Quote:
Originally Posted by lisaparadise
bullshit it was jfk who wanted them out not nixon dunno what your smokin but would ya share? lol
1) JFK used military aid to support the south vietnam anti-Communist factions
2) JFK ok'd and aided the overthrow and then assassination of Diem
3) JFK more than doubled our military presence in 'nam (again this all before Tonkins)
4) JFK supported a new leader for South Vietnam who was blatantly bad in terms of human rights violations, worse than Diem ever was- prompting monks to burn themselves to death on the streets.
http://www.vietnampix.com/bilder/fire5e2.jpg
These actions:
1- Destabilized Vietnam
2- Committed the United States to the region
3- Caused chaos that showed it was all going out of control
With JFK's re-election coming up, these IMMEDIATE direct ramifications were important, and only then under the context of re-election concerns, did JFK consider his course of action were incorrect.
By then it was too little, too late.
It shows JFK was a hawk until it threatened his political career- and is no more or less different from what the United States foreign policy had been like since Wilson.