forgave the back stabber.
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