ABSTRACT
Although war continues in Southeast Asia at the time of this writing, the American role in it ended in 1975. Not surprisingly, given the magnitude of our defeat, participants in the war and a large number of scholars have come forward--and will continue to do so--with various views of the catastrophe. Many of the authors argue that a different strategy or method of operation in Vietnam might have led to success. People holding this view do not necessarily believe that success would have been worth the cost, but many do. In general, those believing that the United States lost a war that it could have won fall into three groups. A first group consists of former policymakers or their apologists, including Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and General Westmoreland. A second group exemplifies a near-consensus in the American military today. A third argument is more popular with many academics and former participants in the village war.
