BIG DEAL!
Today I care less. I didn't always think that way. My father enlisted in the USMC as did several of my cousins. Several of my family members served in other branches during this time period. I was "pro war" at least by proxy growing up.
The war in Vietnam was a very minor event in terms of world history. The Punic Wars had a greater effect on world history than Vietnam. Vietnam wasn't even that important in American history. Sorry, its not. The war accomplished nothing. Victory or defeat or just going home, would have no lasting consequence for the Nation.
Sorry Boomers, in the long run Vietnam accomplished nothing. If you are pro war, nothing came of it. If you were an anti war activist, nothing came of it. Yes for a short period of time it looked like you accomplished something you could be "proud" of, America pulled out. Again big deal. That would have happened anyway.
So Boomers, feel free to stroke your ego over your "roll" during Vietnam. Like so much of your generation, it's collective navel gazing. 200 years from now, if we are still here as a nation, (no thanks to your efforts) the Vietnam War will be known for one thing, the near immediate access to war images via media. That's it, it will be a footnote, a tiny asterisk, a question on Jeopardy.
Much like everything else the Baby Boomer generation "contributed" to the world, nothing positive came from it. Like everything else Boomer related, we're going to have to hear about, because...well, because they're talking about their generation.
I disagree with most of this. The Vietnam war was hugely significant because we "lost the peace", that is: we reneged on our treaty with the south, and the world took note. It was a huge boost for the ultra-left world-wide, especially here at home. That was the great turning point, when America became "the ally you can't trust". Now, everyone from Bin Laden to Ali Khamenei mentions Vietnam every third speech or so (well, Bin Laden, not so much lately). It was also the real start of 4GW warfare, when a bunch of people in pajamas stood up to an actual army for nine years. And it shook the American psyche. Even today, people refer to the Vietnam war as a loss, when we actually won. Granted, it's not gonna have Battle of Tours kind of historical impact, but Vietnam left some really significant ripples.
ReplyDeleteWithout Vietnam, there would not have been the killing fields, or the mass executions that were carried out in Vietnam itself. If we had simply held up our end of the treaty, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia would likely be as democratic as South Korea is today, and millions of people would not have been murdered.
And of course, it changed the US military; no more draft, the switch to professional soldiers, etc etc.
Bill your analysis is solid. The consequences of the war and its aftermath did have a net negative impact on America. The trend towards atheistic communism in the US was well under way. That battle was lost in 1925.
DeleteRes Ipsa: "Like everything else Boomer related, we're going to have to hear about, because...well, because they're talking about their generation."
ReplyDeleteIronic, really, because almost all the talking about Boomers that I hear is coming from non-Boomers who are complaining about Boomers talking about themselves....
Don't try and tell Vox, Nate and Josh about that. Their heads might explode from the shock of it.
DeleteHow many boomers do you hang out with?
DeleteI'd guess that if you are around ones who supported Viet Nam you probably don't hear much about it. What are they going to say, "we did our part"?
It's the ones who did nothing that have the most to say. 50 years latter they are trying to convince everyone that they were right. It's sad.
I asked a Viet Nam vet if it was worth it. He had spent 8 years in country. Imagine being in country from the time you were 18 till you were 26. Those are the best years of most guys lives. "Hell yes" was all he could say.
He did what he believed to be right. How it played out wasn't up to him. 30 years latter, still no regrets, because he knew why he did what he did.
The hippies know why they did what they did too. They just can't feel good about being selfish and self absorbed.
Res, you really need to make sure when you say baby boomer, you are talking about the oldest end of this group. Being a part of the younger end, I do not think of myself as worthless, okay? I can get just as miffed about the hippies as you young folk do.
ReplyDeleteIf you have read the Swift Boat book by John O'Neill that came out to rebut John Kerry, you would know that not only were we within 6 months or less of WINNING this war, but it was due to the absolute brazen and outright LIES told nightly by Walter Cronkite that influenced the public and cost us this war.
After all, Uncle Walter would not lie, now would he?? This is all according to the General who was in charge of the Viet Cong. In his autobiography, he recalled how shocked he was that America started pulling out so close to their victory. He admitted that they were so close to defeat, and he could not understand why we gave him the victory.
So Bill is right in a way, we actually won that war, but thanks to Cronkite's lies, we lost the peace.
Did you know that Kerry's photo hangs in the Hanoi Hall of Heroes? That's right, they consider him a hero for what he should have rightly been court martialed for.
To me, what the Vietnam war signified is just another war that democrats get us into, but it requires republicans to get us out of in one piece. Vietnam did shake the American psyche, but it was in great part to all the lies told on the nightly news by Cronkite that are in a large part to blame for that. He was an evil and treasonous man.
The democrat congress refused to arm those South Vietnamese so they could defend themselves against the Northern communists. So again, it is in large part due to liberal influence that we have disasters in other countries.
Had we defeated and by that I mean utterly destroyed the N Vietnamese and then established a representative democracy on the entire peninsula, how long would it have lasted under our allies?
ReplyDeleteNgo Dinh Diem was himself regarded as an honorable man, however he lacked the competency to run an efficient government and the desire to pursue justice among his subordinates. Corruption was wide spread and the people lost faith in his government and policies. This allowed the communists to highlight his poor performance and link his problems with the ideal of democracy.
The US did remove Diem but the bureaucrats remained the same. Middle management remained corrupt and as far as the average person could tell nothing changed. We can argue that this was all a consequence of French colonialism, but the facts remain, the US was backing a corrupt government of mostly Catholics who professed a belief in democracy in a land with a significant number of Buddhists who were fed up with corrupt Christian democratic government.
I agree the military won the battles. There was no way Diem's and his predecessor's government was going to rule the country after we left. We propped it up. As a practical matter, America wasn't fighting for our ideals, we were fighting to maintain Ngo Dinh Diem's crony's in power.
I'm not anti America. It was an important war. Bill and Susan are correct, there are major negative consequences to the American culture that have come because of our handling of it.
"It was an important war."
DeleteThat should read "It was not an important war."
The reason I brought up that book is because until I read it, I did not grasp the full complicity in treason that was going on in the media and with the Left.
DeleteI learned stuff in that book that just left me gobsmacked as the Brits would say. The media has been undermining our country for decades now. They are truly evil people. I now understand too why God just loathes liars so much. Politicians and the media are LIARS and are leading this country down the path to destruction.
What gets me saddened is looking at some of those folks and knowing that it is most likely going to be that final lake of fire judgement for a lot of them. That makes me very sad sometimes.
How long do any of them last, when you have people who don't understand freedom? That is a concept that the Asian part of the world doesn't understand. Some nations have their own versions, but they are so tightly controlled by the government that we would call that tyranny if it happened in the USA.
ReplyDeleteI guess it falls under the old saying about leading that horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
We seem to have done good in South Korea. I think the jury is still out on Panama but that one may turn out for the best too. The Philippines seem to be doing OK as well. So sometimes things pan out. Sometimes not as we are seeing in Afghanistan now.
DeleteNow, see? This is exactly what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteWE WON THE FREAKING WAR!
North Vietnam surrendered, pretty much unconditionally. Peace lasted for about 18 months, long enough for congress to go Dem, the North attacked, and we folded. That's how we "lost" Vietnam.
Read the Paris Peace Accords and see who that sounds like a loss for. On the 27th of January 1973 the Paris Peace Accords were signed, six months later almost all US troops had left. In early 1975 the North attacked, we sat back and watched, Saigon fell on April 30, 1975.