[Lothar5150]

Originally Posted by pauldenton

.....tactical nukes to support the french besieged in Dien Bien Phu

Aside from having the scenario wrong the tactical nuke thing is completely overboard. The only time I ever recall the use of nukes being used was when UN forces were forced into tactical withdrawal buy Chinese troops in Korea.

BTW Ike was the one who came up with the term "Military Industrial Complex"
:shrug:

Originally Posted by Tempus

IIRC Churchill came over to the US and made a personal plea to have the US backup the French specifically in support of the colonial powers. The US was not originally inclined to make the effort but he was one persuasive guy.

But, I'll be the first to admin that my last MilArt class was almost 8 years ago and my memory is a bit rusty.

Your right as a matter of fact the term "Iron Curtain" and "domino effect" was dubbed by Churchill an avid anti-communist. Churchill was certainly right about the Iron Curtain and Ike was the one who came up with the term "Military Industrial Complex." The US was telling the Europeans they had to give autonomy to all of there colonies. This was a condition of the US bailing out Europe during WWII. The British honorably kept their agreement but the French did not. Thus the US was initially content to let the French fail in Vietnam.

I think it is easy to look back and Vietnam and say the domino effect was wrong in South East Asia, hindsight is 20/20. Further, I would argue that the Domino Effects limited effect in the region (Cambodia and Laos) was due more to geography and topography than a flaw in Churchill’s view on the spread of communism.