[lbo-talk] Cold War Liberalism and Vietnam

[Michael Yates]

Nick Manley asks about liberal Cold Warriors and Vietnam, noting how they even argued that economic development (whatever that might mean under conditions of mass murder and constant bombardment) was greater in the south than in the north. Two things to consider. First, how would the US know what development or lack thereof was occurring in the north. Given that the north won the war, it is hard to doubt that whatever estimates were made were woeful underestimates. Second, in the south, nazis like Walt W. Rostow were arguing that one sign of the south's development was its rapid urbanization! Given what was causing this urbanization, this argument shows the utter debasement of the Cold War "intellectuals".