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

by Max Boot

Such operations became much easier to execute after the establishment, just two months after the Italian election, of Frank Wisner’s Office of Policy Coordination, expressly designed and amply funded for waging “political warfare.” Thus, by the time that Lansdale submitted a request to his superiors at the OPC to influence the 1951 Philippine congressional campaign, the institutional resources for such a project were in place—along with the determination to use them. America, it was clear, was far removed from pre-1941 isolationism. Yet the manipulation of foreign politics remained a controversial project within the American foreign-policy establishment. Naturally, it was more contentious still in the countries whose destiny lay in the balance. Before long, Lansdale would find himself at the center of political storms in both Washington and Manila.