Word: vietnamize
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Actually, they have. Despite today's conventional wisdom, Democrats didn't suffer in the 1970s for opposing Vietnam. And they're even less likely to pay a political price for trying to end the war in Iraq...
...Senate voted to suspend funding for American military operations in Vietnam; the next year, Congress voted to cut off aid to the embattled government in Saigon. Some of today's commentators argue that those votes devastated the Democratic Party in the mid-1970s. But if so, the Democrats had a strange way of showing it. They won the 1974 midterm elections in a landslide. Two years later, Jimmy Carter grabbed the White House. To be sure, Watergate played a major role in those victories. But if the party's efforts to end the war weren't the primary reason...
...true that in 1972, antiwar crusader George McGovern suffered one of the biggest political wallopings in American history, losing 49 states to Richard Nixon. Surely then, Democrats suffered for opposing Vietnam? Actually, no. People forget that in 1972 Nixon ran on a peace platform too. In his convention speech, he boasted that he had ended the draft, withdrawn American troops from ground combat, pursued a negotiated settlement with North Vietnam and reduced U.S. casualties 98%. The fall was marked by feverish diplomacy between Washington and Hanoi, culminating in Henry Kissinger's declaration, less than two weeks before the election, that...
That's not to say Nixon and McGovern held identical views. While Nixon promised to end the war in Vietnam, McGovern promised to end the cold war itself. He called for cutting the defense budget 37% and withdrawing troops not only from South Vietnam but also from South Korea. "The war against communism is over," he declared. "We have to settle down and live with them." That allowed Nixon to turn the 1972 race into a choice between isolationism and peace with honor. Seizing upon McGovern's support for amnesty for draft dodgers and his comments comparing America...
Thank you, Michael, for remembering Vietnam veterans. I remember the Vietnam heroes who came home to unfair treatment. It's not too late to pay our respects. I would gladly pay taxes to give every Vietnam combat veteran a full college scholarship and proper medical care. And I'm sure there is much more that the veterans can tell us about--when they see that we really care...