Would the outcome of the Vietnam War been any different if LBJ had not micromanaged the war? ?
In 1993 Gen. Giap the chief of staff of the North Vietnamese Army during the war met Gen. Westmoreland, the American commander of MACV (Military Assistance Command Vietnam). Gen. Westmoreland was heard to mention to Gen Giap, “You know, General you never defeated the US in any major battle.” Gen. Giap responded, “Yes, General you are correct; but it is irrelevant”. The US could never have lost the Vietnamese War (called the “American” War by the Vietnamese). Neither could we win (short of using nuclear weapons) given the worldwide geopolitical conditions at the time. The Communist forces in Viet Nam were simply prepared to lose as many people as was needed to secure victory; something that was not politically feasible for the US. The Vietnam (American) War was in many ways quite similar to the American Revolutionary war in that the British Army won the lion’s share of the battles but could not sustain the kinds of attritional losses that the Americans were prepared to endure.
