Was Vietnam winnable?
Was Vietnam winnable?
Juan Thompson
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Jose Stewart
No it wasn't. The entire purpose of the war was to stuff Lyndon "my wife is a shareholder in Bell Helicopter" Johnson's wallet and prestige (wound up doing the opposite).
Jonathan Hernandez
US involvement in Vietnam pre-dated LBJ’s presidency.
Eli Foster
Sure but America is too incompetent for it
Gavin Gomez
Elaborate
Dominic Powell
Not without actually doing real nation building in South Vietnam. There was really no point that the ARVN could stand on its own even with considerable material support from the U.S., and there were significant internal civilian divisions as well. Without some sort of viable government to protect, you'd need a constant U.S. military presence to hold things together, and there isn't endless patience for that sort of thing.
Ayden Sanders
But it escalated dramatically under him.
Joseph Taylor
I'm not educated enough to say, but wouldn't a more legitimately run South Vietnamese government have helped the morale, spirit, and even efficacy of the ARVN? I mean Thieu was always accused of being a typical American-backed strong man whose government was rife with corruption and inefficiencies. While this doesn't explain the strategic failures of the war it might have helped the American public maintain support for the South. If it was easier for American politicians to keep material support for the South after they left then there may have been a better and bigger resistance to NVA advances.
Militarily I'm not sure there's much else you can do. The US fought the war knowing they couldn't take to a "real" offensive in the North to topple the regime, so were restricted to a futile method of maintaining control over the South. Poor performance of ARVN units, as noted above, can be attributed to low morale, poor training standards, and lack of faith for the government/cause they were fighting for. But couldn't you say the same about South Koreans in the Korean War? Maybe to a lesser extent, but the real difference is in the level of US commitment to actually finding an acceptable ending the war.
David Lopez
>wouldn't a more legitimately run South Vietnamese government have helped the morale, spirit, and even efficacy of the ARVN?
I think so. I’m no expert either but I know the South Vietnamese was corrupt and incompetent. Political opposition was outlawed and it was illegal for citizens to speak out against the government. People in South Vietnam hated Thieu.
Cameron Ortiz
Why is there a million boots on the road? What happened to their owners?