Word: saigon
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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True, it might be useful for the U.S. to delay its departure, or make it gradual, even if at the end of two or three years the Saigon government were to fall, because the delay would cushion the blow to U.S. prestige and would give the U.S. time to shore up its positions elsewhere. But that advantage is not worth the cost?in lives, in money, and in domestic discord. Bitterness at home is likely to grow so severe, if the war is continued even at a relatively low level, that the U.S. system itself is likely to be seriously...
What Would Happen to Saigon...
...immediate U.S. withdrawal would almost certainly be the Thieu regime. Middle-ranking civil servants and junior army officers, members of the middle class who lack enough money to emigrate, plus a legion of political opportunists, would begin to desert the government as soon as the U.S. pullout became imminent. Saigon already contains varying gradations of neutralists and peace factions. Once it was clear that U.S. forces were leaving, they could gather enough support to topple Thieu?and a new government dominated by neutralists might even insist that the American army, which would then be an unwanted presence, speed its departure...
...weary Americans have reached the point where they are no longer troubled by the prospect of a neutralist regime in Saigon dominated by the Communists or even an all-Communist Viet Nam. Two major points remain troublesome, however: the fate of non-Communist Vietnamese who have relied on the U.S. and the repercussions elsewhere in Asia...
After more than 20 years of warfare, the Communists would not be likely to take a charitable view of their stubborn opponents. Survivors of the war who were active in the Saigon regime would be in clear danger. How much danger is a matter of speculation. Pessimistic observers, like Columnist Joseph Alsop?a frequent visitor to South Viet Nam and still a hawk?believe the victims of execution could number as many as 1,500,000. After the Communists came to power in the North in 1954, they slaughtered countless thousands of peasants in a misdirected program of land redistribution...