# Is Vietnam better off today than it would have been if the U.S. had not pulled out? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 29, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-vietnam-better-off-today-than-it-would-have-been-if-the-u-s-had-not-pulled-out/405987 "2007-05-29T22:05:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2007, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-vietnam-better-off-today-than-it-would-have-been-if-the-u-s-had-not-pulled-out/405987/61 "2007-06-01T15:17:30Z")
[QUOTE=Geekmustnotdie] And he wrote 8 (?) letters to president Roosevelt and Truman (the latter ignore him), and he even name his newly independent country **Democratic Republic** of Vietnam, and quote your Declaration of Independence, what more hints do you need? [/QUOTE] Oh, little things, like the Viet Minh not killing non-Communist nationalists after the August Revolution, or not banning opposition parties, or not forcibly oppressing Catholics. Those might have helped. I mean, admittedly, none of that is as impressive as naming your country a “Democratic Republic” or quoting the American Declaration of Independence, but. . . ---
**Author:** ![Geekmustnotdie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e99b99/32.png) [@Geekmustnotdie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geekmustnotdie)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2007, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-vietnam-better-off-today-than-it-would-have-been-if-the-u-s-had-not-pulled-out/405987/62 "2007-06-02T05:07:05Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Oh, little things, like the Viet Minh not killing non-Communist nationalists after the August Revolution, or not banning opposition parties, or not forcibly oppressing Catholics. Those might have helped. I mean, admittedly, none of that is as impressive as naming your country a “Democratic Republic” or quoting the American Declaration of Independence, but. . . Sorry, I was just bitter. But were those “nationalists” killed (all of them or just some?) because they were non-communists or because they were seeking to overthrow our government? Those Catholics oppressed because they were religious or because they were in league with the enemy? Please remember that we were practically establishing a new government under everyone’s noses back then; and the French, Chinese (Republic), and Japanese were all against us, what do you propose that we should have done? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-vietnam-better-off-today-than-it-would-have-been-if-the-u-s-had-not-pulled-out/405987/63 "2007-06-03T02:14:54Z")
> [@](#): > > But were those “nationalists” killed (all of them or just some?) because they were non-communists or because they were seeking to overthrow our government? Weren’t you trying to overthrow their government at the same time? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-vietnam-better-off-today-than-it-would-have-been-if-the-u-s-had-not-pulled-out/405987.md?page=3)