WHEN PEOPLE BELIEVED
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Regarding John M. Newman’s “JFK and Vietnam” (Feb. 23) and the possibility that, had he lived, Kennedy would have seen quickly the folly of America’s involvement in Vietnam, there’s an important point that’s often missed, one that brings to light the greater tragedy:
In 1963, not only arch-conservatives and hawks believed in “freeing Vietnam.” Phrases like “liberating a nation from communism” did not have the naive ring that they do today. People really believed in that stuff, and not all of those believers were greedy capitalists, devils and liars . . .
Before the Vietnam war, holding political office was considered a noble aim, a high calling. After the war, political office was thought more often to be the refuge of scoundrels. For our country, this change in perception was perhaps the war’s greatest tragedy.
WINSTON STEWARD, LOS ANGELES
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