Question

Which of the following president's ideal response to Vietnam was to send military advisors?

Answer 1

Probably Eisenhower. Yes, Eisenhower. I can't document that, but I remember shipping out of San Diego in late 1960 aboard the General WM Mitchell bound for Japan to take duty aboard the Heavy Cruiser USS St. Paul. Also aboard the Mitchell was a large detachment of Army pogues whose final destination was - - - Vietnam. I was 17 years old and had never even heard of Vietnam. Almost no one else had either. Kennedy got in office in January of '61 and it was just a steady build up from that point on. Kennedy got assassinated then Johnson took over and then things really started going - It was pretty much a disaster from then on. Summary: Eisenhower had a handle on it, Kennedy didn't know what he was doing, Johnson walked away from it when he couldn't bomb the problem away, and Nixon finally had to throw the towel in. The country had simply had enough. If you're interested read this story about a friend of mine: http://wesgps.com/a-story-about-thomas/