General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: What was the Specific Event that Made You Realise that Republicans Are Evil? [View all]KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)haberdasher and inveterate anti-Commnist from Independence, MO, the Dem Harry S. Truman. There was no law that required Truman to green-light DeGaulle's invasion and reoccupation of Vietnam after 1945. Truman did it to secure DeGaulle's tepid cooperation in the nascent Cold War against the USSR.
Historians of the era are divided on whether JFK planned to end our involvement in Vietnam after his presumptive re-election. The most I think it is safe to say is that JFK was trying to leave his options open on US involvement in Vietnam after November 1964, following the military coup in 1963 that deposed the Diem brothers. JFK might have withdrawn, true, but he might also have escalated. Or he might have chosen to muddle on with some version of the status quo.
Moral of the story: Vietnam was a bi-partisan cluster fuck.