Vietnam

With regard to Vietnam, Truman’s government refused to recognise Ho Chi Minh’s 1945 declaration of Vietnamese independence. Instead, in February 1950 Truman recognised a self-governing Vietnam still under French sovereignty. In May 1950, he committed $US10 million in military aid and established the Defence Attaché Office in Saigon, with the purpose of supporting anti-communist forces in Vietnam. More US military assistance and advisors were sent to Vietnam in 1951-52. Here is an article from the news yesterday. WASHINGTON — A small number of U.S. military forces inside Ukraine have recently begun doing onsite inspections to ensure that Ukrainian troops are properly accounting for the Western-provided weapons they receive, a senior U.S. defense official told Pentagon reporters Monday. It started small but ten years later there were 500,000 US troops in Vietnam. 58,000 died before the US got out of there. Will history repeat itself. Be careful.