On Thu, 26 Nov 2009, SA wrote:
> This general topic has been subjected to a lot of mythicization - by the
> left, though certainly not only the left. The fact is, you didn't have to be
> very radical in 1963 or 1964 to want to pull out of Vietnam. I know this
> sounds like it violates the laws of nature, but it's true. The general belief
> among American elites who followed foreign policy closely was that a war in
> Vietnam would be a disaster and should be avoided if at all possible.
Just to play devil's advocate and to learn more from what is clearly diligent scholarship, can you name some important members of the decision-making or opinion-making elite who held this position during that period besides George Kennan, Walter Lippmann and William Fullbright -- all three of whom seem the exceptions that prove the rule? (The rule being that elite common sense was the complete opposite of this, and that they were exceptional members of the elite for publicly and articulately opposing it).
Michael