The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam

by Max Boot

administration. In Phillips’s recollection, Lansdale did almost all of the writing.15 The main paper, “Concept for Victory in Vietnam,” warned that the “Communist insurgents have a firm political base which the Vietnamese people understand,” with a “program to gain control of the people,” “a strong belief in eventual victory,” “iron discipline,” and a “leadership skilled in subversive insurgency.” These problems would remain “even if South Vietnam were isolated completely from North Vietnam or outside Communist help.” Thus, Lansdale did not suggest bombing North Vietnam or sending more troops to South Vietnam. “Overt U.S. intervention against North Vietnam or Cambodia is neither necessary nor appropriate,” he wrote. At a time when there were fewer than twenty thousand American advisers in South Vietnam, he concluded, “Military forces and equipment already in Vietnam should be more than sufficient to cope with most military aspects of the Vietcong insurgency.”