ABSTRACT
The Vietnam War has divided Americans as has no other foreign conflict since the War of 1812. These are among the many questions Vietnam-generation Americans continue to ponder, especially those whose lives were directly touched by the war. The appearance of Saigon as Ho Chi Minh City for the past 20 years on maps of Southeast Asia is testimony to the defeat of the American cause in Vietnam. The war's alleged conventionality before Tet is not retrospectively proved by photos of uniformed North Vietnamese Army regulars driving Soviet-made North Vietnamese tanks into Saigon. The United States bullied its way into Vietnam and tried to run the war our way instead of recognizing that our mission should have been to help the South Vietnamese build up their forces so they could win the war. The real domino in the Vietnam War was American public opinion.
