From Joe N., on Fri, 10 Dec 1999 11:37:34 GMT (in response to: Maybe, maybe not.)
Support of the French efforts to recolonize Viet Nam (Indochina) after WWII was provided by Democrat Truman in the form of cash and armaments. The first US personnel were sent in by Eisenhower. Kennedy increased their number. Johnson massively escalated (which is why I and others were after him for war crimes--he bombd civilian targets in N. Viet Nam).
When Noxious Nixon announced his candidacy I dropped Johnson and went after him. Nixon continued and expanded Johnson's escalation, including the secret bombing of Cambodia (which was no secret to the Cambodians). Nixon and Kissenger, elected to end the war, then prolonged it until--"Peace is at Hand"--just before the (re)election of 1972. And it still didn't end until 1975.
Nixon was elected on the rpomise of ending US involvement--yet simultaneously said (secretly) he didn't want to be the first president to lose a war--withdrawal without victory being perceived as losing.
I give Nixon nothing on the matter, except his Watergate self-destruction-- which did, in effect, end US involvement by providing sufficient distraction from the "face-saving" concern.
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