“HAVING PUT OUR HAND TO THE PLOW, WE WOULD NOT LOOK back.”1 Such was Dean Acheson’s characterization of the American decision to effectively abandon her neutral policy and back the French war effort with substantial economic and military aid. It was an apt characterization, not only for 1949 but for many years to come. For the better part of twenty years, it would be the mantra of American administrations on Vietnam: Don’t look back; keep pressing ahead. Not until 1968, when Lyndon Baines Johnson curtailed the bombing, agreed to negotiations with Hanoi, and announced he would not seek
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