Near the end of the Vietnam war, the US had practically won. Viet Cong were surrendering in record numbers, their main forces annihilated and their leaders begging for peace. Why would the US pull out when they had utterly crushed the Vietnamese?
Original Question Near the end of the Vietnam war, the US had practically won. Viet Cong were surrendering in record numbers, their main forces annihilated and their leaders begging for peace. Why would the US pull out when they had utterly crushed the Vietnamese?
Well, first lets edit this for based on the history as the rest of the world knows it.
Question should be: Near the end of the Vietnam war, the US had practically won. Why would the US pull out when they had utterly crushed the Vietnamese?
Ah, that’s better.
Btw, we hadn’t utterly crushed them, but had made life much more intolerable than it had been the previous 7 years of open conflict. Enough so that the North Vietnamese were willing to negotiate an actual end.
Although not true, there is an anecdote of a Vietnamese Colonel and American Colonel meeting at some event in the 80s. The American states “You know we won every battle.” The Vietnamese states “That may be true, but it is also irrelevant.”
Even as the two halves of that nation were still split, the North Vietnamese were fighting on home turf. Their strategy was to wait out first the French, then the Americans. They ultimately reunited the country on their terms 2 years after the peace treaty was signed.
Why did America pull out? We were tired of the war and internal divisions it was causing, we got our POWs back and a pledge in the peace treaty that North Vietnam would respect the territory of South Vietnam. Yes, that last part didnt work out so well. But by the time tanks were rolling in Saigon in 1975, Congress wouldnt allow military or material support to our ally.
The Vietnamese communists never had to beat us. The only had to wait for us to get tired of it and go home
I am an attorney in the Washington DC area, with a Doctor of Law in the US, attended the master program at the National School of Administration of Việt Nam, and graduated from Sài Gòn University Law School. I aso studied philosophy at the School of Letters in Sài Gòn.
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I have worked as an anti-trust attorney for Federal Trade Commission and a litigator for a fortune-100 telecom company in Washington DC.
I have taught law courses for legal professionals in Việt Nam and still counsel VN government agencies on legal matters.
I have founded and managed businesses for me and my family, both law and non-law.
I have published many articles on national newspapers and radio stations in Việt Nam.
In 1989 I was one of the founding members of US-VN Trade Council, working to re-establish US-VN relationship.
Since the early 90's, I have established and managed VNFORUM and VNBIZ forum on VN-related matters; these forums are the subject of a PhD thesis by Dr. Caroline Valverde at UC-Berkeley and her book Transnationalizing Viet Nam.
I translate poetry and my translation of "A Request at Đồng Lộc Cemetery" is now engraved on a stone memorial at Đồng Lộc National Shrine in VN.
I study and teach the Bible and Buddhism. In 2009 I founded and still manage dotchuoinon.com on positive thinking and two other blogs on Buddhism.
In 2015 a group of friends and I founded website CVD - Conversations on Vietnam Development (cvdvn.net).
I study the art of leadership with many friends who are religious, business and government leaders from many countries.
I have written these books, published by Phu Nu Publishing House in Hanoi:
"Positive Thinking to Change Your Life", in Vietnamese (TƯ DUY TÍCH CỰC Thay Đổi Cuộc Sống) (Oct. 2011)
"10 Core Values for Success" (10 Giá trị cốt lõi của thành công) (Dec. 2013)
"Live a Life Worth Living" (Sống Một Cuộc Đời Đáng Sống) (Oct. 2023)
I practice Jiu Jitsu and Tai Chi for health, and play guitar as a hobby, usually accompanying my wife Trần Lê Túy Phượng, aka singer Linh Phượng.
Xem tất cả bài viết bởi Trần Đình Hoành
CVD 