Vietnam A Necessary War Analysis

Vietnam, a Necessary War? The Vietnam War is very controversial in the sense that people disagree over whether America should have entered or not. Two people who capture the feelings of both sides well are Michael Lind who wrote “A Necessary War” and Fredrik Logevall who wrote “An Avoidable Catastrophe”. Both of these works represent either side of the controversy of entering the war. Lind appeal to the audience through rebuttals and perspective of the time, while Logevall seems to just knock all of the points made to go to war and staying at war aside, offering little sympathy for President Lyndon Johnson, and other American leaders at the time. Both views have strong arguments for them, but which is more appealing? Michael Lind and his “A Necessary War” support the American entrance into the war. Lind offers a view of sympathy towards the leaders and their decisions at …show more content…
Logevall claims that committing to war in Vietnam was a terrible mistake. Logevall begins by showing some sympathy to President Lyndon Johnson and other leaders at the time, as they believed that the strategies they had would work. He then goes on to state that “vocal proponents of taking the war to North Vietnam were strikingly few in number”4. He states this to show the overwhelming rejection of support to go to Vietnam by many American leaders of the time, other than Johnson. Logevall also suggests that even other countries were skeptical of being able to win in a long-term battle with the Viet Cong. Logevall also claims that some of the allies of America refrained from stopping America. “while the French government of Charles de Gaulle forcefully disputed the administration 's position at every turn, the more important ally refrained from doing so.”5 He believes that if other allies had spoken up the war could have been avoidable. Logevall offers some other evidence, but these are his main