Posted on Jul 8, 2015
50 years ago today, July 08, in sunny Vietnam-land - Where were you?
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President Johnson decrees that a Vietnam Service Medal be awarded to Americans serving in Vietnam, even though there had been no official declaration of war.
There were 16,300 U.S. troops in South Vietnam at the end of 1964.
With Johnson’s decision to send U.S. combat units, total U.S. strength in South Vietnam would reach 184,300 by the end of 1965.
Ambassador Maxwell Taylor resigned as U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam.
Taylor had earlier been opposed to the introduction of U.S. ground troops into South Vietnam, proposing instead an intensified air campaign against North Vietnam.
Taylor would be replaced by Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. who returned to Saigon for his second stint as Ambassador.
There were 16,300 U.S. troops in South Vietnam at the end of 1964.
With Johnson’s decision to send U.S. combat units, total U.S. strength in South Vietnam would reach 184,300 by the end of 1965.
Ambassador Maxwell Taylor resigned as U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam.
Taylor had earlier been opposed to the introduction of U.S. ground troops into South Vietnam, proposing instead an intensified air campaign against North Vietnam.
Taylor would be replaced by Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. who returned to Saigon for his second stint as Ambassador.
Posted in these groups: 
Vietnam War
Military History
Vietnam War Military History
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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"Vietnam - Great Soldiers, Crappy War".
On the other hand, if the US hadn't "intervened", then the Vietnamese would no longer be a colony (or even a 'pseudocolony' with a ruling kleptocracy) and Vietnam would have become a single country under a Communist government - possibly with a flourishing economy - that didn't get a dime in foreign aid from the US government.
On the other hand, if the US hadn't "intervened", then the Vietnamese would no longer be a colony (or even a 'pseudocolony' with a ruling kleptocracy) and Vietnam would have become a single country under a Communist government - possibly with a flourishing economy - that didn't get a dime in foreign aid from the US government.
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COL Ted Mc
SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. - Spec; Historically speaking it has been rather more difficult to "blockade" a country which has a land border with a country that you don't control than it has been to "blockade" a country with no land borders and only a few ports. This makes "compare and contrast" rather futile.
One does wonder what the Cuban economy would look like today if the US government(s) had decided to accept reality (read as "accept the fact that the Mafia wasn't going to get its property back and American companies were going to have to actually pay fair prices for the goods they bought and American companies were going to have to actually pay fair rates of taxation"). Taking a wild guess, I'd suspect that it would be about as relatively strong as the Vietnamese economy.
One does wonder what the Cuban economy would look like today if the US government(s) had decided to accept reality (read as "accept the fact that the Mafia wasn't going to get its property back and American companies were going to have to actually pay fair prices for the goods they bought and American companies were going to have to actually pay fair rates of taxation"). Taking a wild guess, I'd suspect that it would be about as relatively strong as the Vietnamese economy.
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