If there is one term that illustrates the rapidity with which historical truth can degenerate before one's very eyes, that term is 'Vietnam Syndrome'. According to those who employ this smooth and evasive construction, the lesson of the Vietnam War is that the United States suffered greatly from being 'entangled' in a 'quagmire' in Indochina, and should henceforth be extremely prudent about overseas military commitments. Jimmy Carter put it very gruffly, when he said that both America and Vietnam had suffered equally. Henry Kissinger, in his memoir Years of Upheaval, phrased it even more prettily: 'Hanoi and Washington had inflicted grievous wounds on each other; theirs were physical, ours psychological and thus perhaps harder to heal.'

LRB 6 January 1994 | PDF Download