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

by Max Boot

The disparity between perception and reality would prove especially acute during the Vietnam War, with the optimistic assessments of American political leaders and military officers often starkly at odds with the dismal reality that American correspondents could perceive with their own eyes. But in 1962–63, before America had sent hundreds of thousands of its own soldiers to fight in Vietnam, the problem was the reverse: not excessive official optimism but rather excessive pessimism. In those years, the Saigon government was making real progress against the Vietcong while also encountering undeniable problems, yet most American journalists and policymakers could perceive nothing but the shortcomings of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime while simply taking it on faith that any alternative would be preferable. This one-sided outlook—too distrustful of the incumbent president, too trusting of his would-be successors—would ultimately prove fatal to Diem’s chances of survival.