Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1945–1950
- 2 War: Korea, 1950–1953
- 3 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1953–1960
- 4 War: Vietnam, 1960–1975
- 5 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1975–1989
- 6 Post-Cold War: Asia-Pacific, 1989–2000
- 7 Future: Asia-Pacific, 2001–2020
- 8 Conclusions
- Select Bibliography
- Index
4 - War: Vietnam, 1960–1975
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1945–1950
- 2 War: Korea, 1950–1953
- 3 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1953–1960
- 4 War: Vietnam, 1960–1975
- 5 Postwar: Asia-Pacific, 1975–1989
- 6 Post-Cold War: Asia-Pacific, 1989–2000
- 7 Future: Asia-Pacific, 2001–2020
- 8 Conclusions
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
For most Americans the word ‘Vietnam’ spells confusion and complexity. It had never been an area of significant interest to them before, and they awoke rather suddenly to its very existence only after their government had made what they were told were irrevocable commitments there.
George M. Kahin and John W. Lewis, The United States in Vietnam (London, 1969)… they all share the blame; this is not a unique error of Lyndon Johnson. He was the man that was holding the bag at the time when the birds came home to roost, if that is not too mixed a metaphor.
Edwin O. Reischauer, LBJ Library Oral History Collection.War
Hunh! Yeah
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing.
Edwin Starr, ‘War’, 1970The Kennedy Years and Vietnam
The 1960s form a period of consolidation for the United States in its dealings with the Asia-Pacific region. Much of the policy formulation of the previous decade remained in place during these years and led ineluctably to an ever-expanding American involvement in South Vietnam in an attempt to prevent the emergence of a Communist regime in Saigon. By the end of the 1960s this incremental process had produced the most disastrous and the most divisive episode in postwar American foreign policy. The original Cold War regional premises of the Truman and Eisenhower administrations were continued by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Each in turn enlarged existing commitments in their determination to defend South Vietnam and to protect its allies throughout the wider Southeast Asian region from the contagion of Communism.
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- Chapter
- Information
- The United States in the Asia-Pacific since 1945 , pp. 124 - 152Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002