Of course there were actors behind the scenes hoping to profit and they exerted pressure. There were actually many Americans of the WW2 generation who saw the communist "liberation" of a large part of Europe, then North Korea, who were genuinely concerned that the intent of the Soviets and Chi-coms was to conquer a large part of the world. The commies bragged that they intended to do so. We entered VietNam with the belief that it was simply a case of commie expansion and that we must send the message that we would not stand idle. There were real concerns that Latin America would begin to go the way of Cuba if the commies were given a pass when they attempted to promote revolutions in small countries. In VietNam it was way more complex with the South representing a colonial elite who oppressed peasants and the North promising them a better life. Stupid blindness on the part of the US.
Of course there were actors behind the scenes hoping to profit and they exerted pressure. There were actually many Americans of the WW2 generation who saw the communist "liberation" of a large part of Europe, then North Korea, who were genuinely concerned that the intent of the Soviets and Chi-coms was to conquer a large part of the world. The commies bragged that they intended to do so. We entered VietNam with the belief that it was simply a case of commie expansion and that we must send the message that we would not stand idle. There were real concerns that Latin America would begin to go the way of Cuba if the commies were given a pass when they attempted to promote revolutions in small countries. In VietNam it was way more complex with the South representing a colonial elite who oppressed peasants and the North promising them a better life. Stupid blindness on the part of the US.
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