Stressing Eisenhower’s adherence to the domino theory, Logevall argues that Eisenhower was “fully prepared to intervene with force” in order to halt the fall of Vietnam to the communists. What stopped him from doing so? Not his own innate caution, which Logevall dismisses. Instead he was blocked by external forces, especially the reluctance of the U.S. Congress to give him a carte blanche for military intervention, as well as the opposition of America’s crucial ally, Britain, to a wider war in Indochina. In this interpretation it was the restraint of Congress and especially the British
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