Vietnam

15 Pages 3746 Words

avorable outcome of national elections,
particularly a communist victory, and self-determination as a right appeared all but non-existent. The US was in a complex situation with no clear-cut path to victory; however Fulbright suggests that we must recognize the fundamental problem with our foreign policy. He says that we must accept a government elected and supported by the people, even if it is communist because "American interests are better served by supporting nationalism than by opposing communism." Basically, the US needs to rethink their foreign policy in general and formulate a response in Vietnam and elsewhere according to all the factors of the local situation, such as recognition of the power of nationalism and the recognition that not all revolutionary movements are solely communist oriented. This is not the only instance where US intervention was justified on the basis of defending freedom against communist movements. Intervention in the Dominican Republic in April 1965 and as recently as the American
invasion in 1983 of Grenad...