Millions cast their lot with the Viet Minh not out of attachment to Communism but out of frustration with the lack of strong nationalist alternatives. An editorial in the same issue endorsed Duncan’s findings and accused the French of pursuing “sophisticated defeatism,” even as it called victory “entirely feasible” and advocated more U.S. support in the war. Bidault, well aware of Life’s huge circulation in the United States, was outraged by Duncan’s claims and threatened to have the magazine pulled from Parisian store shelves. He also instructed officers at the embassy in Washington to
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