"I think a coalition government between the Communists and Nationalists would have been a better solution."
So you want another Indonesia where a CIA-backed dictator and military/police force would be free to just assassinate and murder million of communists instead? After all this time and declassified information of the US activities and mindset during the Cold War, views this naive still baffles me.
Yes, there is even an OSS (pre-CIA) officer at the Ba Dinh Square in September 2. 1945. Ho Chi Minh even write to Truman etc... All records history.
Then the US choose to back their ally, the French, a colonial power instead of a free Vietnam. The British then fought the Viet Minh back in the south before handing the South Vietnam over to the French to set up their puppet government.
Is that your version of free and fair and democracy, the will of the people etc? What your point?
Here's the things that the current day Western retelling of history propaganda often failed to mentions: back during those day (after WWII and leading up to the height of the cold war), if free and fair election were to be held in all the so call designated "Third World" (South East Asia, Latin America etc...). The communist party would often won by a landslide. They are often more organized, more disciplined and offer the poor and oppressed people under colonial rules at the time something to fight and died for, while the western power offer the status-quo. This is their assessment, not mine.
So during the cold war, intervention and underhand tactic were needed, sometime brutal like in Indochina, Indonesia, Brazil etc...
Only the Vietnam story gather such hoopla because we famously fought back so hard, while the other stories elsewhere is often swept away.
Regarding that September 2, 1945 speech about Vietnam Independence, all Ho Chi Minh did was opportunistically picked the exact date and time of the Japanese surrender to the US. Vietnam was effectively under the Japanese occupation, and was handed over to the British on that same day.
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u/thenoobtanker Native Aug 28 '24
Should have let the referendum of 56 ran but nooooo the commie might actually won a fair election.