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1 DowninEgypt If there existed a definitive moment of birth for Kenny Kays’ generation, perhaps it was the election of John F. Kennedy in 1960. At the age of fortytwo , Kennedy was the youngest man ever elected president and the first American president born in the twentieth century. Kennedy’s inaugural address, delivered on a cloudless and cold January day in 1961, captivated the nation’s imagination and captured the hope and expectations of the decade. Further, his vigor and youth stood in sharp contrast with the previous Eisenhower style. The new president’s inaugural address conveyed both a powerful optimism and a profound challenge. “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.” Foreshadowing our deeper involvement in Vietnam, the young president declared, “To those people in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required—not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” Calling for “a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty , disease, and war,” Kennedy promised “a new frontier” of opportunity and challenge. With the young president in office, a new aura of hope and excitement filled the air. Unfortunately for the idealistic president, he inherited a deteriorated situation in Vietnam. Between 1950 and 1961, the U.S. had provided more than a billion dollars in aid and more than 1,500 economic and military advisors . These efforts supported the hope that the South Vietnamese government would grow to become a successful military force capable of standing on its own. By late 1961 however, President Diem, in a letter to Kennedy, called for more aid to help him in his effort to stop Communist growth in his country. “The Vietnamese nation now faces what is perhaps the gravest crisis in its long history,” the desperate leader wrote. “If we lose this war, our people will be swallowed by the Communist Bloc.”1 At that time the cost to 4 | Troubled Hero the U.S. of losing Vietnam far outweighed the cost of maintaining stability , and Kennedy, as did Eisenhower before him and Johnson afterwards, believed the U.S. would easily prevail against the more primitive Viet Cong and their brethren in the North if push came to shove. Consequently, the American president quickly responded positively to Diem’s request. “We are prepared to help the Republic of Vietnam to protect its people and to preserve its independence,” Kennedy replied. “We will promptly increase our assistance to your defense efforts.”2 Most historians believe that had Kennedy lived he would have reached the same conclusion as Lyndon Johnson did in 1965 and committed the United States to war in Vietnam. That Kennedy was willing to defend America’s continued involvement in Vietnam is made clear by his response to a letter from the sister of an American GI killed in Vietnam in January of 1963. In her letter to the president, Bobbie A. Pendergrass despaired, “If a war is worth fighting—isn’t it worth fighting to win? Please answer this and help me and my family to reconcile ourselves to our loss and to feel that even though Jim died in Viet Nam—and it isn’t our war—it wasn’t in vain.” “If Viet Nam should fall,” replied Kennedy, “it will indicate to the people of Southeast Asia that complete Communist domination of their part of the world is almost inevitable. Your brother was in Viet Nam because the threat to the Vietnamese people is, in the long run, a threat to the Free World community, and ultimately a threat to us also.” For that, the president wrote the grieving sister, her brother “did not die in vain.”3 By late 1963, Diem’s grip on the country continued to slip. A military coup, supported by Kennedy, carried out a takeover of the South Vietnamese government. In the process, and to Kennedy’s horror, Diem was murdered. By this time Kennedy had increased the number of American advisors in Vietnam to more than 16,000 and had continued to send aid. Shortly after Diem’s death, the president ordered an extensive review...

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