selfAdjoint said:
Aw come on. Wilson? Ho was a student in Paris, right? The President of the United States is f'ing up if he doesn't counter the opinions of one radical French student?
The "father" of the league of nations is not just "f'ing up" (you are absolutely correct, that is the lib campus spin), he's screwing the pooch big time by ignoring the political and social climate in E. Asia in a way that can be and was at the time interpreted in E. Asia as another instance of Euro-centric, bigoted, white supremacist arrogance. This is an item that can be found in every E. Asian firebrand's gunnysack.
And you yourself said that Truman's (lack of) action was "quite proper",
"ignore Ho, yes --- Hayseed Harry had the same handicap LBJ got from Kennedy, no transition period, and was forced to proceed with policies, staffs, and programs established by his predecessor. His botches were in not sh*t-canning FDR's "f a buncha slopes" policy toward SEA in 1948, sh*t-canning FDR's force Britich, Dutch, and French divestiture of interests in SEA, and integrating a recognition of established colonial interests with the Marshall Plan (work with the Europeans rather than threatening to withhold MP benefits if they don't abandon colonial interests).
therfore not a FU. So that leaves Roosevelt, who died before WWII ended and whatever his opinions may have been, never had any opportunity to affect matters in Viet Nam, or French Indochina as it was then.
FDR: "I don't want to hear another word about SEA." This is a bit of a paraphrase from post-war planning sessions; he had already offered suzerainty over E. Asia to Chiang, who had declined; had informed the Allies that they were going to divest themselves of interests in the area; and, the grapevine in the East works every bit as well as it does in the West --- "FDR doesn't care any more what happens to us than Wilson did. This, following Wilson's arrogance, and followed by Truman's failure to implement the "Truman Doctrine" (contain, or prevent the spread of communism rather than actively trying to roll it back), in that he denied the French any support in SEA (yes, they "frenched" it up --- "we have come for the past five years taxes").
The campus spin is that Wilson was the great humanitarian --- he ignored half the planet when setting up the league --- and they were and remain pissed --- major effect on Vietnam. Roosevelt was very public in his efforts to throw everything east of the Irriwaddy to the Chinese "wolves (in the eyes of SE Asians)." That definitely had an effect on following events in SEA. Truman stabbed the French in the back. "The Yanks make really dependable allies." That influenced the course of ensuing events.
Ike sort of corked the inevitable conflict at "smoldering" to "brushfire" level in the Laotian panhandle. Screwed the pooch in not taking up the Soviet offer to recognize two Vietnams in '56, J. F. Dulles' advice/recommendation.
Kennedy had Harriman abandon the strategic advantage 1961(2?), and away we went.
That's four screw-ups if we take the lib campus spin (anybody can make a mistake) --- big league disasters if we call a spade a spade.
