Jeff Lacy

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Thus was born what became known as the “decent interval” strategy, with Nixon and Kissinger signaling to North Vietnam and its patrons in Moscow and Beijing that Washington wanted a face-saving way out of the conflict regardless of the consequences for America’s allies in Saigon. As Kissinger explained to Premier Zhou Enlai of China on July 9, 1971, “If the [South Vietnamese] government is as unpopular as you seem to think, then the quicker our forces are withdrawn, the quicker it will be overthrown. And if it is overthrown after we withdraw, we will not intervene.” Zhou inquired what time ...more
The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam
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