Steve Thomas Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 This is an excerpt from, The Road Not Taken, by Max Boot. © 2018 https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-innovative-cia-agent-who-brokered-a-truce-in-vietnam?ref=home Steve Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Andrews Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 (edited) It has been observed that the most dangerous tendency in a biographer is to let his subject become his hero. Edited January 13, 2018 by David Andrews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Thomas Posted January 13, 2018 Author Share Posted January 13, 2018 1 hour ago, David Andrews said: It has been observed that the most dangerous tendency in a biographer is to let his subject become his hero. David, I take it you don't agree with the last two sentences of the excerpt: "By saving Diem from his enemies in Saigon and Washington, Lansdale had made a powerful and on balance positive impact on the course of Vietnamese history. Although he did not know it at the time, he had reached the apogee of his power and influence." *grin* I was surprised at the enmity between the French and the Americans. I hadn't known that. Steve Thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Andrews Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 It was somewhere around the place where all eyes and guns were trained on Lansdale and his poodle that I smelled the heroism business. You're right about the outrageous enmity that the French ground command held for us, who were taking their war away from them. The higher-level politics involved is a study of its own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted January 13, 2018 Share Posted January 13, 2018 Yes Das Boot is quite the hawk! If we had just done it like Lansdale wanted to do it, with his hearts and minds diplomacy. Vietnam would have been completely different!. We could have done it again and again and again! Who knows what we could have accomplished! Fletcher Prouty would not be prout! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now