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The Vietnam War could have been prevented, had the Versailles Treaty granted Vietnam its independence, as Ho Chi Minh requested when he attended the Hall of Mir

The Vietnam War could have been prevented, had the Versailles Treaty granted Vietnam its independence, as Ho Chi Minh requested when he attended the Hall of Mirrors conference. My father was an anti-aircraft missile fire control officer aboard the USS Providence. While he never told me, it was later declassified that the talos missiles he fired, could be fitted with nuclear warheads. I'm not real sure about the rationale but I figure nuclear antiaircraft missiles would be used if the enemy was swarming. After many years of quiet contemplation, Dad told me one day "We should not have been in Vietnam". 65,000 americans died during the war, 250,000 vietnam vets committed suicide. At least a million vietnamese perished. But Vietnam did get its independence, and the US and vietnam are the best of friends.

mc32 11y ago
Also, if the corrupt south had carried out the suggestions (like land re-distribution to the delta farmers, etc.) that they address the terrible inequities which fostered the insurgency, the south would have had a better chance at viability. Years earlier, South Korea and Taiwan undertook some of the US suggestions, and had a much better outcome. SVN, was too corrupt to entertain the idea (and yes, some US advisers in that area, had lost some of the ear, they had in that regard)
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  I'm planning to read the Pentagon Papers sometime soon. When I took high school American History, I thought it odd that we did not discuss vietnam in any way, despite that our textbook had good coverage of it. I figured the reason was that most of our parents were vietnam vets - Fairfield, California is a military town.
commandar 11y ago
>I'm not real sure about the rationale but I figure nuclear antiaircraft missiles would be used if the enemy was swarming. It's really more a case of guidance systems for early anti-aircraft missiles were fairly unreliable so nuclear warheads were tried because A. you don't need to be as accurate if you destroy everything within a 1000ft radius (like with the AIR-2 Genie, which was actually unguided) and B. it was the late 50's/early 60's when atomic power was still seen as the reasonable answer to almost anything.
veidr 11y ago
I believe that the 250k suicide number is urban legend. This study, for instance, found that the number was closer to 10k. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2343923 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2343923
linhchi 11y ago
> had the Versailles Treaty granted Vietnam its independence, as Ho Chi Minh requested when he attended the Hall of Mirrors conference. I don't think this was likely. Those were the times when raw power roared around the globe. What did Ho Chi Minh have to put on the table with other giants to even make others notice? Unprecedented free will?
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  The versailles treaty was claimed to be predicated on "national self-determination". Had that really been the case, vietnam would have got its independence. What really happened was that national self-determination resulted in the puzzling fact that Baron Von Trapp was a veteran of the austrian navy.
  - linhchi 11y ago
    thanks for answering with facts

mc32 11y ago

Also, if the corrupt south had carried out the suggestions (like land re-distribution to the delta farmers, etc.) that they address the terrible inequities which fostered the insurgency, the south would have had a better chance at viability. Years earlier, South Korea and Taiwan undertook some of the US suggestions, and had a much better outcome. SVN, was too corrupt to entertain the idea (and yes, some US advisers in that area, had lost some of the ear, they had in that regard)

MichaelCrawford 11y ago
I'm planning to read the Pentagon Papers sometime soon. When I took high school American History, I thought it odd that we did not discuss vietnam in any way, despite that our textbook had good coverage of it. I figured the reason was that most of our parents were vietnam vets - Fairfield, California is a military town.

commandar 11y ago

>I'm not real sure about the rationale but I figure nuclear antiaircraft missiles would be used if the enemy was swarming. It's really more a case of guidance systems for early anti-aircraft missiles were fairly unreliable so nuclear warheads were tried because A. you don't need to be as accurate if you destroy everything within a 1000ft radius (like with the AIR-2 Genie, which was actually unguided) and B. it was the late 50's/early 60's when atomic power was still seen as the reasonable answer to almost anything.

veidr 11y ago

I believe that the 250k suicide number is urban legend. This study, for instance, found that the number was closer to 10k. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2343923 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2343923

linhchi 11y ago

> had the Versailles Treaty granted Vietnam its independence, as Ho Chi Minh requested when he attended the Hall of Mirrors conference. I don't think this was likely. Those were the times when raw power roared around the globe. What did Ho Chi Minh have to put on the table with other giants to even make others notice? Unprecedented free will?

MichaelCrawford 11y ago
The versailles treaty was claimed to be predicated on "national self-determination". Had that really been the case, vietnam would have got its independence. What really happened was that national self-determination resulted in the puzzling fact that Baron Von Trapp was a veteran of the austrian navy.
- linhchi 11y ago
  thanks for answering with facts