Nixon kept the Vietnam War going for six long years. JFK was only running a small counter-insurgency program with special forces, and reportedly wanted to end the entire war. he certainly did not want to escalate it. Which may be why he was murdered, along with wanting to oust J. Edgar Hoover.
LBJ was responsible, but so was Nixon, very much equally. Trying to revise history to blame JFK or exonerate is absurd. And yes, Kerry did tell the truth in those congressional hearings, though he regrets some of his detailings. Phoenix Program, Free Fire zones, Agent Orange, Napalm, my Lai, all those horrors were mainly done on Nixon's watch. The whole "Apocalypse Now" madness of 'Nam climaxed and continued on and on on Nixon's watch. You can try to sugar-coat it in some partisan way all you like but it is Nixon more than anyone who kept that atrocious and stupid war going.
Also, you should watch "The Fog Of War" movie and hear Robert McNamara talk about what was really going on, and what a huge stupid ignorant blunder it was to think the VC were our enemies. Sure they were not friendly, but as McNamara found out far too late, the VC also hated the Soviets and the Chinese. In fact after we left the VC fought a war against the Chinese and booted the Soviets out. They only went to them in the first place because we bullied them and they needed help. |
