observers, here's another excerpt from my previous link that shows the prevailing U.S. foreign policy mindset, which clearly got passed along to subsequent administrations...
"Only a few months back we had both [General} Chiang [Kai-shek, president of the Republic of China, who had ] and a strong well-equipped French army to support the free world's position in Southeast Asia. The French are gone—making it clearer than ever that we cannot afford the loss of Chiang unless all of us are to get completely out of that corner of the globe. This is unthinkable to us—I feel it must be to you."
Eisenhower to Winston Churchill, February 19, 1955
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This is how we got into "Vietnam" in the first place...how the issue was handled after that is another subject for discussion.