Q: Was the American antiwar movement important to Hanoi's victory?

A: “Bui Tin, a former colonel in the North Vietnamese army said, It was essential to our strategy. Support of the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda, and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us.”

I don’t know if this subject has been addressed before within our closely related blog ‘hood. But in the wake of protests at the Republican National Convention its important to remember that while exploiting First Amendment rights may be legally protected by the constitution (protestors even celebrate it as noble and dutiful), it can also have catastrophic effects to the great benefit of our enemies. Former anti-war activist David Horowitz, said, “The blood of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, and tens of thousands of Americans, is on the hands of the antiwar activists who prolonged the struggle and gave victory to the Communists.”

Why is it so difficult for some to see the relevance of history?