Was President Kennedy going to pull us out of Vietnam when he was shot?

Question

We watched the movie JFK in class and my history teacher said that Oliver Stone is wrong when he says that JFK was going to pull out of Vietnam. The movie makes it look like Kennedy was assasinated because he wanted to pull us out of Vietnam and some people don't want him to do that. Is she right (me teafcher) or is the movie JFK right? Pleeze help.

Answer 1

As a historian myself and someone that has studied Kennedy for twenty-five years I agree with your teacher. She is right and she is clearly well-read because most people think Kennedy was trying to end the Vietnam War--he wasn't.

1. Kennedy was the most anti-communist president between Truman and Reagan.
2. Kennedy had already gotten involved in Cuba with the bay of Pigs invasion (albeit the ABORTED invasion) and the Cuban Missile Crisis--ALL to keep communism contained within its existing borders.
3. The Vietnam War, much like the Korean War before it, was a military conflict to limit the spread of communism.
4. Kennedy, like ALL presidents, said different things to different people to garner votes or to get certain legislation passed, but I do not for one second believe ANYTHING Oliver Stone says, or makes up as Stone often does, concerning Kennedy pulling out of Vietnam and leaving South Vietnam to the communists. To do so would result in HIM being labeled as the president who lost SE Asia to the communists just as Truman would be forever known as the president who "lost" China to the communists in 1949. Kennedy would not stand for that.


And there you have it.

Answer 2

No, JKF was not about to end the war in Vietnam and for this reason Johnson kept the war going. Oliver Stone's movie is total fiction.

Both Kennedy's were assassinated by the Mob for reneging on a promise they and their father had made to the Mob during the electoral campaigning for JFK; in order for the Mob to fix a lot of votes at various polling centers but especially in Chicago, the Kennedy's promised to let the Mob do as they wished in the US.

Nixon knew the Kennedy's had fixed the election but he felt he could not say anything about it as he feared it would split the nation apart and perhaps cause a civil war. Remember this was the time a integration problems all over the US.

The Kennedy's promised to turn a blind eye to organized crime in return for the Mob fixing the election. Then once elected; JFK made Robert Kennedy his attorney general and RFK had the deluded idea to go after the Mob with a vengance once he was in office: This is what killed both Kennedy's; the Mob. Moral: don't bite the hand that puts you in office.

Most people forget or do not know and would rather forget that JFK and RFK were big supporters of the Army McCarthy Communism Witch Hunts. I was witness to those events and I can tell you Kennedy was definitely rabidly anti-Communist.

Answer 3

Kennedy could not pull us out of Vietnam even if he wanted to. America was deeply involved with Vietnam when we funded France's conquests there starting in the early 1950s. France controlled Southeast Asia from the 1870s through 1954 except for Japanese control during WWII. America picked up the war effort when France failed. The American land war was too early in the normal cycle of war when Kennedy was Prez.

Answer 4

Your teacher is right. JFK got us deeply involved in Vietnam and he was continuing his venture there. His party was deeply divided over the issue which is one reason he went to Dallas in the first place--to try to heal the deeply split Democrat Party in Texas. In his run for re-election, he needed Texas to win, and he wanted to be sure they were in his column. Thus his attempted heal the breach within his own party. One problem when we deal with JFK is that his family has tried quite successfully to make him the champion of the poor, the peace maker, the saint he never was. Much of the truth about Kennedy will never be known because his family has done such a good job covering it up and creating myths that simply are not true. Getting us out of Vietnam is just one of those myths.

Chow!!

Answer 5

Far from it. Kennedy was actually in the process of escalating US involvement in Vietnam. President Eisenhower was the first to send advisors to aid the Republic of South Vietnam, but it was under Kennedy that the first signs of American troop escalation began.

Kennedy was impressed and enamored by the US Special Forces (The Green Berets). Due to his support, the Special Forces were increased in size and under Kennedy's orders, were sent to Vietnam and Loas in large numbers to train pro-American forces and anti-communist guerillas.

On a side note, because of his support President Kennedy was made an Honorary Green Beret by the US Special Forces.

Answer 6

Pull us out? Thassa laugh ... He'd taken all necessary steps to getting us pulled in!
Your teacher is right.