Mark Moyar: How Is Ukraine Different from Vietnam? Ask the Liberals

There were few events in 2022 that caused as much surprise than the surge of support for Ukraine among American liberals. They have never supported a foreign military cause with such enthusiasm since the Spanish Civil War. They have not supported military aid to beleaguered nations since the beginning of the Vietnam War. It was primarily the domestic politics of the Vietnam War that sapped liberals’ ardor for war over the past five decades — and it is primarily domestic politics that have renewed their ardor for foreign wars. The support for war in America has changed over the years not because it is rooted in principle but because it fits into current domestic partisan discussions.

When President Lyndon Johnson sent U.S. combat troops to Vietnam in 1965, he received the backing of all Democratic factions — liberal, moderate, and conservative. The mass disillusionment among liberal Democrats did not begin until the second quarter of 1967, when there was opposition at colleges. As “Me Generation” When undergraduates returned home that fall, many were disappointed by the removal of draft exemptions to graduate school. This was the best way to avoid the military service. Untold numbers of students protested the end of a war most of them had previously believed was reasonable.

They reacted to any claim that America was not strategically involved in Vietnam and was backing the wrong party. They ignored the U.S. military successes, and they didn’t even care that South Vietnam only had its first democratic elections for chief state in 1967. Stalinist autocrat Ho Chi Minh was their hero. Overblown American war crimes accounts ruined the American intervention’s ultimate success in controlling communism. 

Most of the current liberal enthusiasm for Ukraine is the result of a partisan ideology crusade. This crusade is known as “anti-fascism,” Or, in the Words Nancy Pelosi was the former Speaker of House. “staving off an assault on democracy globally.” The Left has forgotten their past disdain for democratic governments of South Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and now stands on the ramparts against a fascist conglomerate, which is believed to include Vladimir Putin and the January 6 rioters and Donald Trump.

This narrative is as far removed from the truths as the Baby Boom version of the Vietnam War. As sober historians of fascism know, NotedTrump is not close to the accepted definition. He didn’t disband Congress nor prevent Joe Biden from transferring power. He didn’t kill any of the political opponents to him. Antifa was more representative of the Democratic Party than the Republican Party extremists who rioted on the Capitol. 

The current period is more like the Vietnam era in that the majority of the population doesn’t share the domestic concerns of the liberal elites. The majority of the country did not change their views in 1967, when Yale and Wisconsin students did. Two Public opinion polls In the fall of 1968, the one that was taken showed that only 13 per cent of Americans wanted to withdraw from Vietnam. The other, however, registered just 19 percent.

Lyndon Johnson admitted that he failed to sell Vietnam to the American people. However, 1968 polling showed that Americans believed Vietnam was worth fighting. They knew that communism was a grave threat to America and the world. They knew that fighting in Vietnam would reduce the threat of communism, and preserve America’s moral authority and international credibility. They were proved right by events. America’s stand against communism in Vietnam saved Indonesia and sent North Vietnam to the brink of collapse. China also turned its attention away from the international crusade to China’s calamitous internal crusade, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. It allowed South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, Malaysia. Singapore, Thailand, Thailand, and the Philippines time to build democratic bulwarks against China.

Many moderate and conservative Americans support sending aid to Ukraine. However, they are not the only ones. We are much less willing Liberals would be more inclined to advocate for indefinite support or deployment of American combat forces to Ukraine. Being On average, more patriotic Liberals are more likely than liberals to give more of their youth and insist that U.S. military force serves the national interest. In the case of many American liberals, it’s easier to change positions on the matter of foreign wars if they’re not risking their lives over the decision — for Ukraine or for other foreign endeavors. When deciding to support or against America’s involvement, it is important to consider what’s really at stake and what motivates each position.

Mark Moyar, the William P. Harris chair of military history at Hillsdale College, is the author of Triumph Regained. The Vietnam War. 1965-1968.